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Pirate Fest, June 2010 - Put-in-Bay, OH
(Photo: Clint Beach)
Chapter 2nd: Speaking about restrooms, lost cockatoos,
Mission's bike, park computer users, period displays, presenters, the people
in the park, cannon-fire, preparing for the costume contest, kids and what Jay
does to excite the crowds.
Riding into our display site, I was pleased to see that the two tents had been set up (at right) and my fellow crew members were arranging their displays. Since there was still much work to be done and I had acquired the required first sheen of perspiration, I decided I should get changed into my layers of period clothing. That would surely maintain the sheen while also allowing me to avoid doing actual work for a little bit longer. Fortunately, the park restrooms were very close - a splendid convenience for us. You see the roof of the building in the background of the picture at right. (Because I knew you'd wouldn't want to miss seeing that.)
Once dressed, I started whining about wanting a Diet Mountain Dew. This was in an effort to replace all the fluids I had perspired in my foolish morning bike ride. (Although Diet MD is probably among the worst things for replacing fluids since it's diuretic, but let's not talk of that now.) Shannon said there was a drive thru across the street where I could probably get what I wanted. I must have looked stunned at this idea, because he told me to follow him. So I did. The drive thru turned out to be the Park Drive Thru, (below left) purveyor of all things convenience-oriented. (Nearby bathrooms and a convenience store! Can you believe it?! It's like dying and going to re-enactor heaven!) I explained to Shannon that I had left my wallet in my traveling clothes so he volunteered to buy. While most generous (and appreciated) this made me suspect he might not be a real pirate. However, he was buying and I was receiving, so why carp? Plus he has those nifty pocket-sized Shanon's Cannons and that's pretty piratey. (Shannon's cannons, Shannon's cannons, Shannon's cannons...) So maybe it was just a purchase to benefit the brethren. (Even though, technically, I am not a brethren because the surgeon isn't required to sign the articles as I'm fond of noting whenever a British soldier is around.)
(Photo: I forget. You can't believe how hard this was to find.)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Back in our display site in the park, one of our local contacts, Richard (lately from the Santa Maria event in May of 2010) had purchased himself a pair of arm things. (Michael Bagley later told me that the arm things "are commonly referred to as 'bracers' in modern conversational English (particularly in Renn-Faire and SCA circles), although 'bracers' is derived from the medieval term 'vambraces.'" See, you always learn something in these little tales, don'cha?) He had Trish help him put them on (below left) and then modeled them for us (below right). Richard is an interesting, if quiet guy. ( Except when he's in the bar with the Cheshire cat.) He actually has a garage on the island where he spends "40 weekends each year."
(Photo: Jessica Bagley)
(Photo: Trish)
M.A. d'Dogge visited his garage and said it was stocked with antique autos,
good cigars, a bed and everything one could want in an island get-away.
Richard said he had a large garden. He sells its' produce
through a local food stand. He is particularly proud of his pumpkins, which he
brings out on the last weekend the island is open - Halloween. (Last year he had a
562 pounder!) He spends some weekends working at the winery* on the island,
which sounds like it would be interesting. He has also been at the last 10
Key West PiP events, which completely shocked me because I never recall
seeing him.
*Heinemen Winery. You thought I'd forget, din'ya?
Back in our display tents in the park, it was decided for some reason that there would be a girl's tent and a boy's tent and the surgeon would be between them. (You can read whatever you like into that.) There was rain in the air, however, and some of your surgeon's equipment is plain steel which rusts when atmosphere is only pondering rain, so we wound up sticking my stuff in the boy's tent. Later, when the sun came out, it was moved under the tree opposite the tents. After being there for a while, someone noted that was too far from the tents and moved it back into the boy's tent. (On land, I'm apparently a traveling surgeon.)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
I was impressed with the site. Our display was a bit smaller than some of
the other events I've been to, probably due to having to bring everything
over on a ferry, but it was a effective and the people (re-enactors
and tourists) were very involved. The ferries continually brought fresh
streams of tourists who strolled through and were interested in what we
said. What more could you want from a re-enactment? Above
left is a close up of the girl's tent with Kate Bagley (her back
to us), Jennie Gist and Trish. Trish had brought a nifty old bone
traveling chess set (above right) which she put in the
girl's display. (Perhaps with the idea that intellectual pursuits would
be confined to girls.) My surgical instruments were arranged on a wonderful
small table that had been thoughtfully provided to me (left). It even had a camp chair. (How can you beat that?) The boy's
tent (below left) somehow managed to look neater
than the girl's tent, which seems a bit out of stereotype. The girls will
probably say it was because they were tasked with all the housework. The
big draw there seemed to be M.A. d'Dogges collection of weapons
(below right), which everyone wanted to touch.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Clint Beach)
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The Green Black Sheep was to be the dividing line
between our display and a group of vendors who were vending things piratey. I don't know if
they had planned this dividing line or the sight of a Green colored boat
named Black Sheep caused them to spontaneously organize in a line along the
boat, but they sprouted over there sometime after the Sheep was unladen. The
vendors featured inexpensive pirate hats, plastic swords, kid's
pirate books and similar oddments. They did quite a driving trade from
what I saw. Plus they gave us an outlet for any spare cash we might
have. I though about taking Shannon over there and forgetting my wallet
again, but I had doubts that this would work twice.
(Photo: Mission)
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M.A. d'Dogge, always a photo favorite, was quickly seized upon by some of the tourists to pose with their baby. (Above) Seeing a good opportunity to recruit a cabin boy, he naturally acquiesced. He then posed for several charming pictures, which won't surprise those of you who know that he and his wife recently had another child. I think it was his third. Somehow, he managed to distract the parents while he edged over to the press gang...uh, recruitment team (below left). That kid will come to no good end...(from left: Michael Bagley, Sam, their newest recruit, Mr. d'Dogge, Jay and Richard W.) Sensing danger, the mother quickly retrieved Junior. However, this child was destined to be a pirate. Check out his shirt (below right - sorry it suffered a little in the shrinking - it's a pirate ship). Ok, I know...you can all give a collective "Awwwwwww....." and get it out of your system.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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It was a very good day for presenting. I saw several people doing presentations that I had never seen do them before and it was interesting and wonderful. M.A. d'Dogge is, of course, a natural. He gives an vivid and entertaining presentation and has lots to explain. (See below left.) He is also kid friendly, bringing clothes and wigs specifically so the tots can try out some pirate garb.(See below right.)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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After his presentation, M.A. d'Dogge would generously direct the listeners over to the surgeon's table where I would explain the items I had brought along. (This is not to say I relied exclusively on referrals, but I thought it was a nice gesture on his part. Plus it was a nice lead in from the above narrative. This is why I get paid the big bucks to write these things. (Not.)) As I mentioned previously, I was traveling light and thinking that I would be dealing with a mostly party-oriented crowd, my collection was weighted towards the shiny reproduction tools. I had mis-guessed on this point, however. People were pretty interested and asked some very good questions. Many folks with non-medical backgrounds knew the tools I had thanks to watching the History Channel. That makes presenting easier and, in some ways, more fun. There was a nice flow of people throughout the day - not so many that I got tired of presenting, but not so few that I wondered why I had bothered. Next year I hope to bring a wider array of stuff.
(Photo: Mission)
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It was amazing to see how much everyone in our crew knew and how well they could handle the presentations. (They could do this because most people are interested in the weapons, allowing them to easily talk about them. I need a surgery protégé so that I can have someone fill in for me. Especially after that whiny rant in the May 2010 Santa Maria Surgeon's Journal about being trapped in the ship.) Below are a sample of some of the formal presentations I saw. (Neato torpedo.)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Clint Beach)
From above left, heading 'round the horn clockwise:
we start with Michael doing a presentation about M.A. d'Dogge's weapon display,
next we see Mark Gist explaining the intricacies of the guns to a group of
interested gentlemen. Above right, Shannon details his table of items to a
fascinated group. (That's his table of items at right.
He appears to have a nice assortment of weapons, navigational equipment, sailing
items and a hat. Quite a nice little assortment of stuff for presenting.)
Continuing with our presenters, below right Trish explains the weapons assortment
to a family. Following that, Daniel Needham fills in a few folks on the same.)
Dan actually presented the medical stuff later in the day while I was away from
it. Hmm... (Could he be my sucker... uh... protégé? )
(Photo: Mission)
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Sometimes the educational presentation alone just won't work, especially when it comes to attractive blondes and sword fighting. So you have to hike up your breeches and head out onto the lawn. Below: M.A. d'Dogge bravely runs through some sword fighting moves with one of the tourists. (He does not, however, run through the tourist. We hope.)
(Photo: Trish)
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Not all pirate re-action teaching comes from presentation. Some of it is more like living the history - doing things that represent history and answering questions if they come up. If the boy's tent had been a hub of activity and presenting, the girl's tent had been the site of living history. Below left: Jennie Gist prepares fresh fruits and comestibles for presentation (and eating). Below center: Mark Gist and Kate Bagley set up the little portable grills to do a cooking display. Below right: The happy display result: Lunch! (Yabba dabba doo!) Jennie also made some zucchini for your vegetarian surgeon that was very good - not salty at all. She told me the secret was to baste it with a bit of Italian dressing. Oh, the things you learn while re-enacting.
(Photo: Mission)
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Of course, with every good meal comes a bad thing (well, to my mind): Washing dishes. Kate Bagley does yeoman's work below left in scrubbing the results of our excellent lunch. She generously washed the little plate that she herself had given me at Searles. Thanks Kate! (When I was given the plate by Kate and Michael I didn't realize how fortunate I was; it seems like it might have come with a service agreement. I wonder if that's a lifetime deal? (Again, not!)) Below right we find Trish working in the girl's tent. Now you may think that being in the girl's tent and having the cute little lined wicker basket open that she is sewing or purling or making clothes or some such thing. Not at all! She's attaching a 'popper' to the end of a whip - which in this case is a piece of nylon that make it easy to make that loud snapping sound when you crack the whip. (For those of you who are confused, here is a cool reference site for whips. Just in case you need it. And no, I don't want to know why you might need it.)
(Photo: Mission)
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Ok, I don't want to get off-topic, but if I didn't this would not be like the other Surgeon's Journals, so let's just go for it. I have a problem with the popper. Many, many years ago I bought a whip because I liked Indiana Jones, who can use a whip to do things that no one has ever been able to do, while offhandedly telling his dad that it "is just kiddie play."
(Photo: Not sayin')
(Photo: Weird people)
Now, I never put a popper on my whip because 1) Indiana Jones didn't
have one and 2) I didn't know about it. (You can see Indy without popper
at left. Ok, you can't see that because I couldn't find
a cool picture of him that showed the end of the whip, but just trust me.)
Since the popper makes it easy to crack the whip, it's something Indy
just wouldn't do. Besides, you haven't lived until you've tried to crack
a whip with nothing but a fall on it and had it snap you in the head
instead. So I am suspicious of the popper and want nothing more to do
with it. Also, I just want to say that I am also suspicious of people
who have so much time on their hands that they dress their dogs in
costumes like the one at right which I found
while searching for a pic of Indy and the end of the whip. Wait...what
were we talking about?
(Photo: Mission)
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And now, because you demanded it, above we have a series of "living history" photos showing Jay lighting his pipe. Yes, the tension is palpable as we all wonder what will happen next. (You should feel fortunate that I only posted about 1/3 of the photos I took of this breathlessly exciting sequence.) Yep. Nothing but the best for my readers. Yep.
(Photo: Mission)
As strange as we re-enactors are dressing it hot clothes and perspiring
through them in the middle of a park on hot sunny day in the middle of
Put-in-Bay, we still can't hold a candle to the tourists. So I thought
I'd share a couple of stories and photos of the folks wandering around
the park.
At left, we have a Green Black Sheep
full of daughters. Their father asked me if they could get in the boat for
this picture. I know he was the father because I asked him if they were his
and he immediately said that I better not have any designs on them. (You're
worried about a goofy guy dressed as a pirate hooking up with your teens
while you're standing right there?) As an aside, I don't think you couldn't
pay me enough to be a father to daughters. (And we haven't even gotten to
the part of the Journal where I tell you about Sam, Mike and Jay...)
While Shannon and I were standing under the shade of a tree in the corner of the park nearest our site, two women literally jumped out of a golf cart and raced up to us breathlessly asking Shannon if he would pose for them. (Below left.) Now a lot of women like photographing him, but they usually don't leap headlong out of carts for that opportunity. Turns out they were on a scavenger hunt and they needed a photo of someone with a mullet. Shannon protested that his hair is long all over and thus does not technically qualify as a mullet, but they were most persistent and he finally just gave in.
Being a beautiful day in a park which borders many (and when I say many, I mean many) bars on an island known for its party atmosphere, I know you'll all agree that the first thing you would be most likely to do when you arrived would be to get into your swim suit and...surf the 'net? One girl (below center and right) apparently thought so. She showed in the late morning and stayed on that picnic table for several hours with her laptop. (I doubt I could even see the screen with the glare.)
(Photo: Mission)
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There were all sorts of wedding-related activities going on during the weekend. I was told by those who were around Friday night frequenting the bars that there were countless numbers of bachelorette parties, which reminded me of the Arena District in Columbus. Being a party-oriented environment at night, I could see why this was. However, some folks had apparently gone all out and decided to have their actual wedding on the island. (Because receptions aren't already expensive enough - you need to go somewhere where the room rate on the weekends makes the Riveria look competitive.) Apparently they only had enough cash left to rent one car (below left), which meant all the bridesmaids (below center) and groomsmen (below right) wound up in gold carts.
(Photo: Mission)
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In addition to the stranger happenings, there were lots of kids around, many in pirate garb. It was a very kid-friendly event, even if Put-in-Bay has that whole Key West aura about it that makes you wonder what people do with their kids when they bring them there. (Take them to the Pirate Fest!) So I thought I'd run off on my usual tangent showing kids in pirate outfits. Several parents assured me that their kids (usually boys) were very fond of pirates and were really enjoying the event.
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Above we have two brothers watching a presentation at the girl's tent. (Yes, learning!) One of them looks sort of like a medieval merchant or something, doesn't he? When they realized I was photographing them learn, I got a look. That's some black feather there, son. Above right middle, another pair of brothers gaze agog at the glory of all the pirate stuff taking place in the park. Above right, Jack Sparrow could have learned a thing or two from this kid. The great thing about kids is that to them anachronism is just a word adults use.
And what would a pirate event be without violence? Below left a sword fight seems to be taking place. Sort of. (What is that boy aiming at, anyhow?) Below center and left: A pistol fight takes place with the boys in grey and red taking out the boy in white while my bike looks on. (My bike is inured to youth violence for some reason.) After dispatching the boy in white, the two perps start aiming for random folks in the crowd. Isn't piracy just a peck of wholesome fun?
(Photo: Mission)
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