MARCUS BOWYER of the The Brotherhood of the Arrow & the Sword, is providing archery demonstrations Saturday at Richmond Renaissance Days this weekend.
This weekend the annual Richmond Days festival will transport visitors back into time as it celebrates this year’s renaissance theme with events ranging from horse-drawn wagon rides to jousting at the waterfront.
Victoria Boundy, Richmond’s Community and Business Development Director, said the renaissance theme was suggested when it was discovered there are no longer any renaissance fairs in the state. Richmond Days Friday evening and Saturday will offer what she called a mini-renaissance fair as the limited space and resources the organizers could only do so much. The event has many of the same events and those popular events Saturday such as the lobster crate races starting at noon, boat rides to Swan Island, pontoon boat rides and the 10 a.m. parade. Every year Boundy said organizers try to mix it up with different activities as well.
Friday
Friday events are childoriented and begin at 6 p.m. with games at waterfront park, a children’s parade at 6:30 p.m., cupcake decorating contest at 6:45 p.m. and the Woodside One Wheelers are scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. The outdoor movie at the waterfront park at 8:30 p.m. is “The Sword in the Stone,” and is dependent on weather as some of the other events may be.
During the festival Boundy noted there will be a stone with a sword in it for children to try to remove.
Saturday
This year’s parade will reflect the theme of Richmond Days more as there is more participation and some of the daytime performers will be in the parade. Southard Museum will have some medieval, renaissance activities, Boundy said.
At the core of the event however, will be the knights in armor and fair ladies camped out at the waterfront for some hands-on fun, Boundy said. The Brotherhood of the Arrow and Sword will have an education based military encampment open to the public. Members will provide educational and entertaining demonstrations of life as it was on the 15th century battlefield, including with live steel combat using dulled weapons while dressed in period armor. There will also be archery demonstrations and a bowyer will be showing the public how to make bows.
The comedian troupe Corr Thieves will perform while also dressed in period armor and belly dancing troupe Shimmynanigans will perform as well as teach anyone from the public wanting to learn the art of the belly dance.
“We’re really excited about it,” Boundy said of this year’s lineup. Everyone in Richmond comes out to the event, which generates a lot of community pride, and it is always nice to bring in people from out of town so they can see how beautiful Richmond’s waterfront is.
There will be horse-drawn wagon rides this year to make parking easier with a fun way to get around. The wagon will travel High Street (town office parking lot, Marcia Buker parking lot), down Main Street to Front Street to Kimball Street, then Southard Street back to Main Street. Those parking at the town office and Houdlette Field lots have to walk to Marcia Buker to be picked up. Parking is available at the Richmond High School on Main Street after 11 a.m., but patrons will need to walk down as far as High Street to catch the horse-drawn wagon.
The Drum Church on Pleasant Street will host a chicken barbecue from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and several food vendors will be at the waterfront park: Ye Olde English Fish & Chips; Mr. & Mrs. Sausage; Kabayan Philippine Foods; Nita Lunch; Aucoin Concessions and Aucoin Lemonade and Fruit Smoothies Stand.
The Maine Facial Hair Club will return to Richmond with a facial hair contest on the waterfront at 3:30 p.m. Ski’s Shrimp Run, a large crew of scooterists, will leave Topsham at noon bound for Richmond. There will be a book sale at 9 a.m. in front of Isaac F. Umberhine Library at 86 Main St.
A youth Shakespearean theater group SMASH will perform scenes Saturday from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Waterfront Gazebo followed by Celtic rock band Prydein at 7 p.m.
Prydein, an American Celtic rock band hailing from Vermont, boasts a vocalist, guitarist, bagpiper, base and drums, Boundy said. Their music is described as traditional highland bagpiping mixed with modern rock flavor. The band is a staple of the Highland Games. Their two-hour performance will take the festival to the concluding fireworks display, which starts at 9:15 p.m. on the waterfront.
Event sponsors include The Old Goat, The Bank of Maine, Pigment Art, Kincer Funeral Home and The Flower Spot.
Everyone is encouraged to dress up in keeping with the renaissance theme. For more information and a full schedule, subject to change, visit the town’s Facebook page or its event page at http://richmondmaine.com/richmonddays celebration.aspx.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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