“O, where are you going?” “To Scarborough fair,”
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
“Remember me to a lass who lives there,
For once she was a true love of mine.“And tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme,
Without any seam or needlework,
And then she shall be a true love of mine.“And tell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
—Scarborough Fair, traditional English ballad
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme,
Where no water sprung, nor a drop of rain fell,
And then she shall be a true love of mine.”
I have a historical roleplay avatar with the actual legacy name of Scarborough Fair (I got very lucky; the last name “Fair” was only available for a two-week period way back in 2008, so I snapped up Vanity Fair and Scarborough Fair immediately!).
Scarborough Fair is usually a medieval troubadour (although she passes with ease in any age from Ancient Greece to the Victorian era). Today, I decided to pay a visit to the Second Life Renaissance Festival, an annual fundraising event for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life (entrance SLURL; official website).
Evocative period music sets the atmosphere in six sims devoted to the world of historical roleplay, with a focus on the European Medieval and Renaissance eras, but touching on other places and periods as well. The Minstrel’s Corner shipyard dock stage offers a variety of live entertainment throughout the festival (here’s the schedule). There’s also storytelling, jousting and archery tournaments, melee fighting, and classes for you to learn how to have the best role-play experience in Second Life, on everything from “Role Play Basics 101” to “Playing Psychopaths”. Check the events calendar for all the details.
And, of course, there is shopping! Many vendors set up elaborate booths to showcase their wares, and many offer limited-edition items for the Renaissance Festival, with some or all of the proceeds going to support the work of the American Cancer Society. Here’s a list of all the vendors participating, with SLURLs to their stores.
There’s a Stag Hunt, where you are looking among the vendor booths for a small stone statue of a stag. Here are a few of the hunt prizes, modeled by Scarborough Fair (with one exception as noted below, all hunt prizes are L$25 each).
There’s also a gacha area at the festival, with an array of tempting goodies from many participating vendors to get you to part with some of your hard-earned Lindens! I honestly cannot believe my good luck—I actually won the entire fatpack of this beautiful jewelry set, created by Ari-Pari exclusively for the Renaissance Festival, on the very first pull! Not a bad result for only L$50 spent! Like I said, I was flabbergasted at my good luck!
The Renaissance Festival runs from Sept. 25th to Oct. 4th, 2020. See you there! I leave you with an eight-minute YouTube video by SL vlogger Lexy Nexen, who gives a good overview of what you can see and do at the festival:
