Sixteenth Century France Comes Alive At 13th Annual St. Louis Renaissance Faire

Sixteenth century France, complete with jousters, sword battles, strolling minstrels and belly dancers, is just a short drive or walk away when the St. Louis Renaissance Faire offers its month-long weekends and holiday stay starting Saturday at in Wentzville.

The Faire, in its 13th year, hits the ground running with Student Day 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today. Visitors can then enjoy all that a French celebration has to offer -- including music, comedy, merchants, craftspeople, food and drink -- from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and Memorial Day through June 5.

While the Faire is immensely entertaining, Faire president Bob Stanza said it is also intended to be educational.

"We want to give people an opportunity to learn about the way life was in Renaissance France from an interactive perspective that you just wouldn’t get from watching a movie and you’re not going to get from reading a book," he said.

With this emphasis on education, the Faire aims for a family version of life in the 1500s.

"One thing that’s a little unusual about this faire is we are probably much more kid-friendly than what people would typically experience at a Renaissance Faire," Stanza said. "It’s a little less bawdy than what a lot of other faires (of this type) are. ... We try to get the cast to focus on really involving the kids, so they can walk out of there with a feeling like, ‘Yeah, I went back to 1520 for a day.’ The adults will probably never really walk away with that – it’s not in them anymore. But to try and achieve that with the kids is a focus of our cast, and something I think we do very well."

Period crafts including pottery making, wood working, blacksmithing, glass blowing, soap making and more will be demonstrated. Special events will address daily life in the 16thcentury – how people survived in an environment sans grocery stores, washing machines, refrigerators, advanced medicine and health care, running water or indoor plumbing. For young people who get much of their information about the Renaissance from movies of questionable accuracy and books that may have gaps, a Renaissance Faire can be a "living history."

"For students who are learning about the Renaissance period in history, those sorts of things work out really well," Stanza said.

Teachers ask their middle school students, for instance, to interview a peasant, or a merchant, or someone who is a noble.

"Our cast then is actually bringing characters to life," Stanza said. "So this person who says she’s a basket weaver – yeah, she knows her station. She knows who her parents would have been, and what they would have done. And she knows she’s probably never been more than five miles from the place she was born."

Some things are surprising, Stanza said, like the fact that merchants could have been wealthier than some of the nobles. Many people at the time were journeymen, from the French word jour, which means day. It means they were day workers, working for a day’s wage and not necessarily knowing where the next day’s wage would come from. If you were an apprentice to a tradesman, you wouldn’t get paid a wage at all. Apprentices were fed, clothed and housed by their masters. Most people didn’t know how to read and had never seen the king. These are the kinds of things cast members can discuss.

"It’s important," Stanza said. "Right now, other than a textbook, most of history to people is what they see in a movie. It’s certainly very stylized, but in a lot of cases you don’t see the movies about the common folk."

While these "common folk" are not usually the subjects of historical books or movies, they were an integral part of society. Still, they led a mundane existence, so even the education-oriented St. Louis Renaissance Faire knows the festivities need some sparkle and pizzazz.

"It was a completely different lifestyle, which is why what we do is a festival day," Stanza said. "(The premise is) basically, the king and queen have come to this city. So along with them come people who want to entertain you, or maybe get a handout from you, or sell you something that they made. That’s what a festival day was about. And that’s really what we’re recreating."

In addition to the king and his court, there will be soldiers, gypsies, villagers, artisans and craftspeople, and all manner of entertainers, including minstrels, comedians, sword swallowers, acrobats, jugglers, dancers and more. Merchants will sell jewelry, pottery, leather goods, soaps and perfumes, honey, swords and shields, toys and costumes. Food for sale will include turkey legs, homemade pies and ice cream, spiced nuts, sandwiches and more.

The 150 cast members replicating this time gone by era strive for accuracy and make sure anachronisms such as cell phones, watches and modern clothing are nowhere to be seen.

"If you have anything that is non-appropriate (for the 16th century), it has to be hidden," Stanza said.

When most people attend a Renaissance Faire, they expect the performers to speak with English accents. But since the St. Louis area has a significant French history, organizers chose France as the setting. Lyon, France is a sister city to St. Louis, Stanza said, so the town recreated for the Faire is called Petit Lyon. The accents, naturally, will be French.

"If there’s a difficulty, it’s not as much the accent as (it is) trying to get that suspension of disbelief (among spectators)," said Stanza, who is also a performer.

When cast members speak with an English accent, they’re still speaking English, so they can be understood.

"But when you get into French," Stanza said, adopting a spot-on French accent, "you can speak weeth ze French aak-sent, but you are speek-eeng in Aing-lesh. Thees ees tuf-fair to make peeple onderstand what you are trying to do."

There are several crowd favorites at the Faire, starting with the jousting.

"Our jousters have been there for years, and they’re certainly well thought of, and a big event," Stanza said. "I remember Student Days – there’s nothing like a bunch of 13-year-old boys to tell you how fake something is. They were making some comments about the jousters as they came into each other, and one of their lances – it had to hit perfectly on the shield as far as what it did – it just splintered. It was just one of those things where I looked over at those kids," Stanza said, laughing. "I don’t think they realized the impact of something like that."

The Chuvani belly dancers and Three Pints Gone, a group from Wisconsin that sings traditional Celtic ballads, are also perennial favorites.

"Celtic minstrels are something a lot of people connect to," Stanza said. "Music hits a chord – excuse the pun – with people. When you’re listening to something that was written 300 years ago – it may not have actually been 500 years ago – but it just brings those visions of a simpler time than what everybody deals with now. That’s something that I think a lot of people enjoy about it."

It’s not that people would want to live without electricity, TV, cell phones and modern appliances, Stanza said. But strolling the recreated streets of 16th century France, having an ale while watching costumed performers or listening to minstrels represents "a less complex time."

It’s something people can’t get in their lives, and something may people love.

"In today’s high tech world, I find it a nice counter-balance to what I live most of the rest of my life," he said.

The Faire takes place May 14-15, 21-22, 28-30 and June 4-5. Tickets are $14.95 adults, $7.95 for children ages 6-13 and free for children 5 and under. Military, police, firefighters and seniors 65 and older get a $2 discount.

Tickets are available at the gate or the Renaissance Faire Web site. For more information, call 636-928-4141.