The first thing that one notices upon entering is the menagerie of people that populate the village. It is very easy to tell the difference between the die-hard "residents", the wannabe's, and the tourists.This obviously is one of the full-timers. These people seem content and amazingly at ease in their garb - most are very friendly, tolerating the influx of tourists into their domain in a trade-off that allows them to show off a skill, pose for photographs, or simply be themselves in a place that offers comfort and escape from the world at large. Most also speak exclusively in an English accent adopted from the Middle Ages. For an eccentric like me they offer a chance to rub elbows with some who have successfully found a way to live a lifestyle that is definitely "out-of-the-box".
For the neophytes and wannabe's there are vendors that will rent you a period costume so they can at least look like these guys and feel closer to fitting in the culture.
On my first trip to the Festival I brought a Philippino preacher...definitely the glasses-wearing, camera-toting tourist type that went crazy jumping from one of these guys to the next, getting pictures to share with the folks back home. Then it dawned on me that the next time a visiting preacher flies in on his first trip to the U.S., I should time it so that straight from the airport we drive to this place as soon as it opens, before the tourists crowd the place. Welcome to America!!
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