Granny Gruesome and her Gleeful Tales

Granny Gruesome’s Gleeful Tales is a wonderful combination of Story Telling and Music done by Glee Violette (former Music Director at King Richard’s) which was created in 2010.

Granny Gruesome

(Picture provided by Paul Shaughnessy)

Granny Grue even has a fan page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Granny-Gruesomes-Gleeful-Tales/101890523190737?sk=info so you can find out more information about what she does.

Granny Grue can entertain young kids (I know, my son – age 6 is a big fan) to adults alike.  She is very personable and very interactive with the audience.  She also walks about with her Roso the Whatsis, a strange pet on her shoulder for people to stare at or pet with intrigue.

We hope that you catch one of her shows at Winslowshire, and enjoy the show!

Winslowshire – A Renaissance Festival to benefit Winslow Farm

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Phinn Volt Enterprises

Name: Gia Volterra de Saulnier

e mail: infownslowshire@gmail.com

 

Winslowshire – A Renaissance Festival to benefit Winslow Farm

By: Gia Volterra de Saulnier

Norton, MA – Imagine a place that seems to be a step back in time with maidens, knights in shining armor, fairies, pirates and more who are all part of a Renaissance Festival called Winslowshire Festival for the Animals.

Winslowshire Festival was created in 2008 as a fundraiser for Winslow Farm Animal Sanctuary, a “Stay for life” animal sanctuary that helps abused animals and offers a tranquil setting. 

Phinn Volt Enterprise’s Director Richard Saulnier has been pleasantly surprised at the continued support for this coming year.  “I’m ecstatic that we’ve been able to continue this long with 40 vendors and 20 performers that seem to want to keep coming back!”  His wife Gia agrees, “We couldn’t be more pleased that Winslowshire seems to be like a little vacation even for vendors and performers alike.  We’ve really strived to make this a very family friendly event so that all ages can have a great time while supporting a fantastic cause.”

In fact, Winslowshire has some previous vendors and performers returning from earlier seasons and some new vendors as well including; pottery from PupDog Pottery (http://www.pupdogpottery.com) , T York Stained Glass (http://www.etsy.com/shop/LdyIsis) , Parrish Relics (http://www.parrishrelics.com) and Ironwood Artisans (http://www.ironwoodartisans.com) just to name a few.

The two day event will be from June 25^th and 26^th of 2011 from 11 am to 5 pm each day.  Admission is $12.00 for adults and $7.00 for kids ages 5 – 13 and kids under 4 will be free. 

Specials include: Two day pass for $18.00, Come dressed in Renaissance Attire for $2.00 off and a Veterans’ Discount of $2.00 (must show military ID).  Specials may not be combined.

For more information about the event, please go to the website at http://www.winslowshire.com

Cucina Dolce; scrumptious brownies and more!

Ah Cucina Dolce, a “Sweet kitchen” indeed….lots of amazingly delicious brownies and other sweet treats were available last June and she is coming back this June to Winslowshire Festival for the Animals!

Dawn DeMeo has been making brownies from scratch for over 10 years (that I can remember) and all kinds!  She makes Cheesecake flavored to Smores with marshmellows and chocolate mixed in.  She decided to create her own company now called Cucina Dolce that has been going since 2009.

Her brownies are the best I’ve ever tasted (and I’m an expert when it comes to Brownies ;)) and I can tell you that they are just out of this world good.

We hope that this entices you to come to Winslowshire Festival, and to have at least ONE brownie while you are at the festival this coming June!

Since her website is still under construction, you can find her on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Cucina-Dolce/150047661699358?sk=wall and you can learn more information there!

Diamonds and Dinasours, one of our eggcellent vendors – and Updates

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun on the eggcellent (my six year old likes making egg jokes now) but our vendor that we’ve had for now 3 years called Diamonds and Dinosaurs carries these marble type rocks as smooth as silk and put into little bags called “Eggies”.

Karen and Brad Luscombe have owned Diamonds and Dinosaurs in Brockton, MA and have supported us since the very beginning of Winslowshire.

Not only are they very knowledgeable about what they carry, but they are also very personable as to how to handle younger patrons as well.

They do a lot of different craft shows around the MA area, so do try to check them out.

____________________________

Updates:

The cast and crew are already hard at work on new songs for Finale (which may be moved) and we are already filled to the brim with performers.  We now have some new vendors coming for next June and have some returning faces as well, such as The Bawdy Buccaneers and Windbourne.

More to come soon, but in the meantime, the dates have been set for June 25th and 26th of 2011 and a press release will go out very shortly!  Don’t forget you can always find us at our website at http://www.winslowshire.com to get more details or you can find our fan page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/winslowshire?ref=ts so please “like” us today!

Holiday ideas with Winslowshire Vendors – part II

As you may or may not know, Winslowshire Festival for the Animals had 45 or so vendors last June, and I hope to get to all of them, but for now, here is another list of some ideas that you can get for you or your loved ones for the Holiday season!

1) Antika Nueva (http://www.antikanueva.com) has some unique and wonderful jewelry (all hand made) as well as some great soap (my personal favorite is the Chocolate and Roses, smells so good) and some great goo (yes, goo, trust me it is wonderful stuff! I believe she has an Etsy site so you can probably shop on line and you can get it in time for the Holiday season!

2) If you have someone in your family that likes ink on their bodies (and no, this is not for the wee ones), Art Gecko Tattoos has Gift Certificates http://www.artgeckotattoos.com/ so that can fit nicely into any stocking!

3) Wulfemoon Studios http://wulfemoonstudios.com/ has some great artwork available on tote-bags, post cards, little pictures and regular size pictures of fairy art and more!

4) Our pals at Diddleydeets Scents has some amazing scents and soaps (as well as medieval games too) and they are online at http://www.diddlelydeets.com/index.html – and I think they just had a sale recently so do check them out!

5) Have a garden or know someone that loves gardening?  I suggest getting in contact with our friends from Cornerstone Creations http://www.myspace.com/gargoylepete they have great garden benches, gnomes and mushrooms all made of concrete so it will last them a lifetime!

6) Silver Moon Herbals has some great herbal items for the bath and pampering and they can be found at http://www.silvermoonherbals.com/index.html

7) Now is the time for cloaks!  So many choices for hand painted cloaks from our friends Fairie Tailor http://www.myspace.com/fairietailor or you could find other hand made cloaks (and other items) at Cloak and Dagger (http://www.cloakmaker.com/)

8) I know that The Stone Lady http://thestonelady.net/ has some wonderful readings and will be at First Night Rockport in Rockport, MA so if you are in the local area, I highly suggest you come out to meet her and get a reading!

9) Speaking of readings, you can also get another reading from The Artists Muse http://www.alisonsmagick4.com/ who also makes little heart packets and does natal charts as well!  So fascinating!

10) Going to a masquerade party?  Need a leather masque?  Look no further than our friends who make wonderful masques called BlackSwann Masques http://blackswannmasques.com/ – amazing artisan and craftsman ship that will leave your friends talking about it for months to come!

Don’t forget that some of our performers also have cds for sale and I’m sure that any music lover would love to have one in their stocking or underneath their tree.

Happy Holidays!  I will try to post one more time to be sure I get everyone that vended with us for the 2010 season!

Second Annual – Holidays with Winslowshire Vendors

I did this blog last year and I did a section all about ideas that you might like for the upcoming Holiday season with some of the vendors that we had.

Here is my second annual Holidays with Winslowshire Vendors from 2010 season.  Some of them do take credit card and on line shopping, so please check their website for more details.

For those art lovers, they might like Andrew Volpe http://www.andyvolpe.com/index.html – statement from his website  “Aside from Reenacting / Living History, I am also an Artist, specializing in works on paper, pencil drawing, as well as Printmaking.”

Or maybe a science fiction book by Resa Nelson http://www.resanelson.com/ – she just came out with a brand new novel called “Our Lady of the Absolute”  about a Modern Day society based on Ancient Egypt.

Are you or your family looking for flowers for Thanksgiving , Christmas or Hanukkah (or Winter Solstice)?  You might try http://www.glimpseofgaia.com/Home_Page.html Glimpse of Gaia has some lovely flowers that would look really nice on any table.

If any of your family cooks or likes to cook, you will love (and I mean LOVE) Cucina Aurora http://www.cucinaaurora.com/ who has wonderfully delicious fused olive oils, spices and there is a cookbook also available for recipes.

Oh and if you still get hungry, you can always check out our friends with Nourish Lexington http://www.nourishlexington.com/ who always has amazing food and is an open space to just relax in (oh and they have live music sometimes too).

Please do check out these vendors this Holiday season, and I’ll post more next month to be fair (ha! a Pun!) to everyone.

Enjoy and be safe everyone!

 

 

So far so good – Dates for next year also announced

I just wanted to say thank you all for supporting us and Winslowshire Festival for the Animals.  Our fan page on Facebook keeps growing daily and we are working hard already for a new season coming for next June of 2011.

Speaking of which, the new dates for next year will be June 25th and 26th of 2011.  Due to the limitations of the farm, we are only going to do the one weekend.

So far, we’ve sent out an e mail to our vendors that we had last June and already have a great response.  We’ve actually got 2 contracts in from Alchemy http://magicalalchemy.com/ and The Artist’s Muse http://www.alisonsmagick4.com/ who does readings and natal charts (she did one for me, and it was really interesting!).

We also have Nourish Restaurant very interested in coming back, and we feel that they did a fabulous job with never being to a Renaissance Festival before!  So a great Huzzah to them!  Their website is http://www.nourishlexington.com/ who also has an amazing restaurant in Lexington, MA so please do go and check them out if you live in the local area, I highly suggest it!

More updates will come in as soon as we get them, and stay tuned!

Those wonderful singing Vagabonds – Iron Hill Vagabonds

If you came to Winslowshire this June, you were lucky to hear The Iron Hill Vagabonds as that was their only New England appearance for 2010.  If you didn’t get to go, these are two brothers that have a musical duo between a guitar and a violin (fiddle) with a mix of traditional songs and instrumental pieces.

Brothers Mark and Ehrich Gauvin portray the Vagabonds and perform all over the Country now in Texas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana and more!  They also have a website at http://www.ironhillvagabonds.com that tells you more about their upcoming appearances and you can also now buy their CD online (great CD by the way, I highly suggest you get one!) called Whiskey & Promises which you can buy at http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/whiskey-promises/12103734.

These guys are not only very talented but also very entertaining to watch and listen to.  They also have a blog at http://ironhillvagabonds.blogspot.com/ so you can learn more about them and find out what they are like.  If you are on Facebook, they also have a fan page that you can support them at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ironhillvagabonds?ref=ts.

We hope that they had fun performing at Winslowshire, and we sure hope that they come back for next year!

Fairies and much more imaginative drawings from Wulfemoon Studios

My new friend Maryann English-Betie is a fabulous fantasy artist who is somewhat new to the Renaissance Faire community and was finally able to be a vendor with us this year of 2010.

Her art can be very sweet but haunting and all of the drawings that she does has a definite characteristic to them.  Not only does she do just the drawings, but then she will make tote bags or even mouse pads (yes, those silly pads you use when you use your computer mouse, shoot, I need one of those).  For more of her products you can browse,  (hopefully) buy and they will be shipped to your home, see this website at http://www.zazzle.com/Wulfemoon .

Her other website is at http://wulfemoonstudios.com/ so you can browse and see the other art that she has done as well.  Her next show will be September 18th at Western Pagan Pride Day http://www.wmppd.org/ so hopefully you can get a chance to meet her in person (she won’t bite, I promise!).

She also has a fan page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Wulfemoon-Studios/263092036773?ref=ts .

I hope you get a chance to peruse her artwork and get chance to know her as well.

Winslow Farm Animal Sanctuary – updates and news

Winslowshire Festival for the Animals is our Renaissance Festival that we put on for the Winslow Farm Animal Sanctuary (http://www.winslowfarm.com) that helps over 300 to 350 abused and abandoned animals of all kinds (mostly farm animals).

They also have a Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Winslow-Farm-Animal-Sanctuary/104313059618427?ref=ts so if you are on Facebook, please join their fan site so they can gain more people to them, and don’t forget to tell your friends and family to visit them!

When you visit the farm itself, it is just a very peaceful place with a lot of charming animals that come over to say “hello” to you and you just fall in love with the place.  Debra White has been the owner and President of Winslow Farm since 1996.  The latest newsletter that they have online is at http://www.winslowfarm.com/newsletters/Outpost2009pdfv.pdf .

There are two new baby animals that she put up a pen for who have become “brothers”.  A baby goat named Cotton and a baby sheep named Sturbridge.   If one is without the other for a short time, whining and baas or maas come out of the animals.

Unfortunately, Pumpkin the beautiful Arab horse that they had, had to be put down due to colic, I know Half Moon the Pinto (blind horse) will miss her terribly.

Pandy, the border Collie is somewhat new to the farm and likes to fetch any and all pine cones.  She will not leave you alone until you pass her the pine cone.

Again, Winslowshire Festival became a wonderful place that showed how a shire might look back in that time.

We thank Winslow Farm for letting us play and be our goofy selves and we hope that our patrons and customers fell in love with it too.