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.

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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!

Getting pretty braids from Ye Olde Hair Shoppe

If you’re a lady of old time fashion, you would most likely have long enough hair to braid it in a way to make it more renaissance style.  Julie DiMarzio from Ye Olde Hair Shoppe can help you out.  Even though she has short hair herself she knows hair and how to make it look like something from the past with hair wraps.

She does travel from different Faires.  We met her at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire last fall and also at the New Hampshire Renaissance Faire this past May.  She was all excited to be at Winslowshire Festival this year (her first year) and loved her spot across from the Trellis stage where she could watch different performers for both days and near the privies (always a bonus).

She was happy to be close to home in MA so we hope that she comes back again for next year’s event, which we will post about hopefully shortly.

Thank you all for your support!

Well, Winslowshire Festival was a grand success thanks to all of you who have supported us!  The Winslow Farm Animal Sanctuary www.winslowfarm.com) made roughly $11,500.00 (not including expenses)!  That will help them support all the animals that live on the farm.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our volunteers that helped set vendors up, helped breakdown vendors and helped vendors in general.  This was duly noted not just amongst us (the directors) but also with our vendors who gave us rave reviews for our customer service on our fan page.

We also would like to thank all of our new vendors and of course all of the vendors who have supported us for the past two years to be part of our family, we hope that you did well, and very shortly I will start blogging one vendor/performer at each post during the year to keep the blog fresh and updated as well as to inform the people that could not attend.

Where would we be without all the fabulously fantastic talent we had?  We would like to give a BIG shout out to Samurai Taiko/Samurai Academy http://www.samuraiacademy.org/4FF56208-BD92-409C-BE9E-41CB2D1B9B5E.html performing and volunteering their time to show us how the Taiko Drumming is all about, it was a true honor to have them there.

We would also like to thank Del’s Lemonade for donating $0.50 for every cup of Del’s Lemonade went to The Magical Moon Foundation http://www.themagicalmoonfoundation.org/home.html which helps children with cancer.  We’d also like to thank all the people that have sent us pictures, videos and more, keep them coming!

Limited Tee Shirts have been made, to get yours, please e mail us or leave a comment and we’ll send you the information!

HUZZAH and Thank you for your support of Winslowshire Festival for the Animals – Third Year!

Faire Holiday Season – Part Deux

As I mentioned on the last post, since we had so many different vendors, I didn’t want to load all of the information on one post.

Here are 12 more vendors that I hope you can support during this lovely Holiday season that supported Winslowshire last June (and hoping they come back for next year of 2010!)

1. Storied Threads (www.storiedthreads.com) has beautifully hand made attire for both men and women; including hats, accessories, embroidery and more.

2. Lost Art Chains (sorry no website information) has great hand crafted metal ware for chain maille and other things like bracelets or even things made for stuffed Bunnies.

3. Antika Nueva  (www.antikanueva.com) has wonderful hand made jewelry, soaps, some amazing healing goo (trust me – I love the Raw Shea Comfrey Goo – I swear by that stuff!) and other really cool things – plus she is just really cool.

4. Aetas Designs also makes wonderful hand made quality renaissance attire as well as wedding renaissance attire, so those of you who might be getting married, would want to check them out their website is aetasdesigns.com

5.  BlackSwann Masques (sorry no website) have amazingly beautiful leather masks.  We bought two at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire and we got so many compliments on them!

6.  For those of you who like magical things, you would most want to check out Alchemy magicalalchemy.com who also has some great trim for those of you who are the crafty types

7. If you are in need of a special kind of cloak or cape, look no further than our friends from Fairie Tailor www.myspace.com/fairietailor who makes one of a kind cloaks and capes just made especially for you or your loved one!

8. For the musicians of the house, you might want to look into Drum And Whistle www.drumandwhistle.com– wonderful renaissance instruments that you could play today!

9. Do you love fantasy art? You should then check out Fantasy Dimensions www.fantasydimensions.com – this artist Kirin Stein Heller is a most wondrous and amazingly talented artist!  She starts with one medium and then adds another and another which then makes her art very interesting and lovely.

10. Ravensbeck www.ravensbeck.org is a bunch of artisans that co-op together, so I’m sure that they make that would be great as a last minute gift for that someone special

11. Emry’s Fynery www.etsy.com/shop/EmrysFynery has some beautiful hand made jewelry which includes some cameos and other things.

12. Treasures is just a place where you can get some kitschy items for the Pirate lover in all of us.  They don’t have a website for that, but for those of you who like tattoos, you should definitely check out her shop  www.artgeckotattoos.com and support her business as she is just a wonderful person and can help you decide on which tattoo you should get!

Okay, that’s it for part deux – more to come hopefully next week!

Pretty cloaks, capes and hats by Fairie Tailor

Fairie Tailor has been making hand made velveteen cloaks, capes, hats and other things for many many years, and currently you can find out more about them on Myspace on this website http://www.myspace.com/fairietailor You can also find them on http://fairietailor.angelfire.com

We were really lucky to have them for Winslowshire, and I do remember Linda Taylor (see, they used their name for the business…clever…) telling me that someone actually purchased one of their more expensive cloaks at Winslowshire.

I also remember seeing a patron walk in her booth with a jean jacket and coming out with a small cape and hat to match…that was a pretty fabulous transformation if I say so myself!

They are really great people and could probably do anything your wish or which your mind imagines.  I really like the fact that these cloaks are washable!  (Hand washed, but still…great news for us who actually perform in the rain, mud and otherwise not so pleasant weather!)

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Other New England Faire news:

CT Renaissance Faire is starting very shortly, do visit their website for more information.  http://www.ctfaire.com/

King Richard’s Faire is also starting very shortly, do visit their website for more information.  http://www.kingrichardsfaire.net/

Let’s get magical with Alchemy

Alchemy is a merchant that sells ritual things, herbal things and jewelry. Their website is  http://magicalalchemy.com/ .

Tisha Harris and her husband are both really wonderful people and can answer any question you may have about what they carry.

They not only go to different Renaissance Faires around New England, but they also will ship right to your door!  They even have a gift registry for those of you who are getting married Pagan style or hand fasted…but they carry other items too, such as lovely jewelry and teas.

For those of you who like to sew (um, that would NOT be me) they also have trim available that you can purchase as well, and they do have pictures up on their site, so you can take a look at it for yourselves.

Please do go to their site and tell them Winslowshire sent you.

Getting Foolish with Tom Foolery

This year for Winslowshire, we were able to contract Tom Foolery who is a very silly, funny and engaging.  What does Tom Foolery actually do?  A little bit of magic, humor and just all around silliness.

According to  their website  http://www.fooltales.com/Fooltales/main.html?src=%2FFooltales%2Findex.html#1,0

“Jay Menice has created an unforgettable character in Tom Foolery. To the point where people just call him “Tom”. Known in renaissance faires across New England, children’s (and adult’s!) eyes light up at the sight of him. He’s just plain silly!!

Who’s That Fool?

Jay has been performing for more than ten years…beginning with “Bingo the Clown” for the Ground Round. (Yes, remember when the Ground Round had Bingo the Clown? And peanuts and popcorn that you could throw on the ground?!) In fact, Jay was the last Bingo in all of New England until they phased him out…

But that wasn’t enough for Jay! No! He had a taste of performing and making people laugh now. He wanted more. That’s when he and his buddy Jim created “The Noodle Brothers”. A medieval Laurel & Hardy team. Jay “Noodle” & Jim “Noodle” took on the roles of “Harley & Punch” in which Jay instantaneously became the fool to Jim’s straight man. The Noodle Brothers performed together for years at various renaissance faires, birthday parties & libraries, but eventually both Jay and Jim felt it was time to part ways.   As soon as they split, Jay became Tom Foolery and he’s been that way ever since!

Some call him “The Pun King”, others simply call him “Fool”. Still, as  you sit there watching him pull ping pong ball after ping pong ball out of his mouth, one would find it hard to believe that this man has a degree in Philosophy! –

And the world will gladly know Tom Foolery!
His act consists of magic, silliness, magic and more silliness! A very punny guy, you must be warned! Your sides WILL split!”

His wife also plays “Suzie Magoozy” who is a story teller that uses puppets at many numerous birthday parties and schools all around New England.

We actually met Jay while he was a Noodle brother, and also I found out that his old partner Jim Duggan, I actually went to High School with (talk about full circle!).

We also hired Tom Foolery for our son’s birthday party (my son is 5) and it was a really big hit with all the kids and I think the parents enjoyed it too!

So for your child’s next birthday or school’s next big event, do check out their website and give them a call!

Their next event will be at CT Renaissance Faire http://www.ctrenfaire.com

Hark! Here be all about Silvermane

If you have been to either last year of 2008 or this year of 2009, you must have seen Silvermane http://www.silvermane.com/acatalog/index2.html and their gigantic 25 foot pavilion tent up in the back corner next to the arena (do correct me if I’m wrong, but it is rather big).  Silvermane carries a lot of different items.  In fact, my husband and other people have called it The Walmart® of Renaissance Faires.

If you didn’t get a chance to come visit Winslowshire, that’s perfectly fine, as you can buy most of their items online!  I think they are also looking for people to help with selling at Renaissance Faires, so if you have any retail experience, do check out their website and you can tell Sven or Pat that Gia or Jass Phinn (my stage name) sent you.

From short daggers to belts, to children’s boffers to clothing, to a ball and chain (no not the married kind, although I do think that was the original meaning for it, but I’d have to check), they have reasonable prices with a very friendly helpful staff to help you each step of the way.

In fact, Silvermane was fabulous this year of 2009 as they provided Winslowshire (hopefully I don’t get them into too much trouble here) with prizes for the Dizzy Lizzie Lost her Marbles game and also gave two prizes for the raffle!  Talk about very generous!

You can next visit them this September at the following faires:

The Sands Pointe Faire (Port Washington, NY)  http://www.kingdomofacre.org/fairs.html#sandspoint

Ye Pyrate Brotherhood Faire (Long Island, NY)  http://www.yepyratebrotherhood.com/

Connecticut Renaissance Festival (CT)  http://www.ctfaire.com/

Sarasota Renaissance Festival (FL)  http://www.sarasotamedievalfair.com/