I’ve been attending King Richard’s Faire since I was in college. I really enjoy going and seeing all the acts, eating the food and looking for fun things to photograph. I also love all the little shops with the hand made artisan items like leather book covers, pet dragons, metalwork and more.

For the past few years my family has been hosted by King Richard’s Faire to attend. This year we went on Labor Day which was on opening weekend. We always get there right before the doors open. this year we caught the whole welcoming skit and got to see some of the actors before the day started. We were quite entertained by roving musician Angus McPherson. He would play music and argue with a pirate. He was very entertaining.

While we waited for the doors to open we looked at the schedule of events and decided what we would try to see for the day. There is a lot of things to do and many great acts. Be sure to take some cash with you to tip the acts for there great performances. That is how they get paid at the Faire. Eva was thrilled to be the one to go up and give each performer money after enjoying such amazing shows. Here are the Five Must See Things at King Richard’s Faire for 2014 (according to what we saw and did on our trip).

Top Five Must See Things at King Richard’s Faire 2014

5. Piers, the Perveyor of Pickles

Everyone knows that You have to get yourself a giant Turkey leg at the Faire. But did you know that there were a bunch of other food options, Kettle Corn, Ice Cream, Mead and of course no trip is complete without a Half Sour Pickle from Piers, The Perveryor of Pickles. Piers is actually a friend of mine. He’s a comedian and a very good one. We enjoy visiting with him each year and of course getting a pickle for the kids. I prefer Kosher Dill myself. Just find Piers over by the Tournament field and check out his fun antics.

4. The King’s Tournament

There are three acts that happen at the Tournament Field. They are all part of a whole. We usually catch the second act called the King’s Tournament. The first act is called the Challenge of Champions and the third act is the Joust to the Death. The Kings Tournament has some fun jousting to cheer for. Each corner of the tournament field gets to cheer for one of the champions. There are people around the tournament field that are there to motivate the crowd to cheer louder.

3. Daniel, Duke of Danger

The first act that we watched on our day at the Faire was Daniel, the Duke of Danger. Daniel does acrobatic stunts like climbing a ladder to nowhere, juggling flaming pins and standing on his head. Daniel also makes plenty of jokes and had the crowd laughing. Daniel also involves the crowd into some of his antics. My favorite trick was when he flipped one of the flaming pins and caught it on the wrong end.

2. Hrafn Irish War Pipes & Drums with Tamsyn the Belly Dancer

We took a break a little before lunch and shared a chicken fingers basket while we watched two bagpipers and a drummer play and a belly dancer perform to the music. You wouldn’t think that belly dancing and traditional Irish War Pipes & Drums went together but their group made it work so well. Tamsyn, the belly dancer was so captivating that I took many photos using continous mode to capture photos that could be turned into Google Auto Awesome Gifs. I think the one below was pretty cool.

1. Vicious and Delicious

This duo of acrobats was so much fun that we caught the show twice. Once on the King’s Stage and once on the Cottage Stage. While the Auto awesome gif below wasn’t their coolest trick it was the one that looks the smoothest when made auto awesome. I tried shooting the trick above in continuous mode to capture the popping of the balloon but the camera stopped short of the actual pop. The was Eva’s favorite act. She insisted that we go see them a second time right before we left for the day.

Bonus Things

If you have young kids then you must attend school. Either Princess Academy or Knight School. These activities take place at Kid’s Cove and gives kids a chance to meet the princesses of the realm and also the Queen. Eva loved this activity so much last year and the year before that this year she made a perler bead heart to present to the Queen as a gift. It was so nice to see Eva thinking of doing something like this for the Queen.

One shop that we visited this year was the Dragon Pets shop. For between $20 and $35 kids can purchase a little dragon that wraps around their wrists. Eva had to have one. Andrew was asleep by that time so we did not get one for him. The dragon has claimed a spot with Eva at bedtime, too. It glows in the dark and she wraps it around the metal headboard as a guardian and protector. She has also given us explicit directions to take care of it while she is at school.

I really liked these dragons and was tempted to buy my own.