OUR HISTORY

Back in 1990-91 Andy & I were just a "new" couple. Andy told me we were going to a Renaissance Festival with Graeme, Mark, Jesse and an old friend Kathy (Red). Ok, I didn't know what a renaissance festival was, so I was told and then Andy said "we are dressing in costume." What?!? Like I knew where to begin on that one. But, my mother gave me a bunch of my grandmother's old clothes and I went as a gypsy. Back then, we would go just a weekend or 2, for the day. It didn't take us long to get hooked on it. When we found out they had a campground..our future kings decided to camp. Mark had the first GP...he got it during his short stint in the Army and Andy told him to get it out and set it up. So, at first...Marks GP was the "hub" of the campsite. We really were getting into the festival at that point. Along the way, we met Paul, Blackstar and Eddy...Chaos. These were the originators of Chaos. Andy eventually got tired of sleeping in a small pop up tent and went to an army surplus store and got us a GP of our own. Mark updated his GP with a newer one and passed the GP onto Graeme. Greg was also around at this time, living with Mark, Andy & myself. Another GP in the camp!! I had brought up the name Brigadoon, after the kings were sitting around one night and one of them mentioned a camp name. I had heard of the musical Brigadoon and thought the name was cool. So, we actually went and rented it. The name stuck. And in this span of a few years camping...we met more and more cool people who shared our love of this festival and camping. We also at that time met up with and started hanging out with this wild bunch of rennie/campers called MacClugh. Years later, the 3 kings and myself were inducted into their group.

Our camp started the infamous drum circle. Andy had bought a drum, and wasn't the best at it, at the time. Mark borrowed the drum and was hooked! He got a drum of his own. Believe it or not...the drum sessions used to be INSIDE Mark's tent. And as more and more people came...camped and meandered into our camp, the drumming was moved outside. It wasn't a gigantic circle, but enough people came, drummed, girls danced (myself included...can you believe that?!) and a good time was had by all.

1994..Mark had Randolph from Chain Maille Fashions inside faire make him a belt. We were offered to be dressed in chain maille for the day, walk in the parade, and participate in a fashion show on the balcony of the shop. Of course we did!! That year, last weekend, I was put into a chain maille costume, which Randolph told me I was buying, since it looked like it was "made" for me. This is the outfit I still have today. Randolph and his crew are the most kick ass people and 13 years later, his show is still going strong, we all have more and more chain maille and the show is extremely popular!! King George...owner of the entire Faire, used to walk in the parade right behind me...because of my outfit. Pretty nice honor haha. One year we weren't able to make it, George didn't walk in the parade. Wow.

In 1996, Andy proposed to me and we planned a 1997 wedding out at the festival. A lot of us were pretty solidified at camp, and we all knew one another very well, so our wedding reception was to be held in the campground. November 15...turned out to be the coldest day that season! It rained that morning, but stopped for the actual wedding. At the chapel, after we said "I dos", the man who married us told us this was the largest wedding he had ever seen at Faire. We were also told the arch of swords our friends made for us as we exited the chapel was the first ever. My family arrived from NY & Florida and Andys family made it from all over Texas and New Mexico. I will always treasure that day, not only because we were married, but because we were able to share that day with so many wonderful faire friends. We are so happy to this day that everyone was there to share it with us. Mark & Susan were also married out at Faire a few years after we were. Both receptions were large and fun as hell!!

Right before Mark & Susans wedding...King George moved the campground to another site. Larger than the old site, since so many people at that point were camping, we were running out of room!!  Took some us a season to get used to the new site, but now its coming along famously. That's when we started to get to know Valhalla more and more...and we also noticed the drum circles had grown into a monster out of control. Every Sunday morning, Brigadoon would have to spend most of the morning cleaning up bottles, cans, garbage, etc. It was tedious to say the least, so Mark became a "pied piper" of sorts and would get the circle a little farther away from our actual camp. THe drum circle moved to a few different places, but King George finally set up a spot with large tree trunks and a place in the middle for a bonfire. Now that is the drum circle. Not as cool as it once was but it is an interesting spot of interest in the campgrounds.

I expect many more years to come....more and more stories, adventures, new friends...and yes *sigh* drama...but what can you do with such a large, diverse family?

This is a past time, hobby...vacation for a lot of us...and we all start counting down the summer before faire begins...and now our "family" is so large, with so many friends...we are able to see one another outside faires, parties, outings....and I believe each and every one of us in Brigadoon feel blessed we are in each others lives, and we are as close as we all are.

Huzzah!