Sunday, December 23, 2012

Visiting Second Life’s Renaissance Hunt and Faire


We need a renaissance of wonder. We need to renew, in our hearts and in our souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that life is miracle and magic. 

E Merrill Root
 

          With the year coming to an end, I’m out and about trying to visit places in Second Life (SL) that like Cinderella’s proverbial coach will turn into a pumpkin by the end of the year.  So, I’m rushing to visit these before the clock strikes twelve.
          One of my favorites is the Renaissance Hunt and Faire which is currently in its second go round.  I visited earlier this year with Perryn Peterson , the creative and managerial force behind the event but haven’t been back to look around since its opening on December 1st. 
          I TP into the landing zone to find only two people about.  (This may have something to do with the fact that it’s before 2AM SLT on a Sunday morning.)  One of the visitors is here for the first time and I assist her in getting started.  (I actually add value without breaking anything, Significant Other would be impressed.) 
          I pass through the hunters’ reception area and the gate to enter the Faire proper.  I find that a lot has happened since my prior visit.  The merchants have really come out in force and as I look down the merchants’ lane I see that all the shops and booths are occupied and bursting to the seams with all sorts of period merchandise.  
          When I walk over to the gypsy encampment, I find that there is now a fortune teller!  (On my last visit, there hadn’t been one.  What’s a gypsy encampment without a fortune teller?)  However, I can’t tell if Madame Zora the Mystic is real or just a prop.  No one is about, there is no contact information and I can find nothing about her in Search.  Still, it’s the thought that counts. 
          At the food pavilion, several sides of beef are slowly turning on spits over low fires.  I can almost smell the meat and the burning wood.  (One of these days, I’ll have to write a story about the five senses inworld.) 
          Not having human company about (Can I even say that in a virtual world?) to distract me, I notice the landscaping for the Faire and have a better appreciation for it.  Unlike many sims where a couple trees are dropped in, some bushes stick out, and the flat ground is colored green to simulate grass.  Perryn and his partner Mike, who also run a landscaping business inworld, have done an exceptional job.  (Definitely check these guys out if you’re thinking of having any work done.) 
Trees with seasonal coloring are grouped together in copses.  Bushes, grasses (individual blades no less), and flower beds are carefully sited to give the effect of a Renaissance countryside.  Other natural landmarks like brooks and marshes (I find this the latter when I fall into it.) 
I walk back to the sign post near the entrance to the Faire and go back home.  The Faire is a wonderful experience and shows the sense of community and creative skills that make SL a special place.  I recommend all to try and drop by before December 31st to visit, see and maybe buy the merchants’ wares, and participate in the mini-hunt which is being run along with the Faire.  I promise that you won’t be disappointed! 
If you have the time I also suggest that you drop by to visit Perryn’s   A Christmas Carol which will also close on December 31st.        
          Below are links to a few pictures from the Faire.  They give a sense of what they’re like.  But you really have to see and experience them for yourselves.
As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.
I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

     If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life
please click here.

Photo No. 1 Perryn Peterson  
Photo No. 6 Merchants’ Lane
Photo No. 7 Fortune Teller
Photo No. 9 Side of Beef
Photo No. 10 Landscaping I
Photo No. 11 Landscaping II
Photo No. 12 Landscaping III

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