MONTAGUE — Visitors poured though the gates to watch knights in shining armor joust on horseback this weekend at Mutton and Mead’s sixth annual renaissance festival.
Children pranced through the enchanted forest dressed as faeries, while their parents got fitted for elf ears at one of the most popular renaissance festivals around, where the community gathered together once again to be transported back in time to the Shire of Nottingham at the Robin Hood-themed event.
“The festival was truly wonderful this year,” said Pam Smith, one festival organizer.
The hot temperatures this weekend didn’t stop festival-goers from enjoying the day. On a small stage in the forest three belly dancers in flowing skirts wiggled and swayed their hips, moving in sync as the audience sat on hay bales.
Some festival-goers gnawed on turkey legs and others ate ice creams as they watched the show unfold. Bagpipers and drummers played in the background. This was just one of the scheduled events that unfolded this weekend for guests to choose from. “Everyone I saw seemed happy,” said Smith.
If festival-goers wanted to get some shade and head out of the sun, they could turn into the woods, where they might run into an elf or find a few solo musicians.
One flautist stood in the woods playing “Ode to Joy” and another musician played Celtic tunes on his hammer dulcimer. If the visitors walked a little deeper into the woods they also might have seen a woman with pointy ears walking on stilts, dressed as a 15-foot elf.
After leaving the forest, an artisan market for guests to browse through is not far away. Craftspeople sold chainmail, leather goods and swords.
The festival also had space for children to congregate under a tent, where they played with blocks and castles. Not far away, parents could stop in at a vendor stall and buy faerie wings, tutus and flower crowns for their kids.
Trolls from the Skeleton Crew, a Turners Falls-based theater troupe, interacted with guests.
While crowds flowed into the festival grounds at the Millers Falls Rod and Gun Club this weekend, this year’s Mutton and Mead season comes after the festival fell under scrutiny from former volunteer actors.
Organizers admitted to communication breakdowns with the volunteers, losing track of required tax documents and falling behind on submitting donations which were promised to charities from last year’s festival. The tensions came to a head in January when organizers decided to give the festival time to heal by suspending the scripted Robin Hood show.
Despite the change, the festival remains as popular as ever and, in the coming years, the organizers might choose to reinstate the show. “My understanding is that next year they are trying to come back to that,” said Northfield resident Melanie Huber, a vendor and a former volunteer actor. “I don’t think it hurt the festival.”
Despite the show’s absence, crowds flowed through the gates. “I think there are a lot more local people,” said Huber.
Other festival-goers agreed that this year was as good, if not better than any other. “The weather this year is a lot better, so I think there are more people,” said Kaylie O’Doherty, who visited the festival for the second time this year from Belchertown.
“I think the crowds are bigger, definitely,” said Steve Burns, who has been traveling from outside of Boston to set up a leather goods booth at the festival for three or four years.
As of Sunday afternoon, the exact turnout was still not known, but the organizers expect the number to be in the thousands. “Nobody knows yet. To me it looked good, but not crowded.”
You can reach Lisa Spear at lspear@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 280