Juggling jesters, Hollywood actors, fervent fairies and wandering wizards from far-off lands gather at Spokane Renaissance Faire

Witches, warlocks, wizards and more journeyed from far off lands this weekend for the Spokane Renaissance Faire at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center for two days of sea shanties, full-contact jousting and a host of other magical activities.

With 240 vendors, an anticipated 20,000 patrons over two days and much more space compared with its previous Colbert location, the event began at 10 a.m. Saturday morning.

Outlander, aka Rudi Crespin, spent nearly half an hour at his car getting his Mongolian leather armor just right. The 49-year-old audio -video technician attended his first Renaissance fair as a sixth-grader and immediately fell in love.

“It’s fun to pretend you’re not who you are for a day,” said Crespin’s partner, Chrissy Stemen.

Once inside the fairgrounds, the smell of barbecue and the sound of fiddles reverberated through the entrance.

“Looking fabulous today, ugly stepsister,” one man in full knight armor called out to a woman wearing a red wig with a giant, fake mole protruding from her nose. She returned the favor with a simple, “Why , thank you.”

Nerdy Wolf’s Jason Hodges sold handmade glass pens, journals, wooden boxes and wax seals at this year’s event. He has five salespeople, and his company travels to around 150 shows, including comic-cons, every year. The biggest Renaissance fair he attends is in Texas. It hosts 30,000 visitors daily at a 55-acre site. Hodges called the Spokane Renaissance Faire an average-sized event in comparison to others.

After Hodges went to his first Renaissance fair six years ago, it didn’t take long for him to quit his job in corporate advertising and begin pursuing his passion. His advice for people who want to make their hobby into a career is to start small, make sure the idea works and expand from there.

“I went from a cubicle to getting to see the country,” Hodges said. “I get to travel to the Grand Canyon, to Washington, to Oregon, to Florida, Georgia, everywhere in between.”

The arena sat not far from the Nerdy Wolf stand. Inside, there was thunderous hollering from spectators and galloping of horses. Two knights on horseback, wearing full armor and hoisting 10-foot lances, charged towards each other at roughly 30 mph.

Speaking in a thick French accent and laden in blue metal armor, Gerald Valiant, aka Kyle Robinson, is the director of the Seattle Knights. His team of around 50 members is a theatrical stage, combat and jousting performance that travels mostly around the Pacific Northwest.

He said a thousand thoughts race through his head, but also nothing, when jousting, focusing on remembering to breathe under 80 pounds of armor, focusing on hitting a 4-inch square on the top right of his opponent’s shield, and making sure the lance tip doesn’t go down and stab his horse. All are paramount to a successful joust. The safety of the 11 horses are his biggest concern.

Asked about the most rewarding aspect of his job, Robinson held out his armor-clad hand to reveal a small, green glass duck a kid gave to him.

“If you go out and lose every fight and the tournament, they still high-five you,” he said. “I have a place on my bureau at home where I have little trinkets that I get gifted, and this duck is gonna go there.”

Lee Arenberg could hear the bloodthirsty cries emitting from the arena as he signed autographs. Arenberg is most known for his role as Pintel, one of Captain Barbossa’s crew, in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film franchise.

“It’s an exercise in gratitude for us (to go to a Ren fair),” Arenberg said. “Because thanks to the fans, we live great lives. … Johnny Depp taught me that the fans are the boss.”

This weekend was the first time in Spokane for Arenberg and Isaac C. Singleton Jr., who portrayed Bo’sun in “Pirates of the Caribbean”

Arenberg said Spokane is a classic Western city with a beautiful downtown, whose people have a “salt of the earthness” to them.

Once the sun disappeared Saturday, festivities shifted to a 21-plus event, known as Knight Fall. Many of the fairies, juggling jesters and knights in attendance sipped spiced mead and meandered between the different shows and events. By 11 p.m., the music stopped, the shops closed and the lights turned off. While this year’s fair is over, for anyone who wants to attend a Renaissance fair, Crespin had some advice.

“If they’ve never been, try it out,” Crespin said. “And try to participate by dressing up. Don’t be a Monday.”