They dressed up as a dwarven blacksmith and I was their human apprentice because neither one of us could be bothered with green makeup to be an orc and goblin this time. Met another friend of theirs there and made the rounds to see all the cool handicrafts and junk and overpriced food and shows. There was a strongwoman did lots of handstand and hoverboard tricks and rolled up a steel pan like a fucking tortilla, bawdy live music, a joust we couldn’t find seating for and effectively got kicked out of (my partner got so pissed they went and found a security person to talk to about how they moved us like four times and had been directing people in even though the seating was clearly at capacity already) and I bought a little laser-cut wooden mimic chest to put trinkets in.

My partner bought a fake beard off Amazon and it worked pretty well. Made their own Link-style floppy hat and a little leather holster for a blacksmith hammer and a pair of nippers that looked close enough to tongs for it to work. The hammer was falling off after a bit but a leather crafter was able to lend us a hand riveting the little laced-up hammer sheath back on and got a good tip for it. We both got lots of compliments though my costume was more low effort (hemp hat, same patched-up sleeveless lace-up top my partner modified for me last year and the belt they made as well, pair of hammers zip-tied to the little loops that were for potions last time) and we saw lots of cool costumes as well. Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask, Frieren, at least a dozen Geralts of Rivia of varying quality, and quite a few impressive custom armor and such all over the place.

If you’ve never been to a ren faire I recommend going at least once, and making at least a minimal effort to dress up. It’s a blast. Just bear in mind the food will be overpriced and any good hand-crafted stuff you get that is bigger than handheld will run you hundreds of bucks at least. But it’s a vibe you can’t find anywhere else.