After the Tortuga Twins' performance, Regina and I wandered down to the Tournament Field where "The New Riders of the Golden Age" were preparing for the Royal Joust. This year, thankfully enough, there were no stumbling horses or sunstruck jousters -- just two heavily-armored knights pummeling each other repeatedly with lance, sword, shield and fist (Sir Colin McCloud (Photo, Left) and Sir Mathew (Photo, Below Right) await their introduction to the audience at the beginning of the Tournament). As usual for me, I wandered back and forth through the audience during the show, trying to find the best angles for my pictures while Regina watched the two knights joust from the sidelines (Photo, Above Center). Good triumphed over Evil, as always, but not before the good knight -- Sir Mathew -- endured a lance sweep, a shield bash and a couple of dastardly sucker punches from Colin McCloud! After the Tournament, Regina and I started back, strolling slowly to stretch out that last hour as much as possible as we headed toward the Main Gate. Despite having spent a great day at faire, I was just a wee bit disappointed at that point: outside of the entertainers there, I hadn't seen even one familiar face all day! Now just as I was commenting to Regina on all the new people at LRF this year, who should show up but Johanna Draper, my contact at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival. She was soon joined by her son, Lance, and his friend Thumpur Grub (AKA Kiko), an ELF! Introductions were made all around and we began catching up on our personal news since last year. In the course of that conversation, I learned that there would be a party/drum circle for all the LRF players on the grounds after the faire closed for the night. That sounded like a lot of fun to me!!! All we would need to join in would be security passes for Regina and myself. THAT, as it soon proved, was a whole lot easier said than done!

The Quest for Security Passes went like this: first, I asked Regina to stay with Johanna, Lance and Thumpur (Photo, Left) until I returned. Since Regina has always impressed me as being a very capable young woman, I had no doubt that she would be able to handle herself well -- thanks both to her ability to carry a conversation and make friends with everybody! -- so I was quite confident leaving her alone there with Johanna and her crew. Then I tracked down Alvon Brumfield, one of the co-owners of LRF. He was enjoying one of the last shows of the day at the Queen's Stage with his new wife, Amy, when I finally found him. Unfortunately, Alvon couldn't help me, but he directed me to find the other co-owner, Rick Hight. Now the Quest turned into a game somewhat akin to "Where's Waldo?" First, Security thought Rick might be in the Administrative Trailer outside the gates, so I hastened there. No Rick. Security next thought he might be in the Participant Campground. No Rick. Then Security thought he was at the Ticket Booth. No Rick. There were Rick sightings here, there and everywhere all across the faire grounds, but by the time I arrived at each site, he'd always disappeared well before me. Suddenly, the trail went cold. So after running from pillar to post repeatedly, I was left empty-handed -- and then the cannon roared (Photo, Below Right) -- it was the end of faire! Most disappointed, I started walking back to retrieve Regina, when I met The Stalkwells waiting at the Main Gate. They were planning on dining out with another couple, but -- after hearing my sad tale -- they most kindly extended an invitation for us to join them. Now I really needed to find Regina! Not unexpectedly, she wasn't in the lane where I'd left her, so I headed back toward the Tournament Field, searching through all the booths and shops along the way. Just as I rounded the corner past the Food Court on my way to the Dripping Dog Inn, I found a Security Patrol barring my way. They refused to let me pass: they were adamant that no person answering to Regina's description was anywhere between the Tournament Grounds and the Dragon's Watch Forge -- and equally adamant that I leave the LRF faire grounds immediately. I wasn't about to argue the point against two hulking bruisers who outclassed me both in height and weight, so I returned to my truck and changed back into my street clothes (it's almost impossible to drive a stick shift in Druids' robes, trust me)! In the parking lot I met up with Dana and Kim again, who introduced me to their photographer friend, Matt; his wife, Diane; and their little girl (Photo, Below). We decided we'd all go out for Mexican food, as soon as I could locate Regina. I was about to sneak back into the LRF faire grounds in search of her, when suddenly she and Thumpur appeared out of the deepening twilight. Talk about good timing! Again, introductions were made all around. Regina said farewell to Thumpur at that point, promising to see him again on the morrow and he then returned to the faire alone while the rest of us headed into Hammond for dinner.

We decided to eat together at La Caretta, a Mexican restaurant located on Railroad Avenue in historic, downtown Hammond. Not only was the food excellent, but we all had a rollicking good time there that evening -- thanks to Dana and Kim, who kept us all entertained with their hilarious antics. Even before we got to the restaurant, they were cutting up! Being photographers, you see, they carry all their extra lens, filters, spare film and other photographic acoutrements in two medium-sized knapsacks, one for each of them. Since they didn't want to leave their equipment in their car, unattended, they donned their knapsacks and -- being in garb, still -- threw their cloaks over everything. Which immediately gave them a stooped and "hunchbacked" look. Needless to say, the "Young Frankenstein" jokes came fast and furious as we headed off to the restaurant, starting with the classic: "Walk this way!" Which we all did!!! In the restaurant, I couldn't help calling out "'Ware the hunchbacks!" and "Make way for the hunchbacks!" as we were seated in the back. THAT earned us a lot of surprised looks! OK, so I'm not Politically Correct: sue me!!! As you might well imagine, the rest of the meal went downhill from there, fast. We laughed, we joked and we all had a great time lingering over an excellent meal, which was surprisingly inexpensive for the sheer amount of it. Afterwards, Dana wanted to check out Brady's, a nearby Irish pub, so we "hunchbacked" across the street and trooped through that establishment. At that time, I made a mental note of the menu there, which featured quite a bit of local seafood. Aye, I like Mexican cuisine, but I also figure that, if I'm going to drive all the way over to Hammond, I might as well try their fish, crab and shrimp plates, too! After that, we all hung out in the parking lot together, still talking and joking until it was well past 10pm. Ah, but tomorrow was another day of faire, so reluctantly we said our farewells and returned to our respective motels for a good night's rest. It had been a GREAT day at LRF, so I was already anticipating the morrow, eagerly -- yet despite that, sleep for me came swiftly and easily.

Standard Disclaimer: This webpage is strictly an *Unofficial* look at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival held near Hammond, LA in the Parish of Tangipahoa. The author of these pages is in no way, shape, manner or form connected with the Louisiana Renaissance Festival (OFFICE ADDRESS: PO Box 220, Robert, LA 70455-0220) and/or any of the sponsors associated with this event. All opinions expressed are strictly this author's own. LRF logo courtesy of the Louisiana Renaissance Festival. Unless noted otherwise, all photographs are copyright ©2000-2003 by George Laking.