BOALSBURG, Pa. (WJAC) — Hear ye! Hear ye!
Those in Centre County got a taste of the Renaissance on Sunday. The Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum held a Renaissance fair to raise funds to continue preserving these historic Boalsburg buildings.
The chapel and mansion are critical to the founding of Boalsburg, hence the community's name — and what better way to raise money for preserving history, than re-enacting history.
Asked how long she's gone to Renaissance fairs, volunteer Lilly Peters told 6 News, "For as long as I can remember, technically before I was born."
For those who volunteer and organize the fair, it does more than just take them back in time.
"The Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum used to have an Old Europe, Old World Festival in the fall, somewhere around Columbus Day," organizer Anna Rupprecht told 6 News. "And we recently rebranded as an all-out Boalsburg Renaissance Faire."
Yes, that's "fair" with an "e"!
She told us it connects two different historical eras — one ocean apart — together.
"Strains of the Boal family heritage reach back into European history from France, Spain," Rupprecht explained. "So, that's sort of our integrate— segue into Renaissance family history."
Sirs and ladies at the fair got to enjoy some live music, food vendors from the State College area, a petting zoo, a historically inaccurate bounce castle, and horse-drawn carriage rides.
And there's no need to worry if you show up in attire that's not exactly period-accurate — or historical at all.
"As for what entails in a Renaissance fair, in Renaissance entertainment," Rupprecht noted, "we have something for everyone. It's definitely inclusive of all Renaissance, Medieval attractions and beyond."
Lisa Baumgartner has been binding books for about 10 years.
She told us that, after giving up her massage therapist job, she discovered a new calling.
"I like working with my hands," said Baumgartner. "And I took a one-day class in book-binding and really liked it. And then as it happens, we went on a sabbatical — my husband and I — to England, and I started working in a bindery there, just taking classes from the master bookbinder."
She even showed us how to bind a book.
"You start with book board, you fold the pages into signatures, you sew it. You sometimes have to shave the leather, thin, if it's a leather-bound book."
Corinne Webster's been attending Renaissance fairs for almost 20 years. She showed us her reproduction of an illustrated manual piece from approximately the 14th Century.
"Originally, it was in a book and it was done with pens and inks in very, very tiny form — so, usually like three-by-five inches or smaller," Webster told 6 News. "So, I'm blowing it up and painting it bigger, so everybody can kind of see the art style that they would've used in books."
Pointing to the top of the canvas, she said "this would've been a medieval night and he was riding out to conquer all of the mythical bad guys, which are here down in the bottom of the page."
Peters, 17, said she looks back fondly when she would help the Renaissance fairs near the high school when she was a child.
Going over the perks of volunteering as a child, she said, "One: I got to miss school. Two: I was a little tiny child and I got to tell teenagers that they're not allowed to touch things."
These things being swords, crossbows, shields, helmets, and other historical objects.
"It was really fun growing up," Peters added.
If you would like to attend any future events at the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum, you can follow this link to its event page. Coming up on Dec. 2 are Candlelight Tours, and then on Dec. 3 is its Kristkindle Market.
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