Mud underfoot, magic in the air at Bluffwoods Renaissance Festival

ST. JOSEPH, Mo.- Though rain-soaked grounds turned parts of the fifth annual Bluffwoods Renaissance Festival into a muddy medieval landscape, festivalgoers responded with hearty cheers, merry laughter and warm tidings throughout the two-day celebration filled with food, fun and jousting.

Located at the Castle Bridge Event Center, just south of St. Joseph on U.S. Highway 59, the event featured an air-conditioned indoor tavern and food hall and more than 90 vendors. Fare ranged from Scotch eggs and turkey legs to frozen treats and fruity beverages.

Amid the grassy, muddy field were numerous opportunities to part with coin for handcrafted items ranging from glass, leather and metalwork to crystals, stones, scents and costume pieces.

Focused on entertainment, artistry and handcrafted wares, the Bluffwoods Renaissance Festival was created as a medieval fantasy-inspired, family-friendly, affordable festival for the local community, with admission costing only $20 for both days.

Just off the main parking area, a petting zoo offered children an opportunity to feed small creatures. On the opposite side of the festival grounds, a fighting station stocked with foam weapons allowed patrons a chance to best each other in a duel.

Svendl, with The Oddity Collective of Kansas City, has manipulated his marionettes on numerous occasions at the Bluffwoods event, several years in a row, in fact, though he wasn't quite sure how many.

"It's usually very hot and sunny. This is the first time I've had it this muddy," he said in a melodious, near-rhyming speech cadence, certainly part of his ongoing performance meant to enliven and enchant the crowd.

Perched atop a small bale of hay near the entrance to the Society for Creative Anachronism historical encampment, Svendl said he probably preferred hot and sunny weather since his booth space Saturday morning was a bit swampy.

The SCA's historical encampment offered a look at cooks following recipes from the 1600s. Food was being created in clay pots and roasted on spits.

For people interested in learning more about how tools were crafted, Heidi Hillhouse worked a coal-burning forge crafting tools Saturday at Thorvik Crafts.

Having crafted at the Bluffwoods event since it began, Hillhouse told the News-Press that it isn't what she does professionally, but it has been a hobby in which she has been heavily involved for more than a decade.

Hillhouse said many who go into this type of crafting do so to create handcrafted blades and weapons.

"I personally tend to do everything else because all the bladed stuff is a lot of fuss and finish sort of (work), to get the right tempers, the right hardness and the blade perfectly ground and shiny and the handles perfectly too," she said. "I like to swing a hammer."

Hillhouse said her favorite thing she has crafted is a Roman multitool, which she described as being just like a Swiss Army knife, except it had a knife, a spoon and an earpick.

"That was a lot of finicky," she said. "I don't usually like finicky, but it turned out cool enough to be worth of it."

Hillhouse said she typically gets quite a bit of an audience throughout the events she attends. On Saturday, she was working on a specific tool that ended up "sparkling," which Erik Just said becomes waste at that point. He said they share the forge for their projects so they don't have to bring two of the quite heavy contraptions.

Hillhouse said that one of the things she likes about working with coal is that "you really have to pay attention to the everything." Not just is the metal hot, but also is it at the right place in the fire? Is the fire at the right temperature? Did you sparkler your piece?"

Just explained that the "very technical term" just means that almost all of the carbon is burned out of it and it forms blisters that burst.

"It's sort of like iron glass at this point," he said.

Hillhouse said, ironically, doing almost that is how a person forge welds and that it's a fine line to walk.

Nearby, Neal and Miranda Williams were enjoying the festival with their daughter, Theodora, on Saturday.

While Theodora was focused on protecting her bright blue dragon egg, Miranda told the News-Press that the young one had earlier fully enjoyed stomping around in the mud.

"We came last year for the first time," Miranda said. "We usually do the KC Ren Fest, but we found out about this one and we like coming out here too."

Neal said one of his favorite parts is the event center, noting that "It's incredible."

On her way out and somewhat covered in mud, Rebecca Burns told the News-Press that they had come last year and it was great, so they decided to come back.

"We normally spend most of the morning, but it was very muddy," she said, noting that it "dampened it."

Burns said they got a little dressed up for the event and bought a few more pieces on Saturday for next year.

"We'll definitely be coming back," she said. "The food is amazing. We love it here."

The event continues until 6 p.m. Sunday, at 8403 U.S. Highway 59.

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