Castroville UMs play host to
Renaissance Fair Saturday


By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
The magician at Medina Valley UMC’s Renaissance Fair in Castroville Saturday is to do more than pull a stuffed bunny from an empty top hat.
He is to make it a real bunny. He is to precede and follow that trick with many other unexplainable illusions.
The Castroville Library booked Illusions by Blake, a local magician, to entertain visitors during the church Renaissance Fair when the library’s annual festival fell through. Administrators opted to partner with the United Methodist congregation in Castroville to provide a family friendly community event.
The fair is Medina Valley UMC’s first spring community event, said member Janet Cook, the organizer.
“We usually have a fall festival and pumpkin patch, but everybody and his brother has a fall festival and pumpkin patch now,” she said. “So we’ve decided we’d go with the spring.”
The event is planned for the church grounds from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Five organizations, including the city library, are joining the church in the fair, Cook said. Other sponsors are Amazing Grace Lutheran Church in San Antonio, the American Legion Post 460 in Castroville, the local Cub and Boy Scouts, and a local barbecue restaurant. It is to supply food.
The Renaissance Fair is free, Cook said, though some rides and all the food will cost money. Costumes are encouraged, she added.
“It’s a nice, safe environment,” Cook said. “We have responsible adults manning it, so you can let your 4-year-old nephew loose and not worry about it.”
All sorts of performers are to be on hand, Cook said, including two groups of actors recalling Renaissance times. They are to stage old-fashioned sword-fighting and wear Viking attire.
The Guadalupe River Dulcimer Pickers are to perform at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Cook said. The San Antonio Pipe and Drum Band is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. A classical harpist is to play all day.
The magic show is set for noon.
A petting zoo is to feature farm animals and include alpacas, Cook said. The fair is to have games for kids, face painting booths, and a parade of princesses, squires, knights and queens.
Youths are to engage in “Mashed Potato Wars.” They are to fling mashed potatoes at each other with a pool noodle. That’s what Cook said she was most excited about.
For adults, Cook said, the San Antonio Dog Training team is to come. Other booths—homemade furniture, jewelry, and arts and crafts booths—are to be set up.
The church is to run a silent auction with diverse items, including local restaurant gift certificates, arts and crafts, crystal and glassware and antiques, Cook said.
She said she was hoping for about 300 to attend the festival. Sponsors are advertising as far away as Uvalde, Devine and Bandera. They expect a story in the San Antonio Express-News Weekender.
“We’re hoping to get slammed,” Cook said.
She said she is planning to make the fair an annual event—because it will begin to knit the community together.
“Since Castroville has been in the press locally, and it’s been bad press, we’re hoping to give the city a sense of community pride and have interaction between the diverse groups,” Cook said.
Several Castroville city officials recently resigned following accusations of wrongdoing.
“For the church,” Cook said, “we’re hoping to be able to fund some of the basic budget and eventually use (this event) for improvements.”