By BTL Staff
HOLLY – If chain mail gets your sword up or if dulcimer music makes your bosom heave, then get thee to the Michigan Renaissance Festival.
Since 1980 the English Renaissance has come alive each summer in the village of "Hollygrove" where patrons party like it's 1599.
Best of all the Festival is "family" friendly. But then, what do you expect from a forest filled with men in tights? Then, of course, there's the Festival's boasting of its "awe-inspiring full-contact armored jousting tournaments where gallant knights defend their honor until the last man is standing."
Getting into the spirit of things are Todd Letts and Ryan Jones, best known as the fops. Letts, who goes by "Nigel Armani" and Jones, who goes by Quincy V. Chippendale," have been camping it up at the Festival for the last four years.
Asked if their characters were gay, Armani and Chippendale responded in typical fops fashion:
"Bisexual," says Armani.
"No, trisexual," says Chippendale.
"Ambiguous," Armani interrupts, prompting Chippendale to offer that the duo have "flaming personalities."
Patrons with similar personalities will want to stop by John Benson's Ormworks shop to pick up a souvenir or two. Benson's linoleum block prints are for sale on a wide variety of cards and stationary. Members of the LGBT community who have attended the annual People Who Care About People With AIDS service will be familiar with Benson's work from his many years of designing the program's cover. Be sure to ask Benson for his "Lambda Line" which features LGBT themed cards including his bear line – teddy bears dressed in leather and posed in positions that would make Roosevelt blush.
Ye gay olde time awaits
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