This whole thing is Julie Thaxter's fault.

Eighteen years ago, she and her folks took me to the Maryland Renfest for the first time. And you know the only things I remember? The mud show, the flower head bands, and the funnel cakes. (Yes, I said funnel cakes.) So the fest has been a part of more than half my life. More recently you can find me normally in the company of my best friend of almost that same length, Holly.

My addiction doesn't quite fit into any of the categories on the front screen. I guess you could call it a Shakespearean strain... I tend to like anybody who gives a good Shakespeare joke. That lets me include Shakespeare's Skum, as well as WhipFlash, and Hack and Slash on a good day. But, then again, I'm a big fan of the sideshow. Heck, I wrote my thesis on a circus. So I like nearly everything at the fest, from Johnny Fox's sword swallowing to the addition of Michael Hillby at the Thistledew Theatre.

Like any good budding Marxist scholar, nostalgia makes me suspicious, and I've always felt a bit wrong about enjoying Renfests. To keep my feminist proclivities honest I really like going to WhipFlash's show for Jim and Lauren's "reality check." "This is the 16th century. I own her." It reminds me that the whole Renfest thing is building a utopia out of the past instead of pondering one for the future.

And if you think that was a weird but entertaining thought, you probably want to check out my brain and see what it's up to.

Or, alternately, if you want to complain at me about it, that's your prerogative.

If you're looking for me at the fest next season, I'm sure to be at one of the shows. I'm very infrequently just wandering the grounds, and I don't make a very good pub decoration. :) At any given time, you're most likely to find me either at one of Hack and Slash's, Shakespeare's Skum's, or WhipFlash's shows.

E-mail Regan at this spot.