Visitors to the Central Missouri Renaissance Festival near Kingdom City will have many opportunities to learn a variety of skills: How to toss a caber, how to act like a pirate, the ins and outs of medieval armour, how to make lace.
Board member Doug Wilson said this year's festival - open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Boster Castle - features more vendors and more interactive demonstrations and entertainment acts as organizers renew a commitment to family-friendly, educational fun.
"That's one of the things we strive for. It needs to be entertaining, but it also needs to be somewhat educational," said Wilson, a co-owner of Village Books in Columbia, which has been a vendor at the fair for many years.
One of the highlights of the festival this year, he said, will be live demonstrations by the Scots Guild and the Brotherhood of Steel.
Wilson said the Scots Guild, Alba Garrison, out of St. Louis, will do caber tossing, demonstrating the sport and then teaching everyone from children (using broomsticks) to adults; and kilt races, teaching how to properly wrap a kilt and interactive entertainment from the stage.
The Brotherhood of Steel, out of Iowa, will do live-steel re-enactments and will display and educate the audience about a wide array of weapons, including a full set of armour - explaining the different pieces and their functions and the order they are put together.
"You get a lot of history from this group; they educate while they're doing it," Wilson said.
He said both organizations are a good example of the Central Missouri Renaissance Festival's ability to bring in quality entertainment from the renaissance fair circuit.
"A lot of our entertainment in the past and again this year works in three to six states," Wilson said. "We're a small fair, but there are a lot of really talented people that come to be part of it."
There will also be demonstrations of arts and crafts - including lessons in English bobbin lace making by Cherry Bybee that will include having children replicate a simple pattern.
Vendors on hand demonstrating their skills and selling their wares will include leather workers, pottery, homemade root beer, homemade soaps, quilts, blacksmiths, Holts Summit-based Oakheart Armory, jewelry makers, blacksmiths and chain mail makers among others.
Young renaissance fair visitors will have the opportunity to go on a Kids Quest in which they go around to the various displays and vendors, learn about what they are doing and ultimately earn the title of pirate, knight or brave maiden.
"For the amount of money spent, we try to put on a good, family show," said board member Stephen Eickhorst, who also co-owns Oakheart Armory. "There's a lot to see - craftsmen, shows, a lot of singing, a magic act, a lot of fighting displays."
Eickhorst said there have been a number of improvements to the fair over the years - both with infrastructure and with the addition of new and more vendors and entertainment. He said he is looking forward to seeing that continue.
"It's been nice to see us get bigger every year," Eickhorst said. "As the fair grows, we can put on a bigger and better show."
Admission to the fair is $8 at the gate, children age 5 and younger get in free. Tickets are also available in advance at Village Books in Columbia, at the North Village Farmers' and Artisans Market in Columbia on Sundays or at centralmorenfest.org. Boster Castle is located at 4274 County Road 220, Kingdom City.
At 780, advance ticket sales thus far - including a special Groupon offer - have exceeded ticket sales for last year, and Wilson said he is hoping for a strong turnout.
"This is a great opportunity to come out and support a local renaissance festival, that's not two hours away in St. Louis or Kansas City, that helps support local talent and artisans," Wilson said.