“There must be 700 people on this line,” Bob tells me. We’re driving to Cape Cod for a CSA delivery, and we’ve detoured to a Renaissance fair for the girls’ amusement. I bought tickets ahead, expecting this would cut our wait time.
Balderdash.
I’m dismayed to realize that the Ren fair is so packed, the parking lots have been closed off, we’ve been funneled to another lot several miles away, and the line of 700 fairgoers is a queue to get the shuttle bus to yet ANOTHER line at the gate.
I want to load everyone up in the car and move on to the CSA delivery.
Then I draw a deep breath. All around me, everyone is in the same predicament. But we’re all here with the same intent: to enjoy a day out. And that leads me to ask myself: why can’t the enjoyment start with the line?
Rather than fidgeting in exasperation, we allow ourselves to revel in the array of guests: Renaissance drag queens, Viking kings, knights, unicorns, fair maidens, monks, dragon slayers, fairies and fauns…all out to parade on a spectacular fall afternoon. We sing, start conversations, and swap photos with our fellow revelers. And I learn that it doesn’t matter how far away the gates to the fair are. The festival is in our hearts.
Ps: Of course, with so much fun to be had up-front, it didn’t take long at the actual fair before I was completely played out:
I was contemplating lineups recently and how they have changed. Once upon a time if there was a line up you would talk to the person next to you. Perhaps on the bus, or at the shops.
Whereas today, it’s not uncommon for people to be head down looking at their phone or listening to headphones. While I think there is a place and time for this, it made me consider how such a simple action can increase feelings of disconnection and loneliness. And how many opportunities we are missing to make community connections. Being on a farm with children….well sometimes those conversations are the only conversations I have outside my family all week. So much communication is done over messaging etc these days.
I’m glad you could find joy in the lineup at the festival.
xx
Your observations really resonate with me, Emma. I am often the chatty one in lines…and probably for those same reasons you express. Connection is connection.
Looks like an awesome fair! Sorry you had to wait, but I’m glad you were able to make do and start enjoying yourselves where you were. Everyone’s costumes are fabulous!