Medieval FAIRE suggestions

[Cheryl Bybee <cbybee@TENET.EDU>]

I sent Barbara's query to a librarian from my district who had done
one...with his permission I am posting his response:


Hello!  I don't have a lot of answers, and I don't claim to be a expert.
I will be happy to share what I have done with my library programing. I have
had some experience with a medieval festival.  Last year
for my library reading contest, I used a medieval theme.  Each reading
teacher designed their coat of arms, and they each selected a motto in
Latin, English, or French which represented their reading classes'
goals.  I sewed each shield out of velvet and lame, and I hand-sewed any
jeweled design or emblem.  I used 1 inch thick padding which made the
shields look thicker (almost  like a thin pillow).  These were hung in
the library.  Using poster board, I created a gold scroll with crest on
which I painted the motto for each class.  (These look great hanging
over each shield.)  Each time a student read a book from the library, they
received a mini-shield with their name/date, and the mini-shield was
place on the wall around their coat of arms and motto.  The top fifty
readers and their reading teachers/principals were invited to the library
for a medieval feast.  I decorated the tables with fake baked swans,
pheasants, and boars heads.  I served the winners a seven course lunch
(no silverware allowed except serving spoons and napkins...everyone had
to eat with their fingers).
We started with a royal toast with fake mead (honeyed grapejuice).  Then
I served freshly baked bread (decorative loaves from a wonderful bakery I
know.)  The students had blocks of cheese and butter on the tables.  I
then served fresh fruit on large silver trays.  Next, I served homemade
chunky potato soup (no spoons allowed).  The students had to drink from
their bowls.  Next, I served roasted chicken and turkey drumsticks.  For
the final main dish, I served individual homemade baked beef meat pies.
The last item served was beautiful fruit shaped marzipan.  Yes, I did as
much of the cooking as I could to cut costs.  Our students had never
experienced anything like this before.  Between each course, I had
special entertainment.....old English songs, jousting, juggling contests,
dancing, and medieval music on CD playing during the dining.  As a
prelude to arriving to the banquet, I had the reading teachers share the
book, A Medieval Feast by Aliki with their classes.  This activity did
not require any student research....just major work on my part.  My goal
was to make it easy for my teachers...not to add more stress in their
lives.
We have held several history fairs where the history classes came to the
library for research.  Each class would create projects for display in
the library (much like a science fair exhibit or museum exhibit).  I held
a school-wide WORLD'S FAIR OF 1492.  Each class in school created a booth
display in the library relating the Columbus experience.  We had booths
on the major countries of the period, native american cultures, Columbus
the man, other explorers who had claimed to have discovered America
first, food exchanges from the cultures, broken pottery writing about the
Indian experiences, etc.  Eachclass created a video or audio tape to be
played at their booth enhance their exhibit.  Each booth consisted of
models, charts, graphs, realia and the media production.  It was an
exciting learning experience for our students.  This idea could easily be
adapted for a medieval faire.
Best of luck to you.  Let me know how it turns out.  I am sure you will
be successful.

                Jack Alton Strawn
                School Library Media Specialist
                Sunset High School  (formerly from Sul Ross Middle School)
                San Antonio, Texas