GetOut Magazine

Arizona Renaissance Festival brings
16th-century to Apache Junction
By BETTY WEBB
Get Out
Jan. 30, 2003

Forsooth and zounds, ye varlets. Its that time again around 1560, in fact. So grab your wimple or codpiece and head for Apache Junction, where everybodys going medieval.
Especially the Wild Men.

If youve been to the Arizona Renaissance Festival before, youve probably seen the Wild Men slinging insults and mud at each other as they deliver their own fractured version of world history.

We represent the historical society of the Renaissance village, says Wild Man Doug Mumba. The problem with us is, science hasnt really been invented yet, there are no books and newspapers, and so we like most people did back then resort to rank conjecture to figure out whats going on in our little 16th- century world. The fact that were complete idiots doesnt help.

Mumba and his partner Jonathan Crocker are actors and newsletter editors who came up with the idea for their act one night on the copy desk when both had indulged in too many pots of coffee.

In between fixing typos, we started wondering aloud about medieval times and what the average person really lived like and thought like, Mumba says. Then it came to us there were no streets or sidewalks, so they probably spent a lot of time in mud!

And not only that, they were probably pretty violent, too, so we incorporated violence into the act. But we do the violence in slow motion, and that makes it really, really funny. At the end, of course, we all end up bashing each other in slow motion in the mud.

To add a little, uh, class to the act, Mumba and Crocker invited their musician friend Simon Jaeger to provide some primitive horns and percussion as the action rages (They had music back then, too). Thus, the three-man act provides a stark contrast to the more elegant prancings of the Renaissance king, queen, courtiers and knights that populate the faire.

Those guys are at the top of the Renaissance caste system were at the bottom, Mumba says.

But the Arizona Renaissance Festival offers more than Wild Men and mud. For those who long for the perceived romance of the olden days, there are three jousting tournaments per day complete with mounted knights, 12 stages of nonstop entertainment, a village crafts fair, rides and modern versions of gourmet Renaissance food (turkey legs, anyone?).
Modern life can get pretty heavy, so sometimes its nice for people to be able to go back to a more simple and muddier era, Mumba explains.

Arizona Renaissance Festival

Where: East of Apache Junction on Highway 60
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and Presidents Day. Ends March 23.
How much: $15 for adults, $6 for children ages 5 to 12, $14 for seniors, free for children younger than 5. Tickets available at Frys stores or at the gate for $1 more.
Info: or www.renfest info.com