Bonner Springs ? Jousting, turkey legs, elephant rides, cheesecake on a stick, vulgarians and gypsies.

These are a few of the eccentric things that can be found at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, where folks can escape to the 16th century.

The festival boasts 162 shops, 500 costumed characters and 20 stages of activities. There’s a lot to eat and see, including the talents of many Lawrence residents who work at the festival.

Debra Jennings, Alison Flannery and Kait Head transform locks of hair into works of art at the Braidin’ Maiden booths.

On Sunday, Flannery created matching braids for 6-year-old Savannah Miller and her mother, Mary Agee, both of Kansas City, Kan.

Savannah couldn’t wait to get her golden locks braided and show them off at school.

“She’s been to the festival three times and wants to get her hair braided each time,” Agee said.

The same sentiments are shared by 7-year-old Cora Garsow, of Leavenworth, whose hair was braided into a heart by Jennings.

“It’s the reason we came,” her mother, Aimee Garsow, said of the braids.

‘Blank canvass’

Jennings, who owns Braidin’ Maidens and has braided hundreds of heads of hair during her 27 years at the festival, said it never gets old.

“My mom taught me when I was young and I continued to learn new things every day – that’s why I like it. It is constantly changing and every head is kind of like a blank canvass,” she said.

She fondly remembers braiding a 6-foot-5 gentlemen’s red hair that fell below his knees.

“It was gorgeous,” she said. His picture is mounted on a display of extraordinary braids of hair and beards that have been done at the festival.

Although sometimes she has to ice her hands and rest her feet and back after a 10-hour day at the festival, she said it’s worth it.

“You see the most interesting variety of people that you will ever see out there,” Jennings said.

Indeed.

On Sunday, there were people carrying snakes, wearing face paint and donning costumes that ranged from kilts to bustiers. It can be difficult to tell the actors from paying festivalgoers.

Active participants

That’s one reason Kent Deeds has played his guitar for at least nine years at the festival.

“A large majority of (attendees) are active participants in the event, as opposed to a more passive movie-type experience,” he said. “The interaction is nice.”

Deeds and his partner, Marianne Carter, who plays the fiddle, were serenaded by a gentleman who was buying coffee at the Cup and Chaucer where they perform Irish and Scottish music.

“What a treat,” Carter said after he finished singing. She said that was a rarity in the approximately 10 years she had been at the festival.

Carter, who owns Prairie Music studio, also enjoys interacting with people and playing for them.

“People will walk by with a child and the child will just be riveted by the music and it is really fun to see that connection,” she said. “You can really pick out the little ones who are musically inclined because they just get riveted by the music and pull their parents to come back and sit down for awhile and listen. That’s always fun for me being a music teacher. That’s fun seeing that.”

Children’s paradise

The looks on children’s faces is what Halliday Weston, Lawrence, likes about her job running the “Seige the Fortress” game where children throw bean bags at targets on a castle. She will never forget a little girl who was dolled up as a princess.

“She said, ‘I wonder how they fit all of this in Kansas,'” Weston said laughing. It reminded her of how some children look at the festival as a big, magical place.

Lawrence residents Sara Hildebrand and her husband, Josh Hildebrand, also work in games. Sara estimated that she gets dunked about 150 times a day in the “Drench a Wench, Soak A Bloke” game where she taunts people.

“It is the funnest job I’ve ever had,” Sara Hildebrand, an artist and musician, said of her first year at the festival. While she loves the children, she isn’t looking forward to drying off in the cooler weather that likely lies ahead.

On the other hand, her husband could use some relief from the warm and muggy temperatures. Josh Hildebrand and David Harter, who work for Sunrise Garden Center on weekdays, operate the popular Crowe’s Nest where people sit inside a huge barrel while they use their muscles and body weight to twist the barrel up a pole and let it go. They do that about 300 times a day.

“Oh no, not you again,” Josh Hildebrand teased Klara Steverman, 8, of Shawnee, who was getting on for another ride. Klara guessed that she had ridden it about a dozen times by late Sunday afternoon.

“They work hard for their money,” Earl Rose, of Lawrence, said of the duo. He is employed in the sales and marketing office. On weekends, he is a “runner,” making sure the other workers’ needs are met.

“I’ve already wore out a pair of shoes,” he said while walking between venues.

He takes time to point out a waterfall and stream in the Yorkshire Wharf area where he plans to marry Heidi Champagne, of Lawrence, next fall.

“I absolutely love it,” he said of the festival. “We love the escape here.”