The Renaissance Festival is a place where everyone and anyone can venture to in order to awaken their medieval passions and expose a side of them no other place can reveal.  Here people can be themselves without fear of being judged.  They can dress in clothing appropriate to the era, eat as citizens of the renaissance age would eat, and live a day in the shoes of people whose lifestyle consisted of these aspects every day of their lives, all while having a merry time.

What's fascinating about the Renaissance Festival is it is an escape from the everyday bustling industrial environment known to people of the 21st century.  Once you pass through the gates, you are immersed in a culture rarely seen these days.  Men, women, and children of all ages absorb the spirit of the festival and change into someone only such a place can expose.  Immediately you are compelled to have high spirits as people dancing, shopping, and just continuously enjoying themselves welcome you to the festival.  From there the opportunities are limitless for there are twelve stages of continuous live entertainment, jousting tournaments, over 200 artisans displaying a variety of unique wares, and displays of ancient skills like glassblowing, leatherworking, weaving, woodcarving, blacksmithing, candlemaking and pottery.

One specific entity of the Renaissance Festival that stands out in my mind is the old coin striking mill tucked away and blended into in the strips of stores surrounding it.  Here, a family of three (father, mother, and daughter) work to produce unique coins crafted into necklaces by means of a punch press.  

The store offers some 100 different punch dyes each a symbol possessing its own special meaning.  The categories range from mythological symbols, to astrological, to even ancient Egyptian.  Once their customer has chosen two of their own special symbols they want imprinted on a coin, they place a blank, either bronze or silver, between each dye and clamp it to a press.  Then a heavy weight is hoisted a few feet above the dyes and then suddenly dropped onto the head of one dye, eternally imprinting the symbols on the coin.  

What's distinctive about this certain store is they can fulfill the needs of any customer that they are presented with by owning such a broad spectrum of dyes applicable to anyone due to the meaningful descriptions given to each symbol.  Additionally, what captivates people is the fact that the coin is formed before your very eyes three feet away, making the production a very personal thing for the consumer.  

If you and your family are venturing to the Renaissance Festival in Arizona anytime soon, which I would undoubtedly recommend, be sure to stop in on this special experience not attained anywhere else close by.