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Prig: he haunts wakes, fairs and bear-baitings.
— The Winter’s Tale, IV,3,109

You’ll not find prigs at the annual Las Cruces Renaissance Craftfaire this November, but you’ll find plenty of good, clean fun.

Perhaps a few jugglers, a few mimes, a few armored knights engaged in combat, surely a few jesters. But no prigs. You’ll probably encounter a wench hawking flowers or cookies in her best Eliza Doolittle accent, “Hey, lye-dee. Buy a cookie frum a poor gel. Just 50 cents. ‘Taint much tapie.”

Onlookers marvel at the royal family who preside over the weekend’s festivities, complete with Elizabethan costumes and push-up devices (called busc boards) for the ladies. These things are very uncomfortable, according to one of the courtiers. But . . . anything for authenticity.

History

Surely one of the best Renaissance Fairs between Houston and San Francisco, the Las Cruces Faire started humbly enough at the Holy Cross Retreat near Mesilla Park. When that venue proved to be too small, the fair was moved to the Downtown Mall before ending up at Young Park on Walnut Street – which proved to be the perfect spot. And there it seems destined to stay. Visitors come back every year to celebrate with a near-religious fervor. Mike and Bobby Sherman of El Paso have been bringing their son Colin since he was a baby.

“We really look forward to it as a highlight of the fall season,” Bobbie said. “We have been meeting some friends, Pam and Gary Pippin, up here for years, and we were really disappointed last year when we had to go to Odessa for Colin’s soccer tournament. We just felt something was missing.”

Food

While strolling around the park, you’ve your choice of repast at thirty food booths. Not all comestibles are from the Renaissance, but what the heck? Your stomach won’t know the difference. Choose from barbeque brisket, red enchiladas, puffy gorditas, bulging burrritos, piquant caldillo (what else would you expect at a Southwestern event?), bratwurst, turkey legs, and Philly sandwiches. For your sweet tooth, you’ll find snow cones, ice cream, and brownies. There’s even a booth with nothing but chocolate by (who else?) the Unitarians. Wash it all down with coffee, tea, and soft drinks. Sorry, no alcoholic beverages are served here. The food booths are manned by volunteers from non-profit groups, and their rental fees go to other Las Cruces cultural groups.

Entertainment

Performers of all stripes keep the three major stages and several minor stages hopping. Runa Pacha will play traditional Incan music, not very Renaissance-y, but entertaining. Jewels of the Desert will entertain the royal court with Middle Eastern dancing in full costume. Members of the Society for Creative Anachronisms put on mock battles throughout the day. In addition to all this you’ll see fiddlers, pipers, magicians, Renaissance singers, and even a dragon floating on the lagoon. Boat rides and tethered hot air balloon rides are available at the lagoon, also.

Shopping

Fair goers who thrill to shopping will find dozens of peddlers hawking their wares – from paintings to sculpture to stained glass. You’ll find grotesque and whimsical puppets – even an eight-foot tall Toothless Fairy, AKA Meredith Edwards of Albuquerque, whose business name is OddJects d’art. There’s even a medieval book seller.

Plan to do a little early Christmas shopping at the Faire and save some time at the malls.

Parking

Parking is free, but limited. Caveat: Don’t park on Walnut Street or you’ll find a ticket on your windshield. Take Lohman off I-25 to Walnut, take a left and follow

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T-28 Trojan US Navy trainer. Photo by Charlie McDonald.

You wouldn’t expect to find a world-class air museum in tiny Santa Teresa, just outside El Paso, Texas, but there it sits. The War Eagles Museum is an eye-opening find for nostalgia buffs such as Lt. Col. (Retired) Lloyd Mettes of Oxford, Indiana, who said, "I flew seventy P-38 missions during World War Two – reconnaissance mostly, but a few combat missions." Looking at the black beauty (one of only seven left in the world) sitting on the hangar floor, he said, "This is really an early version of the P-38."

And Terry Sullivan of Las Cruces , New Mexico, recalled, "I had four brothers who flew during World War Two. Only three of them came back. The one who didn’t was a navigator aboard a C-47. I guess that’s why I’m partial to this plane." Slowly he examined the blue and white DC-3 (civilian version of the C-47) with a 1908 Overland parked beneath the wing.

Bob Magruder, gift shop manager, is knowledgeable and likes to extol the virtues of the airplanes. "Our latest acquisition is a P-51. The machine guns, antennae, radios – even the gun camera – all work," he said. "We also have the only T-51 left in the world. We found it in a junk yard in Djakarta, Indonesia. It was one of only twenty-five ever built. The Air Force never took delivery of it," he added.

A PF-51, "The Friendly Ghost," is the first plane you see when you enter the hangar. A P-51D Mustang, possibly the last known survivor of the Korean War, sits with its wing magazine open. A German Fieseler-Storch sits across the aisle. In 1945, an observation plane pilot shot down one of them with a Colt 45 pistol. This may have been the last dogfight in Europe. Not so ignominious was the rescue of Benito Mussolini by one of these planes. When Il Duce was being held prisoner on a mountain top in the Appenines, Adolph Hitler ordered his rescue, which the pilot effected with only 100 feet of runway for take-off.

As the sound of music from the 30s and 40s wafts through the hangar, you’ll be caught up in the era. You’ll see authentic V-Mail letters, rationstamp books, non-combatant gas masks, a Spitfire artificial horizon, and a Navy gun camera, even a photo of former President George Bush being picked up by the USS Finback (this display sits in front of an Avenger like the one Bush flew), even a Spotter’s Handbook from the cover of Life Magazine (cost 10 cents) of February 2, 1942.

Flying Tiger. Photo by Charlie McDonald

You’ll see a Flying Tiger with its familiar menacing teeth as you traverse the museum. This fighter is best known as part of General Clair Chennault’s American volunteer group which FDR made possible by executive order in April, 1941, to defend Burma against the Japanese.

The C-47 cargo and troop carrier became the DC-3 which most commercial airlines flew by 1939. During World War Two, C-47s made 5,000 flights a month from India to China, often leaving the ground at two-minute intervals. You’ll see a C-47 in magnificent shape here at the War Eagles hangar. Be sure to look for the beautiful white, blue and orange T-28 Trojan, a Navy plane that was used to train many fighter and bomber pilots. This "affordable P-51" is used by many civilian pilots in modern air shows.

A single-seat MIG 15 fighter, which the Soviets used in Korea against U. S. P-51 Mustangs, sits in the middle of the display. The MIG was a shock to Western intelligence; it had a superior rate of climb, a higher service ceiling, and more cannon power. This marked the first time a Soviet plane performed better than any Western rival.

Not all the planes are military craft, however. An 85 horsepower Cessna hangs from the ceiling. Ruth Deerman and Ruby Hayes won the Powderpuff Derby from Long Beach to Knoxville in it in 1954.

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