Bawdy Wenches Take Over Southern Illinois Ren Faire

In early October, the John A. Logan Museum grounds in Murphysboro will transform into a pirate cove, a place for pirates, fairies, gypsies and ruffians of all types to congregate and celebrate.

Officially, it's the fifth annual Southern Illinois Renaissance Faire, but with a bit of a twist. The organizers visited other faires around the region and came to the conclusion that most people aren't interested in faires set at a specific time or location. They want pirates and fairies and costumes and Middle Ages-esque entertainment, but not the constraints of 16th century French village, for example.

"Fearless leader" Tabitha Newgent said the trend was obvious when organizers visited the Greater St. Louis Area Renaissance Faire at Wentzville, MO, earlier this summer. "The program said they didn't have tiered gypsy skirts because those did not exist at that point in time, but then they had a fairy wood," she said, saying the two attitudes didn't seem to mix.
So, Newgent and the newly-formed Southern Illinois Renaissance Faire Committee decided to simply make sense. A lot of people who come to this type of event aren't looking for perfect historical accuracy, she said. They are looking to dress in costume and have a good time. The new committee hopes to make the Murphysboro faire just the thing. To that end, the committee decided to forgo an actual place and time and instead make the theme of the faire this year, "The Rogue's Rendezvous", a gathering place for pirates, fairies and whatever else might hide in the magical land of Southern Illinois.

The faire in October will actually be the fifth annual Renaissance Faire held in Murphysboro, but the committee has decided to do away with the numbers and just call in the 2006 Southern Illinois Renaissance Faire. That's because previously the faire had tried to stick to a more historical approach and previously it had been an production of the Greylight Theater. Under the new leadership, both things have changed.

"We'll just call it new and improved," joked committee member Mindy Beyke of Carterville. Beyke and all the members of the new committee had been associated with the faire when it was under the direction of the Greylight, but felt the faire had become too large to remain just one of the Greylight's projects. The revised approach to the faire is to make it more accessible and appealing to area residents.

The new committee is comprised of "The Bawdy Wenches", a singing group first formed to perform at the Murphysboro faire, and a few holdovers from the Greylight. The wenches are lead by Newgent, an accountant in her other life, Murphysboro attorney Peggy Degen and Clan Beyke, with Mindy the matriarch and her daughters Amber and Kate. Joey, the youngest Beyke girl, has been designated as a wench-in-training as her mother states she is too young to perform the wenches' material in public.

With the leadership of the committee being such a family affair, it's not surprising that one of the intentions of the improved faire is to make it more family-friendly. That isn't to say that the wenches will be any less bawdy; they just intend to have other activities to send children to when they are singing "Roll Me Over in the Clover." "Last year, we intended to have some children's activities, but at the last minute, the vendor who was planning to do them realized he had double-booked himself. The other activity had required a deposit and we didn't, so we lost him," Newgent told her committee.

This year, the committee had decided to ask all vendors to have some sort of small activity for children. In addition, the committee will be planning children's games to be held throughout the faire. The other big event planned for the faire in October is the wedding of Amber Beyke and Steve Nelson. Though the two were married in a church ceremony in May, they have been planning for more than a year to have another ceremony and reception at the faire. Nelson also wrote the play "How to be a Pirate" which will be performed by members of the local Medieval Combat Society. The cast will also be providing demonstrations and instruction on the use of medieval weaponry, in this case wrapped in foam, so that people don't get hurt.
Other entertainment is in the works, but the committee is quick to point out that they would like to see more people involved in the project. "What we need more than anything is more people," Degen said.

Degen in her real-life is a Jackson County Public Defender. In her spare time, she's the first line of contact for the committee and their official press officer. Somehow, that also left her in charge of recruiting, both people and supplies. "We had a lots of things stored at the Band Shelter (at Riverside Park), so when that flooded this spring we lost a lot of material. We had several tents that were simply ruined. So we could use one really nice pavilion for the faire, or the materials to make one, and a facility to store things where it doesn't flood. But mostly, we need volunteers and participants," she said.

"We need performers and actors for the plays," Degen said. The group is also looking for someone to write and perform an appropriate puppet show, though the wenches said they could make puppets themselves if need be. Storytellers, who can stay in character, and entertain children are also needed.