The fragrance of fresh dill filled the air while Jane Sterner rocked a dark-handled knife over the feathery green sprays during the 2017 Jane Austen Festival in Louisville. It wasn’t lunch; it was a “repast” featuring cold chicken salad, jam tartlets and a “Bennet Sisters’ Tea Tart (see recipe below),” with each ingredient representing a character in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice: chocolate for Lydia, vanilla for Kitty, lavender for Jane, Earl Gray tea for Lizzy and cream for Mary.
Just under 40 miles away in Eminence, Ed Frederick traversed his domain at the Kentucky Highland Renaissance Festival, spreading good cheer and a jovial disregard for historical correctness. Frederick is a founder and co-owner of the fair, providing unabashed escapism for the motley bands of jesters, fire breathers, traditional musicians, vendors and thousands of guests who visit each summer for a creative taste of the Scottish Highlands, circa 1306.
They may be worlds apart in style and time periods, but the Jane Austen Festival and the Kentucky Highland Renaissance Festival are two poles of the same impulse—imaginative engagement with history. From jousting knights and fire-eating jesters to tea and twilight shopping, this summer’s festivals provide an imagining of times past.
At the Jane Austen Festival, Jane Sterner prepares an afternoon repast of cold chicken salad, jam tartlets and her special Bennet Sisters' Tea Tart. [Photo by Joel Sams]
The Jane Austen Festival
Coming up on July 13-15 at historic Locust Grove, an 18th century Georgian mansion, the annual Jane Austen Festival celebrates Regency history, fashion, literature and all things Austen. Sponsored by the Jane Austen Society of North America, Greater Louisville Region, it is the largest festival celebrating the author in North America. It brings thousands of attendees each year from across the United States and around the world.
Stepping onto the festival grounds is like entering another dimension. Guests in period clothing stroll across the manicured lawn. Two of several white tents—the Shoppes of Meryton and the Regency Emporium—sell period-authentic clothing, fabrics, teas, spices and more. Others display historical items from the period. In 2017, a “cabinet of curiosities,” curated by Julie Rockhold, featured items that would have been collected and displayed by wealthy Georgian families, including fantastical items such as “The Skull of Julius Caesar as a Child.”
Celebrating 10 years, the 2018 festival will also observe the 200th anniversary of Persuasion, Austen’s last fully completed novel. A wide range of planned events includes lectures on literary and historical topics, four-course teas, a Regency fashion show, twilight shopping, a grand ball and much more.
Guest speakers for this year’s fest are author Patrick Stokes, a direct descendant of Austen’s brother, Charles Austen; author Ann Buermann Wass; Jeremy Strong, professor of literature and film at the University of West London; and Zack Pinsent of Pinsent Tailoring in Brighton, England.
“I’ve been to many places, many re-enactments, and there’s nothing like the Jane Austen Festival—everyone being united over a love for one author,” said Catherine Meisburg, who attended the 2017 festival. “Her books are so fun, and they’re so relatable.”
More than 200 years after Austen’s death, what is it about the British novelist that continues to fascinate?
“For me, she was so ahead of her time as a woman and as an author,” said Heather Huffton, from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who attended last year’s festival. “She really spoke to the heart of many people, and I think that’s why her work endures. She was really good at understanding characters and how people really are, and you read her books today, and there are probably people in them that you know.”
Jane Austen Festival fans attend for many reasons. Some love the costumes. Others, like Meisburg, follow sewing blogs and can’t wait to meet their favorite bloggers in person. Some are military history buffs, intrigued by events like last year’s naval encampment (a portrayal of the crew of HMS Acasta). Many attend lectures by guest speakers, diving into research that spans fashion, literature, history and politics.
Not everyone goes to the festival in costume—attire runs the gamut from shorts and sneakers to parasols and cravats—but those who do participate in re-enactments take their historical details seriously, from clothing to food to mannerisms.
“It really allows people to go back to a literary and historical time,” said Sterner, the guest who prepared a period-correct luncheon of chicken salad and jam tartlets. “You are changing up totally who you are. The words you might say in our modern day if you stub your toe, you don’t say here. It allows a different lens to look through.”
Inhabiting a historical period, even for a time, is more than a hobby or even a learning tool. It’s also an exercise in seeing with different eyes and forming an intellectual sympathy with a vanished time. Contrasting the Regency era with our own, Sterner thinks we could all learn a thing or two.
“Our own time seems much less genteel, much less courteous,” Sterner said. “I think that courtesy and respect for other people’s space is quite lacking.”
But does re-enacting Jane Austen’s era change anything? Does it alter, even slightly, the way we engage with our own time?
“I hope so,” Sterner said. She smiled, picked up her knife and resumed chopping fresh herbs for her afternoon repast.
Guests at the Jane Austen Festival re-enact a naval encampment, featuring re-enactment group HMS Acasta. [Photo by Joel Sams]
If You Go
Jane Austen Festival - July 13-15
Historic Locust Grove, Louisville
(502) 727-3917 | jasnalouisville.com
Tickets: Friday – $6; Saturday or Sunday – $15;two-day Saturday and Sunday admission – $25.
Children under 12 are admitted free with an adult.
Online advance registration begins June 6 at 5 p.m.
Performing as Fool Hearty at the Kentucky Highland Renaissance Festival, Mark and Tara Reed delight audiences with juggling, jokes and fire-swallowing tricks. [Photo by Joel Sams]
The Kentucky Highland Renaissance Festival
Elbow to elbow, a crowd teems under a tent in the hot July sun. Some spill out from the shelter, shielding their eyes with their hands and focusing their attention on the fenced-off field before them. Heralds, bedecked like plumed birds, whip up the crowd to cheer for their champions. Across the field, lords and ladies watch the action from a shady stand. When two mounted knights charge into view from opposite ends of the field, the crowd roars with one voice and keeps up the volume as the warriors spur their horses, breaking lances against shields. For just a moment, the crowd has forgotten that it’s the 21st century, not the 14th—and that this Field of Valor is in Eminence, Kentucky.
“I just love watching people escape,” said Ed Frederick, founder of the Kentucky Highland Renaissance Festival, held June 2-July 15 this year. He sat at a wooden table outside a pub at the fairground, clad in a lace-collared white shirt with the figure of a golden hound suspended from his neck by meshed chain maille.
The festival began as a passion project for Frederick. He fell in love with Renaissance fairs while living in Texas and, after moving back home to Kentucky, realized the Bluegrass State didn’t have one. Creating the festival was a natural decision, especially given his family heritage.
“My family is Scottish from my grandmother back, and my wife is Scotch-Irish from her mother back,” Frederick said. “All the other fairs do Queen Elizabeth or Henry VIII, but we wanted to do a true Scottish fair. It’s King Robert the Bruce every year.”
As important as heritage is to Frederick, the real point of the Kentucky Renaissance Festival is imagination. A Renaissance fair set in 1306 is your first clue that “have fun” is the festival’s operative rule. You want to be a medieval Highlander? Sure. A Renaissance troubadour—why not? A werewolf, unicorn or water sprite? Go get ’em. Frederick sees the Kentucky Renaissance Festival as an opportunity for guests to take a break from their workaday lives, let their hair down (literally and figuratively), and have a roaring good time.
“It’s pure escapism,” Frederick said. “People come in mundane clothes, and you’ll see them—the first thing they do is buy a big sword, and then they’ll carry this big sword around for the rest of the day. And before the end of the day, a lot of them will buy an outfit, and they’ll be carrying their street clothes out in a paper bag. It’s just fascinating to watch that.”
There is entertainment for practically every age group. Kids love the enchanted fairy forest, complete with puppet shows, a cast of woodland characters, giant bubbles and more. Older guests can enjoy costumes and replica items for sale, including a full array of medieval arms and armor; food and drink; dances and live music; jousting; and traditional Highland games such as ax, star and knife throwing (all carefully supervised), and an archery tournament.
“I love the Kentucky Renaissance Festival because the general atmosphere is very family friendly, fun and enthusiastic,” said Noelle Sekanic, who attended last year’s festival with her husband, David, and daughter Charis. “There’s something for everyone. You can come any weekend and feel embraced, no matter your style. You can be a pirate; you can be a medieval maiden; you can be a fairy. You can do whatever you want, and everybody embraces you.”
Charles Hinton, a cast member playing King Robert the Bruce, said the temporary personal transformations of the Renaissance Festival are what make it special. It’s all about creating space for personal exploration.
“No matter how your mundane week is going, when you cross the gate, you’re a whole different person,” Hinton said. “You can leave all your cares and problems outside the gate and be yourself here. People who come here are so blown away by how friendly everyone is, and even the cast members keep coming back and say this is the friendliest fair they’ve ever been to. Most members of the cast were originally patrons who fell in love with it.”
The event draws performers from across the U.S., lending an authentically medieval air of minstrelsy and entertainment. Two musicians play a hammered dulcimer and a harp under the trees. Another artist draws haunting harmonies from crystal glasses. Others, like Mark and Tara Reed, play for laughs, delighting the crowds with their juggling, jokes and fire-swallowing routines. Performing as Marquise and Ima Nutte with their troupe, Fool Hearty, the Reeds have performed on the road full time for more than 20 years.
“We love the audiences here in Kentucky,” Mark Reed said. “We love them, and we keep coming back.”
Cast members Belinda and Charles Hinton portray Lady Christina Bruce and King Robert the Bruce at the Kentucky Highland Renaissance Festival. [Photo by Joel Sams]
If You Go
Kentucky Highland Renaissance Festival
June 2–July 15 (Saturdays and Sundays only)
955 Elm Street, Eminence
Tickets: Day pass – $12 adults/$7 ages 6-12; weekend pass – $20 adults/$10 ages 6-12.
Bennet Sisters’ Tea Tart
Crust:
1½ cups flour
8 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cubed
¼ cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
Zest of 1 lemon
Filling:
½ cup heavy cream
2-3 tablespoons Earl Grey tea (loose leaves preferred)
1 tablespoon lavender
Dash of vanilla
1 cup milk chocolate chips
Disposable paper tea bag (can be purchased from Adagio.com)
Homemade whipped cream for garnish
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor or by hand, combine the flour and butter in a large bowl. Add the sugar, egg yolk, cream and zest, and knead vigorously until the dough comes together.
2. Wrap the dough and place in the refrigerator for about 15-30 minutes. Place it in a tart pan and press into place with your fingers. Use a fork to poke holes in the bottom of the crust, line bottom with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit, and bake it with beans, pie weights or rice to keep it from puffing up for roughly 40 minutes or until golden brown. While crust is baking, prepare the filling.
3. Heat the cream on low in a medium saucepan until it is just bubbling around edges. Fill tea bag with tea and lavender. (Alternately, if you get Earl Grey tea bags, use two of those and one bag for the lavender.)
3. Allow tea bag to steep in the hot cream. Using the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula, press the infused cream out of the tea bag. Alternate between steeping and pressing three or four times. If a film forms on the surface of the cream, stir to keep it as smooth as possible.
4. Add the vanilla and then the chocolate. Stir the chocolate until smooth.
5. When the crust has cooled, pour in filling and place in the refrigerator until firm. Garnish with a homemade whipped cream.
Recipe courtesy of thepiebrary.com.