Be Ye Merry

摘要

Deep in the pine forest of east Texas, a middle-aged couple sat stiffly on a bench. "We met a few weeks ago in church and I thought it would be nice to come here to get to know each other," said the man hopefully.rnThe woman looked doubtful. Her date had taken her to the Texas Renaissance Festival, an annual celebration and re-enactment of 16th-century village life. A hundred yards away a magician pulled cards from his mouth with a sour expression. Next to that a tout herded guests into the House of Discount Torture, a haunted house focused on special effects. "No goth kid with a self-esteem problem chasing you down the hallway with a chainsaw," he promised.rnThe Texas festival is the largest Renaissance festival in the country; it had more than 400,000 visitors over eight weekends this year. But more than 150 of these productions have popped up in America since 1963, when a "pleasure faire" was first held in southern California. They are typically out in the country and can be a major economic boon to a rural community: lots of people, it turns out, like to watch jousting and feast on turkey legs. In one Maryland county, officials arerndesperately trying to figure out how they can stop the local effort from moving to a larger site in another county. Apart from a boat show, the festival is the area's largest tourist attraction.