Yuma Faire will be time travel event

  Those with a yearning to experience the Elizabethan Age need not a passport nor a time machine but merely to get out to West Wetlands Park for Yuma's third annual Renaissance Faire.

  The Arizona Western College Theatre Department will team up with the Two Rivers Renaissance Faire to transport Yumans back to the time of William Shakespeare, where all the world's a stage, at least for this weekend.

  Friday and Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., while lords and ladies also can spend Sunday there from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $10 adults and $5 for children 6-12 and for active-duty military personnel. Advanced tickets can be ordered online if a searcher links to the ticket page at www.tworiversfaire.com until Thursday.

  Some AWC actors will stroll among the throng as Hawkers Guild members promoting the wares of vendors whose booths are on the grounds, while other actors perform, demonstrate medieval combat, industrial or court jester skills.

  "Two Rivers has done an excellent job of coordinating volunteers and they're the real mover and shakers behind the Faire," said Chip Straley, professor of theater. "I've taught fencing to Faire performers for the last three years, basic saber and rapier styles. But all the weapons must be peace-tied to the scabbard as a safety measure."

  Attendees may also see The Duelists, a swashbuckling display of sword play, Straley said. And when they are not crossing swords at the Faire, they choreograph scenes for Hollywood, he noted.

  The Faire is a community-building experience that earns money from tax and permit revenues, Straley said. It is also a boon to local merchants because it will attract visitors from all over who will fill Yuma's restaurants and hotels. Instead of having to go to San Bernardino (Calif.) or Apache Junction (Ariz), they have a Faire right here, he added.

  "It brings the performance world in with the historical one," Straley said. "I think it's a really groovy thing and I'm proud they allowed us to be a part of it."

  Perry Dockins, co-producer of the Faire, started off in 1985 as a silversmith producing jewelry at events in San Diego and up the coast to San Luis Obispo.

  Last year more than 8,000 people attended in Yuma.

  "We wanted to get as much of Yuma involved as possible so that's why we wanted AWC to jump in," Dockins said.

  Along with medieval arts demonstrations, there will be a blacksmith class taught by AWC instructor Shanen Aranmor as well as a massage therapy class taught by Kate Turpin, another faculty member.

  The Faire is a bit of a fantasy that provides a unique opportunity for residents to try what they ordinarily would not experience, Dockins said.

  "It's an inexpensive day for the entire family and for the cost of a two-hour movie, you get to spend an entire day at the Faire," he said.

  One of the AWC actors who will stroll among the crowds is Cathy Abarno. She and AWC alumna Deborah Winter will do a scene from Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor" as the characters Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, respectively.

  "Chip (Straley) saw me in 'The Sound of Music' at Yuma Community Theater and he was eager to have me in the program, so he got me a  scholarship," Abarno said.

  Abarno said she has been to the Apache Junction Renaissance Faire and that was "amazing, really cool."

  "I know Perry (Dockins) and his partners do a wonderful job here," Abarno said. "I was a hawker a couple of years ago. The Faire has lots of interesting things and if you're a history buff, it's really great."

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William Roller can be reached at
wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.