Cooks Creek Medieval Festival – 07.28.2018

This weekend was the Cooks Creek Medieval Festival! I went with my bestie, her daughter and my niece. It was our first time going and we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. I knew I wanted to see the jousting, get another henna tattoo and visit the Braid Bar (hairstyling) & Garden of Ale (booze!). The girls wanted to get their faces painted.

We had a fairly uneventful drive to the festival grounds, which was nice cuz these two can be a bit unpredictable 😂

Mirror selfie at the gas station cuz I knew I wouldn’t get many pics of my outfit. I wore a wrap around sari skirt, a crop top with bandage straps, and my utility belt to keep my hands free.

Boo & Saeryn with the moose at the gas station 😂

On our way to the middle of nowhere for the festival.

Saeryn in the costume her mom made and Boo wearing a faerie costume!

We got there around 10:30 and lined up at 11:15. We were maybe the 10th people in line. This photo was taken at 11:50!

Stamped and ready to go!

They let us in at 12 and we watched the ringing of the bells. The merchants’ alley was set up right next to the belltower so we wandered through there. I wish I had taken more pics of the stalls. I wanted to go to the Braid Bar to get my hair done, but they seemed kinda quiet and the face paint was right beside it. We decided to do face paint & henna first.

Boo getting her face painted and Saeryn micromanaging 😂

The girls admiring their new face paint! It was $15 with the handmade unicorn horns. Photo by the henna lady, Kim.

My bestie got a small artist’s choice henna tattoo on her wrist.

And my mandala on my shoulder! I liked the glitter but I think it made Roku’s henna flake off immediately.

Roku made appointments for Saeryn and I at the Braid Bar while I was getting my henna. Turns out they were actually super busy!

Boo & Saeryn.

The stage at the grotto, where dance performances would be held throughout the day. Unfortunately I didn’t pay attention to the notice board with the dance times 😭 we missed the majority of them.

Horses in the grotto.

A random merchant stall. I love merchants but Boo was being a brat at this time 🙄 she wanted to see the jousting so I was distracted by her while trying to shop.

I loved these guys’ outfits! They put ours to shame 😂

The church =) we stopped to buy food tickets (a ridiculous system imo and the only part of the festival that I disliked), buy slightly overpriced water bottles & pop, and take a bathroom break. Boo somehow cut her finger on her pop so we took a quick stop at the first aid tent.

Then we decided to go to watch jousting.

Jousting was okay! Maybe we were too early (right at the start) and everyone was only just getting into it 🤷‍♀️ I didn’t find it particularly exciting.

Hate selfies 🙃 but here’s my pretty bestie and I.

The service at the festival grounds was terrible. My text reminder for our appointment was nearly 30 minutes late. We ended up running to the Braid Bar every 15 mins to make sure we didn’t miss the next one.

Finally we got in! Saeryn went first and got a braid & bun with flowers. Boo suddenly decided she wanted the same so I let her go before me.

Saeryn couldn’t stop admiring herself in the mirror. It was so cute.

Loove this pic of Saeryn. (She decided to take her horn off at some point.)

The girls and their finished hairstyles! Boo went with a braid & bun as well.

A little photoshoot of their new ‘dos.

Nabbed this photo from a festival-goer (thanks, Shawn!). I need my own paparazzi to take candid photos of me 😂

I got my hair done with a ‘warrior braid’ a la Vikings.

My warrior braid! Also, my tanlines are amazing today 😂

Lmao that little hand. My bestie didn’t get her hair done but she made her floral crown herself, so I took a photo of her in front of the pretty backdrop.

I absolutely haaate posing for pictures 😂

We tried to get a group photo but the girls weren’t very cooperative. Saeryn and Boo were acting like kittens (after hearing that there was a kitten castle we could visit). We don’t even have a nice pic with Saeryn.

So we gave up 😂 Thanks to Kenzie from the Braid Bar for taking these pics!

The grotto! I would’ve loved to take more photos around here.

The kids found a little castle to play in.

This sign was hidden in the castle and managed to fall down. I thought it was hilarious 😂

The one dance performance we caught was the Morris dancers! Loved it!

We went back through the merchants and then decided to duck into the church where there were vocal performances.

Then we headed to the kids’ section, which was kinda small with a petting zoo, three craft tables, two small games and a bouncy castle. The girls decorated paper crowns and then played on the bouncy castle.

I had two food tickets left after pop and water, fries and an overpriced hot dog. We were going to get ice cream but neither Boo nor I wanted any, so Boo got root beer and I gave my ticket to Rok.

The viking village on the far side of the grounds, which we just kinda glanced at.

Highland games! These were interesting but they were right beside the jousting arena which was noisy and crowded. We sat on a grassy knoll for a bit to watch the games.

The grotto. The ale garden was at the top and I had wanted to go to it but we had the kids. (I mistakenly assumed no kids were allowed)

We did go to the top eventually, but the ale garden was disappointing (no flagons! Children everywhere! Bruh.) So we took a quick look at the jousting and then walked back down.

Later online I saw an amazing pic someone took from the other walkway, with the church in the background. I wish I could’ve taken more pics but there was a grumpy child in our midst 😂

A few shots overlooking the festival grounds.

On our way out! We spent 4.5 hours at the festival. The only thing we didn’t really see was the archery and axe throwing, which I had been looking forward to, but apparently that was tucked away in some corner 😂 we changed out of our costumes and then headed into the city for food and books before making our way home.

I found the most perfect necklace at the last stall I saw at the festival 😍 So happy to have this little souvenir of our time at the festival 💕