To Fest or Not to Fest

To fest or not to fest, that is the question facing me this Labor Day Weekend. Traditionally my wife and I use this weekend to make our family trip to the Renaissance Festival out in Bonner Springs. At eight and six, my boys are still very interested in Robin Hood, medieval knights, swords, shields, and jousts. They both look forward to the Ren Fest all summer and start planning what they are going to eat (arguing over who will get the roasted turkey leg) and what weapon they are going to get this year. This year however, the exuberance has been less then overwhelming. In fact, when the boys asked what we were doing this weekend and I responded with “what do we always do on Labor Day Weekend?”, neither of them remembered it is Renaissance Weekend. The boys are getting older and we have been to the Renaissance Festival for six straight years. Maybe they are growing out of it, maybe they are bored with it, or maybe they simply forgot about it in the chaos of starting school. I don’t know. To fest or not to fest, that is the question I ask of you.

To complicate my festing decision, I am a volunteer at the Irish Fest Saturday night. Now, I have never been to the Irish Fest so I don’t know what to expect. I have been told it is fun and kid friendly, at least before the sun goes down. My wife has been toying with the idea of taking the kids down before I begin my 7-11 volunteer shift. We could go down after lunch, enjoy the afternoon grab some dinner and then my wife could head home with the children, while I stayed to volunteer. The problem here is the nap. My daughter is only two and still takes an afternoon nap, most days anyway. Do we skip the nap and go to the Irish Fest, or do we wait, get her a nap and then head down, although we may only have a couple of hours then.

To fest or not to fest, that is the question I ask of you. I obviously have to go the Irish Fest tonight, but should we head down as a family this afternoon? If we go to the Irish Fest, do we then turn around and go to the Renaissance Fest on Monday? Or do we skip the Irish Fest all together (except for my volunteer shift) and only go to the Renaissance Fest? Finally, we could just decide not to fest this weekend and stay home for a change.

To fest or not to fest, that is the question I ask of you; that, and where do I get a small bank loan to cover the cost of two fests, a family of five, and one long Labor Day weekend.