Every year, come late May, early June, the community of South Lake Tahoe prepares  for the Valhalla Renaissance Faire at the Camp Richardson/Valhalla fair grounds.  Two weekends of the year, our small community looks forward to this rolicking event, complete with medieval costumes, knights, wenches, merry men and woman of all ages and backgrounds.  You will find all types of food, ale, the famous funnel cake, jugglers, performers of the medieval arts, musicians, vendors of period clothing and jewelry, all sorts of fancy, delight and the best part of all, the "Full Contact Jousting event."  Full contact denotes no use of additional shields to protect the knights from the full force of the 10 foot lance, made of solid wood and a copper tip.  The knights are wearing armor weighing 100-150 lbs, made of 14-16 gauge steel, in the style of the 16th century.

Most years, the Joust is performed by our local jousting troupe, "The Knights of Avalon."  They began in 1998 and have been performing and competing both domestically and abroad ever since.  The "Red Knight" is none other than my son-in-law, Sir Quint, married to my eldest daughter, Kelly and father to my two grand children, Graydon and Sydney Rose.  This is not Quint's full time job but has been his part time passion since he was nine years old.  A little boy's dream come true to become a real knight in shining armor. Officially knighted with a high world ranking, Quint takes the joust very seriously and hopes to pass on his love for jousting and knighthood to his son.

Here, be, Sir Quint, before the joust, inciting the crowd to cheer for him during the contest.  Quint is riding his 6 year old Clydesdale, a dark Bay Gelding, named "Mt. Baker's Major Sensation," or "Baker", for short.  Baker was trained for the joust by my daughter, Kelly.  More importantly, she trained Baker to be the gentle giant of a first horse for her son, Graydon, now two, who rides him with confidence.  Father, mother and their son, all share a love for horses and the passionate art of "The Joust."

Here, again, is Sir Quint, showing off his beautiful, strong steed to the crowd.  These amazing horses weigh upwards of 2,000 lbs.  When added to the weight of the rider and the heavy armor, there is a formidable amount of inertia as each rider takes to the field at a full gallop, striking the opponent with a solid wooden 10 foot lance, square in the edge of the "Grande Guard," or upper chest.  Bruising is not uncommon as a result of this brute force contact, strikes to the body and the inevitable falling from their horses once hit.  The crowd goes wild for this exibition of skill and the beauty of the enormous horses, thundering past them, sawdust flying in their wake.  It is a thrill and quite a sight.

Here is "Wild Bil," jouster and the announcer for the events, wearing his famous multi-colored plumed hat, with his long blonde locks flying behind him, thrilling the ladies and bringing enthusiastic applause as he announces the start of the jousting event.  Amidst artful clowns and squires playing silly games in the arena, they mimick the knights in faux jousting fun prior to the serious joust to follow.

Preparing for the "Helm," a squire places the helmet on the knight's head, with a complete face plate, leaving only small slits for limited vision and for the mouth opening.

With all armor in place, fastened, checked and rechecked, the knight is ready for the joust.

Sir Quint and another squire await the signal for the start of the joust, whereupon, the squire hands him his lance.

Young Graydon looks on as his Daddy charges into the joust, watching as his Dad is hit by the opposing knight, until one ultimately looses the battle.  The sight is too much for Graydon as he is heard uttering the words, "Daddy ouweeee?"  He is unsettled by the sight of his Dad being hit in the chest, falling to the ground and declaring the end of this round.  He has been defeated in this first of 3 rounds.  Only when Quint stands up, remounts his horse, rides over to the fence where we are standing, leans over to his son and whispers, "Daddy's OK" with a huge smile on his face, does Graydon break into a tentative grin, understanding that this was all some kind of playful show and his Daddy is not hurt!  No tears, thank goodness.

Graydon's Daddy and his Knight in shining armor!  We all felt so much pride watching him in this colorful, thrilling event.

After the excitement of seeing Quint and the Knights of Avalon perform, we all head over to the face painting booth, where Graydon chooses the dragon face for his artistic creation, complete with his camo fleece to compliment the look.  Beside him, looking approvingly at his decorated face, is his older first girl friend, wearing a leopard cat-woman motif, who held his hand affectionately throughout the day, much to his boyish delight.

Mama Kelly, Gramma Cathy, Auntie JJ and friends, soon after, found the food and ale booths, qued up and gratefully scarfed some beef on a stick and downed a pint or two.  After all the excitement of the day, even the porta-potties looked good after all the ale, sun and fun at the annual Renaissance Faire.

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