The University Daily
KANSAN
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Vol. 94, No.1 USPS 650-640
Thursday, August 18, 1983
Section 3 Area lifestyle
Renaissance Festival revives world of 16th centurv
Special to the KANSAN
Two knights fight a duel in one of the many re-enactments that takes place at the Renaissance Festival.
By KYLE RITCHEY Staff Reporter
Knights in shining armor battle one another while minstrels, merchants, artisans, evil wizards, peasants and royalty join in grand merriment.
THE SEVENTH ANNUAL. Kansas City
Renaissance Festival, which runs on weekends
from Labor Day, Sept 5 through Oct 9,
the past in an authentic 16th century
festival.
The setting originally took place in the world of the 16th century Renaissance, and it will be alive next month in Bonner Springs, a city west of Kansas City, Kan.
On 200 acres of wooded land, performers, craftsmen and dedicated volunteers combine efforts to present crafts, entertainment and food of a past time.
The Renaissance Festival, which is sponsored by the Kansas City Art Institute, began in 1977 as a summer festival.
Marie Evans, a member of the board of governors for the institute, suggested having such a festival in the Kansas City area after the end of Renaissance celebrations across the country.
THE FESTIVAL HAS since grown into the No. 1 fund-raiser for the Art Institute, as well as the second largest attraction in the state of Kansas, according to Sandy Lee, director of public
About 7,500 visitors attended the festival in 1977, which lasted only three weekends in October and consisted of seven craftsmen and 50 performers. Lee said.
This year the festival will run six weekends and include 275 craftsmans, 1,000 performers and 1,000 volunteers. he said. 144,000 people attended the festival last year.
Those involved in the celebration strive to make it as authentic as possible. Lee said. They try to reflect the 16th century as closely as possible for their costumes, games, crafts and entertainment.
Each year a class, called the Performatory, is offered to all who are interested in learning the authentic dialect of the time, as well as songs, instruments and techniques and improvisation techniques. Lee said.
THE CLASS, which grows every year, is taught by Richard Bagwell, a performer, dialect expert and author, and Judy Kory, a dialect performer, performed at Renaissance testvals for 20 years.
The entertainers generally adopt the role of 16th century characters. Lee said, and play them as authentically as possible, which involves a lot of research and study into the history of the
Lee, who plays the court jester at the festival, said he researched the development of "court fools" throughout the 15th and 16th centuries before adopting his role.
Each year a royal court made up of authentic royal characters is selected to reign during the festival. This year David Archer will play the role of King Henry II, while she will play Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife.
THE COSTUMES, which range from peasant-like rags to expensive, exquisite gowns made of intricate beadwork and costly fabric, are usually handmade. Lee said.
This year some of the costumes will be for sale at the festival by the craftsmen who make them.
The 275 craftsmen are under strict standards to recreate authentic Renaissance-era crafts.
"All crafts must be handmade, reminiscent of the Renaissance period, done by the person who owns the shop and nothing can be mass-produced." Lee said.
Examples of medieval crafts include silver smithing, pottery, weaving and wheat weaving.
NINE STAGES at the festival will feature continual entertainment, such as puppetry, drama and music of the Renaissance era. Lee said. There also will be jugglers, magicians, storytellers, rope walters, sword swallows and abdoussures entertaining throughout the grounds.
Lee said that in May and July auditions were undertaken for entertainers and that almost anyone with promotion experience
This year, Sideshow, a group of jugglers from Minnesota, will perform at the festival.
"We try to use as many people as we can," he said.
"They are one of the best juggling shows in the country," Lee said.
The duo of Puke and Snot, made up of Dean Hanus and Bruce Bohne, of Minneapolis, Minn. is one of the most popular acts, according to Lee.
"They have a comedy sword-fighting ringer," he said. "They fence as they insult each other."
JOANNE ZINGO, 1324 Delaware St., will be joining the entertainers at the festival for her second year as a belly dancer. She is a member of the Big Springs Dance Festival and two other dancers and a group of musicians.
Ghawaze dancers, according to Zingo, are Gypsies that dance in the streets of Egypt and New York.
Zingo, who works for American Bell in Kansas City. Mo., said that she had been to the festival before she became involved with it and that she thought it looked like a lot of fun.
Last year her biography allowed her to be a bandmaiden for the royal court, as well as a ballerina.
"Last year I just decided I was going to go and become involved in it." she said.
She said that if you were portraying a specific historical character you had to write a description of what they were doing.
"YOU WORK WITHIN the definition of your character." she said.
Zingo said that it took a lot of dedication and hard work to be involved in the festival, especially since she also worked during the week, but she thought it was worth it.
At the end of the festival, awards are given for the best acts and the most unusual acts, among others.
101 Another Lawrence resident, John Andrews,
101 Vermont St., will play the role of a
rolemate.
ANDREWs, WHO HAS SUNG at the festival for the past two years, received his bachelor of art's degree in music from KU in 1978 and makes his living as a professional singer in Lawrence. He said he aspired to perform as an opera singer someday.
He said he became involved in the Reinsurance festival because it was an excellent event.
Andrews sings appella, or without musical accompaniment, and he said he gave eight to the conductor.
RENAISSANCE MUSIC was usually sung acappella with or the with lute. Andrews said. During the mid-20th century, many artists sang at concerts.
"It was a way and means of selling goods and arts." he said.
He said that Renaissance singers were close to hawkers or advertisers.
He tries to keep with the role of a Renaissance singer by wearing an authentic costume and makeup.
Andrews said that although he did not get paid for his participation in the festival, it was still worthwhile because he was touching people with his music.
"I AM GETTING a very important and meaningful emotional outlet," he said.
Andrews said he planned to continue performing at the festival in the future.
"It it bigger and better all the time," he said. "It is something that I never get tired of."
The chance to sell her craft locally is what first attracted JUDITH Herschelman, 804 Kentucky Street.
Herschman, who will sell her crafts at the festival for the first time this year, makes a variety of things with fabric. She makes pillows, rugs, or pillowcases, but, she said, she is primarily a doll maker.
HERSCHMAN, WHO HAS sold her crafts wholesale until now, had been to the festival a number of times and viewed it as a chance to sell her things locally.
"This year I thought it would be a neat local thing to do," she said.
Herschman said she thought her crafts would fit in well with the theme of the festival because she worked mostly with velvets and made dolls that were decorated in a Snow Witch and the Witch and Pumpkinstalks.
See RENAISSANCE page 3
Federal aid cuts put Haskell in bind
Staff Reporter
By CHARLES BARNES
Haskell Indian Junior College remains empty this summer because of budget cuts by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Within the city limits of Lawrence is a school that represents the pinnacle of federally funded higher education for American Indians.
Us 856 students represent 170 tribes from more than 30 states, and about 15 major Indian tribes.
Students travel from as far away as Alaska, Florida and Maine to attend the school, and from 55 percent to 60 percent of the students come from reservations.
THE SCHOOL'S NAME is Haskell Indian Junior College, 23rd Street and Haskell Avenue, and though it has been operated by the federal government it has only served as a junior college since 1971.
Nassau is the largest all-Indian college in the United States, according to Rollin KeKahbah, coordinator of institutional evaluation at Haskell, and it's the only one of the three schools financed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that courses in liberal arts and applied sciences.
But despite its position at the summit of American Indian higher educational programs, Haskell faces difficulties because of federal funding. Gene LeLitra, dean of instruction at Haskell.
For the second consecutive year, no summer courses were offered at Haskell, and teachers did not receive a salary.
"Because of cuts in program funding, course offerings have been hurt quite a bit." Leitka
Upp said that a summer session was important for a strong, year-round educational program for the students and that he hoped that the summer program could be restored in the
GERALD GIPP, president of Haskell, said that the summer educational programs were the most severely affected.
"We can't offer the summer session because funding has decreased." he said.
Leitka said that in the past, summer had been a time when Haskell teachers taught classes, engaged in research and began preparation of class materials for the fall semester.
Elimination of the summer session has not only hurt students at askell, Leitak said. It has also caused a backlash.
"BUT DURING the past two summers, activities of teachers and other faculty has been reduced."
Haskell teachers are paid for each month of
Karen Cadue, a former Haskell student who is now majoring in language arts at the University of Kansas, said that more of an effort should be made to ensure that Haskell keeps its high caliber of teachers.
In the summer of 1982 teachers were furloughed four weeks, Leitka said, but this year they were laid off for 10 weeks and received no pay from Haskell during that time.
Faculty who had accrued paid vacation time this year had to take a "vacation without pay"
"MY ENGLISH TEACHER at Haskell graduated from Harvard," she said, "and after her many years of teaching at Haskell, she deserves a more secure future."
the year they work, he said.
Haskell has five dormitories with a total capacity of 700 students, Smith said. Of these dormitories, two are for females and one is for boys. The men's dormitory has women and men segregated in different wings.
"If a student is accepted at Haskell, he is eligible for free on-campus housing contingent upon his enrollment."
Benny Smith, acting dean of students, said that all encampus housing was scheduled to be
Haskell officials also are trying to remedy housing problems
Although Smith said he would like to see more on-campus housing in general, he said that "there are a lot of places."
"WE HAVE NOTIFIED the Lawrence Public Housing Authority and the Indian Housing Division of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare of our desire to build married student housing," said Smith, "and we are waiting for their reply."
"There is no question about the need." Leitika
*Haskell has no provisions for married*
student.
About 10 percent of the student population is married. Leitika said.
priority.
And because on-campus housing is free, he said "married students can't afford to live on campus."
Married students and others who live on campus face an additional challenge. Leikta
"THOSE PEOPLE sometimes have a transportation problem which frequently causes them to miss classes," Leitka said. "And then they are left with trouble with Haskell's strict attendance policy."
Leitka said that while general enrollment had remained the same, married student enrollment had increased.
A married student housing project might reverse this trend, he said.
Smith would not speculate on Haskell's chance of getting the housing facilities for married couples to move there, because it takes a reply to receive a reply from the agenda, the less the school is to receive the needed housing.
By ED GROM Staff Reporter
Baldwin City, about 15 miles south of Lawrence, looks like just another small Kansas town—one main avenue for trading, one movie street and a lot of friendly people who know each other by name.
But what makes Baldwin City, population 2,837, different from other small Kansas towns is its location.
Travelers on the Santa Fe Trail passed through the town, then named Palmyra, in the 1800s, and John Brown tangled with pro-slavery forces there in the Battle of Black Jack in 1856.
Adding to Baldwin's history and tradition is Baker University, a private four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the Methodist Church.
THE OLD SANTA FE WELL, used by pioneers traveling on the trail, still stands in the eastern part of the city. A historical marker stands in the southwest part of town on the ground where Brown and his anti-slavery group fought the pro-slavery forces.
A group of Methodist ministers met in a log cabin in Palmyra in 1857 and decided to establish
The university, named after Methodist Bishop Osman Bayer, opened its doors in 1835, thus becoming one of the first colleges in England.
The two-story building that originally housed Baker, known as the Old Castle, is now a museum preserving the history of Baker University and the Santa Fe Trail.
BAKER HAS GONE through gradual changes and become a 27-building, 26-acre campus in the heart of the city.
More than 900 students from 24 states and 10 foreign countries make up the student body today, although most of the students are from the Kansas City area and the Midwest.
Freshman are required to live in one of four residence halls on campus, and others must live on campus in fraternity or sorority houses. Buker has nine Greek living organizations on
"Baker is designed at a small level to be able to give the student a meaningful identity," said
Baker's curriculum includes classes in art, biology, business, chemistry, communications, foreign languages, history, mathematics, music, physical education, physics, psychology and
the atmosphere here makes it easier for the student to have a wide variety of acquaintances instead of a limited world as in a large university."
Ben Gessner, retired Dean of Students at Baken and a resident of the city.
The one-time feud between the students and residents of Baldwin in the 1900s has disappeared.
"The college students at one time wanted their freedom, no matter what it took," said City Clerk Ava Cummings. "They were going around and finding people who would be able and did not have consideration of their rights."
"You can have your freedom within limitations and they finally learned that after a while. The students have gotten along well with the people of the city ever since."
This small, quiet community comes to life on the third weekend in October every year for the annual Maple Leaf Festival, an event where you can enjoy a variety of activities and get together for two days of fun and excitement.
Baker provides jobs for many of the citizens of Baldwin. Some are employed by the Baldwin school district and others commute to Lawrence or Kansas City for employment.
The festival includes a carnival, hobby shows,
a barbecue sponsored by the Jaycees, a Maple
Trees, and a music concert.
The parade, on the first day of the festival along Eighth Street under the colorful maple trees and American flags, drew about 5,000 people until about 1978 when attendance started growing, Cummings said. Last year more than 15,000 attended the parade.
"YOU SEE THE city come all at one time and make a big event happen," Cummings said. "The people of the city always put together a big event that was attracted the big crowds the last five years."
"We get them from all over the state and some from Missouri and Arkansas. October is a beautiful month and people come here to see the maple trees and be part of a celebration."
"I had a person from Washington state call two years ago four days before the weekend and asked for directions to Baldwin. He left that day and made it here by the weekend."
This year's Maple Leaf Festival, the 26th anniversary of the event, will be be October 18.
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