Students at Bakersfield College were invited to enjoy a Renaissance fair on the CSS lawn on March 25. The BC Renaissance fair featured numerous booths celebrating the Renaissance theme, with students dressing up and delving into the “ye olde spirit,” despite the heat of the day. One student, Alex MacKenzie, dressed in a hand-made Queen Elizabeth I costume, walked around with her head held high like true nobility.
“I would say it took me a solid 20 hours to make,” said MacKenzie. “This is for Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf. I’m enjoying the fresh air, the hot air, and the wonderful sun shining on my beautiful costume.
Other students enjoyed the game booths set up around the fair, including cornhole, frisbee target-throwing, and ax-throwing.
One of the things a Renaissance fair offers is the chance to dress up. While that usually means medieval or period clothing, it can also mean dressing up in a different way, one that can resonate through a person’s normal day-to-day life outside of the fair. The Lavender Initiative booth attempted to help students in that regard.
“This is our trans clothing swap, and we are just kind of giving students the opportunity to find clothing that is affirming towards their gender,” said Alexarin Rodriguez, one of the members of the Lavender Initiative. “I think the whole concept of renaissance fair is very imaginative so you can kind of just be whatever you want, it’s a very fantasy type of environment, so you’re able to just play around with how you’re dressing and how you’re presenting yourself and kind of like fit into a character, and for a lot of people especially if they’re gender nonconforming, that is a really helpful way to express their gender expression and preferences and stuff like that.”
The Renaissance fair offered many students the opportunity to dress up, play games, and have a good time with other BC students.