{"id":12562,"date":"2020-07-20T05:36:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T12:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/?p=12562"},"modified":"2021-08-25T02:49:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T09:49:59","slug":"time-at-the-2020-az-renfest-before-the-plague-ruined-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/?p=12562","title":{"rendered":"time at the 2020 AZ RenFest before the plague ruined everything"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of my favorite times<\/strong> of the year was upon us, the annual Arizona Renaissance Festival. With some new acts showing this year, plus all of my yearly traditions that I’ve come to love since I started going in 2017, I was ready to go back in time and enjoy the simple life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Black Death<\/strong>, or the bubonic plague, was something that came up as a joke during the RenFest in years past, yet this year the joke was on us. Covid was just starting to take hold on the world stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As I make my way<\/strong> around the throngs of people, I can’t help but think about the unseen enemy that was in the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one was the wiser until that fateful day in March whenever the entire country seemed to come to a standstill all at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was torn about going to the Festival<\/strong> that March weekend, as Spring baseball had just been cancelled, the NCAA basketball tournament, and the NBA and music concerts. Backlash online for the Festival remaining open was split 50\/50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

They opened Saturday, but I decided to play it safe and stay home. Sunday came and the the Festival announced that it was be closing for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was sad, not so much for myself, but for the loss of income for the beautiful performers that rely on Festival dollars to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will the Festival return again? That question, just like so many others, is still a big unknown for those of us in plague survival mode…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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