As a part of my contract with Glitterfree Productions to apear as the Naga in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade to represent the Festival of Legends, I drove towards the North in a rented car on a misty Friday morning. I spent a lovely weekend in Raleigh, NC with my sister Hannah, and my boyfriend (the producer and owner of Glitterfree Productions) Jeff Kass. Saturday, bright and early, we packed up my costume and a heavy duty garden cart and met several members of a local fight group as well as two of my sister’s fellow soldiers, my Faire-wife (and FoL’s First Aid volunteer) Liz and the wonderful Drew family (my oldest friend KT, her husband Matt and their adorable two year old, Lily) in downtown Raleigh to form up for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
It was odd to see the set up from this side: in previous parades I was in marching band and the organization is quite a bit differently arranged!
I did some quick and dirty parking lot make up jobs on the lovely soldiers, my sister dispensed wings and I wiggled into my naga costume, ready for it’s first public appearance. Getting into the cart was an amusing visual for the crew, it appears and waiting to start off, I amused the sassy Lily-child with my tail. She took my fangs and
makeup in stride after a moment.
The parade was great fun, with children alternatively amused by the fey and fighters and thrilled by my flash of fang. It was at both times disconcerting and mildly inconvenient to be confined to the cart when I am so accustomed to walking, but being bodily thrown over the shoulder of one of the great armoured fighters was perhaps the most amusing part.
We ended up crammed in the front seat of Liz’s Mustang, the cart in the backseat, my snakey butt, tail coiled in my lap, sitting cradled in Jeff’s arms and listening to Liz chortling as she drove us back to Jeff’s car and my pants.
A successful first outing of the naga!
Silver Kitsune 