Aaargyle, of course!I'm a little late with this post, but had to mention our fun day at the Portland Pirate Festival. We've been going for years, from its inaugural festival til now and we wouldn't miss it for just about anything.
The tickets might seem a little spendy, but you have to keep in mind that once you're in the gates, everything else (except of course, concessions and gift items) is totally free. This is especially a good deal for a family, as your children can indulge in as many of the bouncy, blow up activity thingies as their stomachs can handle, see puppet shows, juggling shows, check out some friendly parrots (left, Colin seems a little dubious, while Ethan gets a tickling), see Captain Bogg and Salty, likely the greatest pirate kids band in the history of the world, talk to roaming characters in amazing garb (we usually get gifted with some pieces of eight from one particular friendly buccaneer, but this year, we didn't see him. There was, however, a very credible Captain Jack Sparrow who was wandering the premises who very much thrilled my coworker Shirley Karr, who has, to put it mildly, a "thing" for Johnny Depp)(she would also drub me soundly for how much this sentence is running on, but she can complain at her own blog), play some pirate-ish games (whack the rats is one, pictured below) to earn a prize, watch a cannon battle, watch some swordplay and much, much more.
This year, we also got to see a real blacksmith and received some elaborate knotted things from a knot-master.
I couldn't resist buying the boys some wooden swords with some nifty black leather scabbord thingies, which have brought them a ton of joy already.
It was a long day (10 til 4) but we had a blast.
My advice: go early, before the lines form at the bouncy castle thingies (and get them out of the way first -- later on you'll see lines form). Don't miss the cannon battles or Captain Bogg and Salty.
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