Lords, ladies, knights on horseback and about 25-thousand regular folks are expected to attend this weekend’s Salisbury Faire in Des Moines. The Renaissance festival opens this morning according to Ann Pross, associate director of the Salisbury House Foundation.One of the big attractions is the jousting team. It features men in armor on horseback trying to knock each other off with long poles. While the faire-goers can only -watch- the jousting, Pross says there are many other activities they can try, like fencing or archery.Pross says there’s a wide cast of costumed characters wandering the woods who look, speak and act as if they were from centuries past, including a bridge troll, a rat tamer, a king and queen, and even a medieval manners expert who can train men on the proper kissing of their ladies’ hands.The festival runs today and tomorrow at Water Works Park in Des Moines. The historic faire, which focuses on the Renaissance and Middle Ages, benefits Salisbury House, a 1920s-era 42-room mansion in Des Moines which is a museum for many rare artifacts, tapestries, furniture and paintings.
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