POCATELLO — The soft music of a lute and the voice of its gentle singer can be heard amongst the bustle of enchanted looking patrons as they move from one medieval merchant to the next.
Mermaids swim in a nearby pool, surfacing to greet the starry-eyed expressions of children and adults alike. Nearby, a beautiful statue is posed delicately until it suddenly shifts and is revealed to be a living woman.
The sweet and savory smells of cooked meat are carried along by a gentle breeze as hungry patrons bite into large shanks of mutton and slurp steaming bowls of noodles.
In the distance, a clamoring can be heard, followed by the roaring cheers of a crowd. Knights in shimmering armor and wielding a litany of weapons are engaged in combat. Curved hellish axes clatter against raised helmets and shields, bludgeoning blows that drop many to their knees in defeat. The crowd erupts again as a man clad as a 15th century samurai struggles against the might of two others, before dropping both to the ground and staggering to his feet in triumph.
These glimpses into past ages give some idea of the atmosphere at last weekend’s first-ever Mystic Realms Fantasy Fair at the fairgrounds in Pocatello. The event enjoyed such magical success, attracting over 2,800 people, that organizers are already thinking about next year’s sequel.
Attendees were able to watch full-contact armored medieval combat presented by the Salt Lake City Crusaders and both divisions of the Idaho Armored Combat group. This sport, known as “Buhurt,” uses blunted steel weapons and heavy armor, slightly modernized to ensure the safety of participants. Regulations vary depending on area but generally combatants will engage in various tournament style duels and skirmishes, employing an arsenal of techniques to try and get their opponents to fall or concede with the winner being crowned as the last person standing.
“Starting with training, most people do high-intensity interval training, and we’ll do some weight training … and then a lot of cardio. Whatever the ambient temperature is outside, it’s an additional 10 to 30 degrees inside the helmet,” said Jake Omer of the Salt Lake City Crusaders. “There’s quilted clothing that serves as padding underneath the armor and then you saturate that and that serves as like an air conditioner. So that keeps you cool.… And then taking the hits, you don’t really notice until you notice and when you notice it’s because something is deeply wrong. Like your body is no longer structurally capable of supporting itself. That’s when you notice the armor is very good at its job. Until it’s overcome and then you’ll notice because something hurts a lot. It’s very physically strenuous. There is a bit of risk involved but a heck of a lot of fun if you’ve got a stomach for risk.”
Omer is no stranger to the Buhurt scene, having placed fifth in longsword at an international competition held at Scone Palace in Scotland in 2018. It seems like many in the Crusaders organization, however, owe their start in it to the local “godfather of the sport” and blacksmith Ryan Weaver.
“None of this would be here in this part of the country,” said Omer, reflecting on the importance of Weaver’s influence on the medieval combat scene and helping new players into the Buhurt community.
Beyond the cast of knights, there was the enthralling music of the Mistress of Melody and the bardic tunes of Archer Flynn at Saturday’s Fantasy Fair. Pirate scourge Capt. Blood Red Mary who, for a small fee, would arrest customers and shame them in a public display was also gallivanting around the fairgrounds. Audiences were able to enjoy the Mermaids of the Great Salt Lake, enchanted statues and a host of other magicians and entertainers as the Fantasy Fair continued.
For those looking to spend a little coin, vendors dressed in Renaissance attire peddled their various wares. Damascus blades, tarot cards, dice, trinkets and a whole host of oddities, armor and mercantile goods were available for purchase the entire weekend.
Over 2,800 people attended the Saturday-Sunday fair, a massive amount for a first year event.
Michael Collins, co-host of the Mystic Realms Fantasy Fair and owner of Black Wolf Blades, is confident that it can be an even bigger event next year.
He and other event organizers are already thinking that a larger location will be needed for the fair in 2024.
“We’ve been talking about it and thinking about it and working on plans and stuff for the last year or so and then finally we found the spot,” Collins said about the Pocatello fairgrounds. “That’s the hardest thing around nowadays is finding a location. (The fairgrounds) is beautiful.… I think, unfortunately, we’ve already outgrown it.”
Collins said they had to turn some vendors away this past weekend because they ran out of room.
“We decided to give it a shot and it just exploded,” he said about the Fantasy Fair. “We were not expecting this much.”
The fair proved that the Pocatello area has an affinity for the Renaissance and associated mystical genres worthy of an annual event and maybe all those in attendance this past weekend witnessed more than just medieval times.
Perhaps a new Pocatello tradition has been born.