By Ryan Moriarty
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Sparks fly from the red-hot anvil, as the hammer rains down on top of it. Tommy Carroll, a blacksmith at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, works through the day to create an authentic experience for the passing villagers.
Revel Grove, the fictional community in which the festival takes place, is a storybook as well as a time machine to a 14th century English village. Festival artisans like William Lloyd, Patricia Hetrick, Tommy Carroll, and a wood worker who goes by Tigger bring the living storybook to life. But there are only a few weeks to see them at work—the festival closes October 20.
“We go to sleep and no one see’s us again for a year,” said Tigger, who runs The Art of the Wood and The Brigadier Barrell Company in Revel Grove. He has participated in the festival for nearly 20 years, bringing the village narrative to life by assuming the role of a merchant who is new to the grove.
“For me I’ll began season dressed down,” Tigger said. “But as the season goes, I’ll start dressing better because business is better.”
He lives locally, but he has no shop. He only sells his wares at the Renaissance Festival.
Costume creator Patricia Hetrick has been making hats for 29 years at the festival. She’s been selling her wares in her stall, Tall Toad Costumes, for “long enough to see generations of families come into the shop.”
She first came to the festival when others encouraged her to pursue a spot in the village. She said she has “no regrets,” partially due to the fact that the owners are “very supportive of the vendors and as a result we are inspired to do our best as well.”
While she is based out of Virginia, Tall Toads can only be found on Mary Dales Way in Revel Grove.
Just up the hill from Tall Toad is artist William Lloyd. He crafts one-of-a-kind pieces that help to put some select costumes over the top. He has been working alongside the festival’s actors for 13 years.
“The people who work really hard to make this dream happen are these amazing actors and locals,” Lloyd said. “They live that whole dream and they’re who make that special.”
Tommy Carroll once interned for Lloyd. For the last three years, Carroll has been running blacksmith demos for patrons throughout the day, making whatever comes from his imagination or theirs. As his hammer strikes the glowing metal with precise blows, the final shape is another sentence in Revel Groves’ story.