Event - Vapeur et Contes de Fées III (2025)
On the highway to Tournai we witnessed a scene from a nightmare: a brave mother duck guided a flock of tiny, fluffy ducklings onto the highway, clearly wanting to cross while cars thundered past at +120kms/h.
Nothing, no screeching monster, no hungry Orc, no demon from the fiery realms, could frighten us more than the fear of that mother duck pressing on, instead of leading her ducklings back to safety.
"Why drive to Tournai, the complete other side of the country," you ask? Because it was the 3rd edition of a humble renaissance fair who's 1st edition dates back to 2017.. and there were Orcs, monsters and demons..
Besides: we recently drove to Roeselare for some burlesque fun .. so why not to Tournai?
Let's show you some pictures & annoy you with a review, but 1st of all; have some links.
▷ All photos can always be found on/downloaded from my Flickr and here!
▷ A "How to download stills from Flickr" tutorial was posted here.
▷ Some highlights might go to Instagram, Threads or Bluesky.
▷ A video might go to Clapper & to Tiktok
▷ Buy Red Cathedral a whisky on Ko-Fi
▷ Updates are on THE Facebook.
▷ Give a follow to this young creative foundation: Deep Red Noise vzw/asbl (incl. a Tiktok account)
The full gallery (Click on the arrows on the side to scroll):
Update: 100% of all stills are processed & uploaded
What was great and what can improve?
⧍ Always start with something positive, and the people animating the event, the vendors, the crew, the artists were most definately all big positives,
⧍ There was so much booze.. and everyone was keen on letting you taste the hydromel, hypocras, whiskey, wine, pommeau, cidre, liquer, calvados, .. one would attend just for this.. if driving back home wasn't required.
⧍ The music was great. Saw Myxiswyn and Ydhessä and both were solid acts we'll hopefully catch again during other renaissance fairs.
⧍ The location is a pretty forest, wild, dense, yet yearning to be discovered.
▼ However: navigating through that forest and over the meadows that hosted the merchants, was nearly impossible with a wheelchair. The many potholes in the merchants fields were perfect to twist an anckle.. luckily this time I only twisted it very lightly. #notevenlimping
▼ The last part (2km) of the route to the venue was.. challenging.. to put it gently. Roads blocked, People at the roadblocks uninformed of where to park, how to get any closer, where it was.
⧍ Luckily the people at the roadblocks were friendly enough to let cars with disability cards through, otherwise we would have been forced to return home. In the end we just left the car somewhere we found a vacant spot on the side of the road and hoped for the best.
▼ Parking.. where was it? We saw people walk the last 2 kms. Nobody that
we talked to had found an official parking. I can understand that
people might frustrated by that.
▼ We discovered this hidden special parking spot for disabled people near the entrance.. when leaving the event. But was it just 1 spot, for 1 car? So weird.
@deeprednoise_vzw Even ontstressen op een piepklein #renaissancefestival genaamd #vapeuretcontesdefees op de tonen van de erg opzwepende #pagan #neofolk #band @Ydhessä Music Official die we op #trollsetlegendes helaas hadden gemist. Alles foto’s zijn te vinden op: https://tinyurl.com/VCFiii En op het einde plaatst zelfs @Pompidompidom een dansje met @🧚♀️Elke🧚♀️ ´ Song: Ydhessä - We are Ydhessä #cosplay #larp #renaissancefair #starwars #steampunk #fantasy #tournai #viking #lotr #orc #goblin #thewitcher #ciri #squidgame #ydhessä ♬ origineel geluid - DeepRedNoise_vzw
⧍ Before I forget: damn.. the food stalls were so good! No silly fries & burgers like on many events, but nice food, special food. Loved the croque Normande, those pancakes, the chicken with hypocras,.. one could spend an entire day eating and drinking there.
⧍ And the prices for food & drinks were more reasonable than on many other events.
▼ But before you spend a day eating & drinking, you'd have to find the entrance. It was well hidden and had it not been for an artisan guiding us, we might have missed it, or went the wrong way. Maybe some clear indications towards the entrance & parkings might be an improvement.
@deeprednoise_vzw Het optreden van @Myxiswyn tijdens #vapeuretcontesdefees was veel ingetogener dan het dansfeest tijdens @Ydhessä Music Official en zorgde voor de ideale afsluiter van de #renaissancefair Alle foto’s op : https://tinyurl.com/VCFiii #froyennes #larp #harp #concert #livemusic #folk #celtic #renaissancefestival #cosplay #pirates #tournai ♬ origineel geluid - DeepRedNoise_vzw
⧒ We heard some people complain that the flyers/posters omitted to
mention there was an entrance fee. This makes perfect sence because the
event worked with different prices depending on when you bought tickets.
Luckily we were aware because it was mentioned on the FB-page.. People
should do some research before going to events.
⧍ The crewladies manning the cash register at the entrance were funny and nice.
So.. are we coming back for edition IV? It was cosy, we had fun, it wasn't crowded, we had some laughs.. and our car was only a few 100 meters from the entrance.. so I guess.
Is there room for improvement? Absolutely.
Processing the stills/videos will go slower than usual.. theres's stil a considerable backlog from the mesmerising O-Parade and the Beauvechain Airbase Day that needs finishing.
The following renaissance fairs we'll be attending are Castlefest & Elftopia. And for the Summer edition of Geek Village we'll return with the 360° videobooth, however this time - thanks to a sponsorship deal - everybody will get a 360 video FOR FREE!
A direct link to this article: https://tinyurl.com/VCFiii
Before you go, have a look at some other costume stills we made:
Don't forget to follow on all socials!
Namaste
