DIDSBURY - People of all ages attended the Days of Yore medieval festival at Rosebud Park in Didsbury over the August long weekend.
Visitors came from all over the globe to take part in the festival, which was put on by the Mountain View Arts Society.
Kathleen Windsor, Mountain View Arts Society member, said the event went well and organizers were very pleased.
"It was terrific," said Windsor. "Mother Nature gave us a bit of a scare on Saturday (Aug. 4) with rain, wind and cold, but I was surprised by the number of people who came anyway. They were wearing raincoats and umbrellas. That was great. Sunday was amazing. It made up for the cold weather on Saturday. It was nice and hot."
Total attendance in 2018 was 1,817, just short of last year's total.
"Interestingly, 67 per cent of the people who came were from outside of Mountain View County, and half of those were from the City of Calgary," she said. "We also had people from the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, B.C., Colombia, Argentina, Germany; they were obviously up here for something else.
"There was a Pennsylvania licence plate in the parking lot. We had some people from New Zealand that were house-sitters in Didsbury. Some of the people were back for their third year in a row they liked it so much."
The festival featured dozens of historical re-enactments from different historical eras -- from the 9th century right up to the world wars and the Korean conflict.
Windsor said some of the highlights were the Sons of Fenrir Vikings, as well as the new Kids Vik, where youngsters got to test their mettle against the Vikings.
"The little ones loved the Kiddy Vik, especially when they got to take a kiddy axe to a gigantic, big Viking," she said. "They also liked balanced training from the medieval knights where you're on a block and it wiggles and you have to pull a rope and not fall off.
"We had a lot of veterans there and they really liked the MASH (mobile army surgical hospital) jeep, especially because the one we had on display was an actual jeep that served in Korea."
Other highlights included the show from the First Special Service Forces where they battled through the tall grass with their jeeps, said Windsor.
David Pocock, a former Canadian naval engineer, was one of many veterans who came up from Calgary for the festival. He was in the Canadian Navy from 1972 to 1982 where he served on both coasts in destroyers and smaller ships.
"We happened to be going for a ride and we saw the advertisement for Days of Yore and thought why don't we see what's happening and here we are," said Pocock.
Pocock said he really enjoyed the festival and seeing all the different performers.
"Excellent stuff," he said. "I've always been a fan of militaria. I started out my military career actually as a vehicle driver before I went Navy. It's always good to see all the things that folk are into."
Pocock said he is very impressed with the authenticity of the performers including the many military re-enactors.
"It's all very well done," he said. "I know some of the folk who do these things and they're very well done. They take pains to make sure the outfits fit, that the uniforms match, that they fit the time, right down to the tents."
Pocock said the accurate historical re-enactments are great for people to be reminded of what previous generations went through.
"It's the history," he said. "If you don't know your history, you don't know your future. Seeing what our forefathers were put through gives us more of an appreciation of what we're doing now.
"What privileges and rights we have because of what they went through. If we don't have an appreciation of that, how do we appreciate what we've got."
