ShawneeDispatch.com

The Kansas City Renaissance Festival began its 31st season Saturday, attracting about 21,000 attendees over the weekend.

Roger Clements, director of marketing and sales for the festival, said the numbers were a little lower than they were for last year's opening weekend. Still, Clements said he was happy with the turnout, given how many other entertainment options families had in the Kansas City area the past weekend, including an Irish festival and an art fair.

Temperatures hovered in the low 90s most of the weekend and the humidity was relatively low.

"The weather couldn't have been more cooperative," Clements said.

Lauren Rhodus of Bonner Springs has a job at the festival that is the stuff of dreams. Rhodus, who also manages the Jet Fuel Coffee Stop in downtown Bonner Springs, is the director of faeries (the preferred archaic spelling of the word) at the festival, and her character goes by the Gaelic name of Kiangley.

This will be the sixth season with the festival for the 2004 Basehor-Linwood High School graduate. Rhodus began working at the fair at a fundraising booth for her sister's cheerleading squad. Then she worked at a rope-making booth. Later, she became a fairy.

"I had a friend that was a fairy invited me," Rhodus said. "I loved to dance - I got a role and stuck with it."

For Rhodus, being a fairy is a fun outlet for her creativity.

"You're a character and really yourself," she said. "I feel like I fake it a little in real life - out there you can be cute and extravagant and everybody loves you for it. It's really fun and addictive.

"Usually people who don't like it never come back, and the people who like it stay forever."

Rhodus is in charge of three other fairies plus a sprite and an elf. The fairies put on a story time and play with children.

Rhodus said during those times she usually stands behind the small stage to direct passersby to the fairies.

Then at the end of the day, the fairies do an Irish dance with the band Tartanic.

Rhodus said her audience is a big part of why she likes the job.

"I like it most because I have little girls who come and see me; they come back every year," she said. "Little girls are so excited to see you."

Then there are the get-ups.

"I love performing and getting dressed up in costumes," Rhodus said. "I have a passion for making costumes. I wanted to work for Cirque du Soleil. I love anything pink and sparkly."

Rhodus made all the costumes for the fairies this year, and made some other changes.

The fairies usually base their characters on the ones in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Rhodus said she wanted to have extreme personalities for the fairies. So, one fairy talks all in rhymes, another forgets everything instantaneously, and another randomly walks off with festival-goers' belongings.

Another local resident who worked at the fair was Jake Bendure, who hawked and gave lessons for using something he called Crystal Sticks, which are a set of three batons with leather-tipped ends.

Jake is a seventh-grader at Hocker Grove Middle School in Shawnee.

"I really enjoy doing this," Jake said. "I always enjoyed doing stuff other kids don't."

That means that while he does play video games, "I like to get out and be active," he said.

Because his duties on his five-hour shifts require him to approach total strangers, it's no surprise when Jake says, "I have no trouble talking to people."

Jake has been coming to the festival for years, but this is the first time he's worked there. He began playing with the sticks years ago at the festival, and this year he said he hoped to save enough to buy a new set of sticks for himself.

Tickets on sale at festival grounds

Tickets can be purchased at the festival gates just north of Interstate 70 and Kansas Highway 7 in Bonner Springs on show days.

Admission is $16.95 for adults, $7.95 for minors and free for children 5 years old and younger. Specials are listed at www.kcrenfest.com or guests can call (800) 373-0357 for group ticket prices and information on parties and weddings at the festival.

Discount tickets are for sale at Kansas City Hy-Vees, regional Dillons stores, Baker's and Gerbe's and online at www.kcrenfest.com. tickets on sale at festival grounds.