Bay Area Renaissance Festival parks at MOSI for month  Editor's
note: This story is an updated version of one published in 2008.
TAMPA - On a recent overcast Sunday afternoon, delicate flower
that I am, I was perched on a bale of hay at the Bay Area
Renaissance Festival clutching a smoked turkey leg the size of
Hulk Hogan's calf and cheering my head off for "Sir Richard," a
shaggy-haired, sinewy-armed hunk of a knight who was astride a
horse preparing to lance his opponent.  The RenFest is part
performance art, part craft fair and just a tiny part
historically accurate. The appeal for the more than 100,000 fans
who attend every year is that it's everything a sterile shopping
mall isn't: outdoors, with the sounds of lutes playing and
swords clashing and the smells of wood smoke and perfumed oils
and salespeople keen on charming dollars out of your pocket with
a magic trick or a jig.  It also draws people who love to dress
up and revel in their mutual oddness while playing hard. Like
Jimmy Buffett fans or Goth