HOLLY—Opening festivities at the Michigan Renaissance Festival were briefly interrupted Saturday when a time portal opened near Hollygrove and deposited several residents of 14th-century Europe onto the festival grounds.
The visitors initially appeared eager to remain in the present after being introduced to antibiotics, indoor plumbing, refrigeration and the near-total absence of plague carts. Their enthusiasm continued until shortly before noon, when the group approached a food vendor and encountered both the turkey leg and its price for the first time.
“What manner of lord demands this tribute for one bird?” asked Godfrey Tillingham, a tenant farmer from 1372, after being informed the turkey leg did not include a drink. Tillingham reportedly asked twice whether the price represented ownership of the entire turkey.
The group was further unsettled after discovering the price of ale. Festival staff explained that modern sanitation had made clean drinking water widely available, prompting several visitors to question why anyone would voluntarily spend that much on beer when the water was no longer trying to kill them.
Efforts to explain food costs, labor expenses and festival pricing were unsuccessful. Several peasants began quietly comparing the day’s expenses with their annual obligations to local nobility and concluded they had previously underestimated the economic advantages of feudalism.
The visitors returned through the portal approximately 40 minutes after arriving, taking only a bottle of ibuprofen and several photographs of flush toilets. Festival officials said the portal will remain open pending a safety review, though a sign has already been posted on the medieval side informing future travelers that outside food and beverages are prohibited.