The number and kinds of people who show up for a citywide Renaissance festival absolutely amazes me: People pretending to hit people with real swords, people really hitting people with pretend swords, musicans of all stripes, Goths (why, exactly, would you wear a black trenchcoat in 70-degree weather?), merchants and folks selling everything “ona stick” — chicken ona stick, meat (why not beef? why “meat”?) ona stick, bread (bread!) ona stick. Oh, yeah, and a few normal people.

Seeing the really insane people still surprised me, though: There was a group of 30 or so people handing out “Nader for president” buttons. It seemed like such a risky political move for Nader, committing — what, something like 60 percent of his supporters — to this one event.