Get medieval at Sands Point fair

Like the knights of old, Doug Smestad of Merrick enjoys going a little "medieval" on his sword-fighting opponents.

"When someone nicks me, I say, "I will send you my tailor bill after I kill you,' " says Smestad, 59, a history teacher at Calhoun High School in Merrick who plays a knight at the annual medieval festival.

Of course, it's all in fun (no blood is shed) and the vanquished opponent gets up to fight another knight.

Lively banter, authentic weaponry and chivalry are traditions with Medieval Scenarios and Recreations, the not-for-profit educational and social group that puts on the annual festival, says Smestad, a member of the group.

"We have our own little kingdom," says Smestad, known as "Sir Banen" in re-enactments.

Medieval reality

Smestad is one of about 30 re-enactors (mostly men) who will demonstrate medieval fighting styles with an emphasis on spontaneity.

"Everything we do is non-choreographed," he says. There also will be jousting on horseback and spear throwing.

Festivalgoers can expect to see lots of chivalry and derring-do but no Dungeons & Dragons fantasy play, says Medieval Scenarios and Recreations president Robert Fox of Mount Vernon.

"We're not re-creating or role-playing, we are trying to be a historical organization like the Revolutionary War groups and Civil War groups," says Fox, who learned fencing while he was a student at Queens College.

Fox and his colleagues use live steel swords, which can be as light as two or three pounds or weigh upward of 11 pounds. "They are much heavier than they look," Smestad says.

Made on Long Island

Fox's group concentrates on medieval times' "better aspects, the pageantry of the tournaments, the ladies of high fashion," he says.

Visitors can watch a juggler or a blacksmith, listen to medieval music and see a half-hour fashion show of costumes -- circa 1000 to 1500 -- created by Fox's wife, Rose Larrabee Fox.

Members of the society travel as far as Europe or as nearby as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan to learn about the 1,000-year medieval period, Fox says.

Some of their shining armor is made on Long Island. Jeffrey Wasson, 37, a metalworking instructor at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, makes armor on a DIY propane forge in his Bellmore garage.

Wasson's handiwork is expensive: $2,500 a pair for gauntlets, and up to $20,000 for a complete suit of armor. It's authentic to the 14th and 15th centuries, and much in demand, he says. Wasson gets his full medieval kick out of riding his horse, Gunther, in jousts.

"It's like living a dream of being a knight," he says.

Chivalry is not dead

When a fight is lost, expect to see chivalry -- a kind of medieval good sportsmanship.

"You lose gracefully," says Smestad. "If someone lays a blow on you, you call it as good, and you lay down and you congratulate the person."

Such etiquette befits the spirit of the gghtime period. Says Wasson, "Knights were the superheroes of the Middle Ages."