Rabid Brewing hosted and organized the sixth annual Feast of the Goat Queen on the lawn west of the brewery on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, July 26.

Attendees described the Feast of the Goat Queen as a smaller Renaissance Fair, referring to the nationwide annual events that celebrate the renaissance period, usually connected to Elizabethan England. 

The Rabid Brewery event featured live wrestling, live music, fire spinning, a campfire, craft beer, food and about a dozen vendors selling crafts and art related to the fantasy genre, horror movies, Wiccan culture and role-playing games.

Many attendees dressed as elves, fairies, orcs, pirates, wizards, witches and other magical creatures. Some traveled hours to get there, including from Rockford, Illinois and west suburban Aurora.

The Green Room Rockers, a ska band from Lafayette, Indiana, and Waltzer, a band led by Chicago-based singer-songwriter Sophie Sputnik, performed their music.

Wrestlers from Wrestle League LCC performed with the Moon God LunarChaos and Robot Cactus Rack as the announcers.

Crowd members booed after a wrestler dressed like President Donald Trump said he was the “greatest wrestler to ever live.” The Trump impersonator told his opponent that he looked like someone who enjoyed the new Superman movie because it was “woke.”

“Oh, no, Ronald Dump is all alone,” Robot Cactus Rack said to the crowd as other Wrestle League LCC wrestlers jumped into the ring to gang up on the Trump impersonator, causing him to lose the match. 

“Donald Trump is being deported,” she added after the wrestler’s defeat.

Music played on the loudspeakers in between stage performances, including punk rock from bands such as Pennywise, Rancid, Bad Religion and Millencolin.

“We like everything that has teeth,” Rabid Brewing co-owner Raiye Rosado said, regarding the punk rock songs in the playlist.

Kara Cordell, whose roller derby and fire spinner name is Lyka Bo$$, held a rope with a lit ball of Kevlar at the end of it. She twirled the flames above her head and dragged them across the concrete like she was walking a dog.

“I feel lit up and the adrenaline is going,” Cordell said. “That’s exactly what fire does – it lights you up and lights your fire. That’s why I do it.”

Edward Ayllon and Shannon Vierra, a husband-and-wife team who co-write books together under the pen name S&E Black, sold their book, The Chimera Snare: Fragments and incense, for the reader to light while reading the book’s final chapter. The authors hired Mystical OutPost, a candle and incense business in Rochester, Indiana, to produce the incense. 

“You’re brought into the scene and experiencing what one of the main characters is experiencing,” Ayllon said, explaining the purpose of the incense.

Kristi Caccippi sold glass art to attendees. Watercolor painter Dillie Pickles sold prints of magical creatures. 

Laura Cowles, who traveled to the festival from Rockford, wore a red and white mushroom costume with red elf ears. She completed the look with eyeshadow and glitter.

“It’s really fun because you get to dress up as an adult,” Cowles said, describing why she enjoys Renaissance Fairs. “You don’t really get to do that when you become an adult. So, it’s another way to express yourself.”

“I’m always having a good time when I have elf ears on,” said C.J. Jones, who traveled to the festival from Aurora. 

Steve Buchtel, events director at Goodspeed Bicycles in Homewood, attended the festival after getting off work.

“I’ve been here every year. I don’t miss it,” Buchtel said. “This is one of the highlights of my summer.”

Rosado and co-owner Tobias Cichon expect this year’s feast to be the last one at Rabid Brewing’s current location. The craft brewery was founded in 2017 at 17759 Bretz Drive and the space is too small for the community and events the couple support.

They had hoped to move the brewery into a larger space on the west side of Homewood, but the village recently awarded the bid for the Park West Plaza to another company. They are looking for a new location that will better suit the Rabid community’s needs.

“There have been other municipalities that have let us know that what we’re bringing, our brand of weird, is valid to them,” Rosado said.

Rosado said the disappointment she and Cichon felt over the bid decision was balanced by the enthusiastic support of their patrons at two village board meetings leading up to the decision. About a dozen patrons spoke at each meeting, testifying to the value they found in the community that formed at Rabid Brewing.

“Most people don’t get to hear about the impact of their work in their lifetime. That happens at their funeral,” she said. “I’m celebrating what we were able to do here.”

She gestured to the crowd, many in fanciful costumes, watching medieval battles, browsing vendors, petting goats and enjoying food and beer.  

“We’re not just a brewery,” Rosado said. “We’re a culture.”