Parades are what the Guild is all about. By conducting parades through an historical fair, St Cuthbert's adds colour and an air of extreme festivity to the event. When the parades are conducted regularly, they also serve to act as a time piece in an environment where watches are mostly forbidden, and to provide a conduit for news and people to cross a crowded fair in a swift, yet period, fashion.

With very little effort in planning, the Guild of Saint Cuthbert can drop into a parade formation and march indefinitely. The Guild also for the most part provides its own props, and more importantly, its own crowd control, for parades. Because of this, St Cuthbert's is frequently called upon to escort wedding parties across fairs, or, on a more somber note, to escort injured individuals through a crowd and off the fair site.

Below are the parade groups the Guild can field. They can work together or separately, but the result is most spectacular when everything is present. However because of the pagentry and crowd control, some groups are frequently asked to augment other parades, most notably the banners which are used to escort the Queen at Renaissance Faire.

Drummers

Without drums, a parade is merely a bunch of people walking down the street. The drummers provide the beat by which songs are sung, as well as entertaining the revelers and customers alike. The drummers also serve to give advance warning to people in the street that a parade is coming, long before it can be seen.

Bell Ringers

The bell ringers go in front of the parade, with loud hand held bells used as the Renaissance equivalent of sirens in order to clear the path for the rest of the parade. The bells also provide a melodious counterpoint to the drums.

Tumblers

The Guild has a contingent of people of various acrobatic ability who tumble down the street and provide entertainment to the crowd. Tumbling is only done at the larger Renaissance period parades.

Ribbons

An extremely long set of colourful ribbons, cleverly fashioned so as to prevent slack, is borne by a group of Guild members who escort the tumblers. The ribbons provide an effective barrier against customers desiring to cross the parade in front of a tumbler in the middle of a routine.

Banner bearers

Sooner or later, everyone in the Guild carries banners. Depending on the nature of the parade, the banners can be the standard "flutteries" which hang on 9' poles, or crossbars which hang from 8' T's. The banners are colourful, and the poles are very effective crowd control devices. For each parade, one or more banner runners are also designated, who keeps the banners lined up properly, keeps the singers in tune, and prevents customers from cutting across the parade behind the ribbons.

Other props

For the Renaissance fair parades, depending on their nature, other props are also carried. Flower bowers are used to escort couples, the hobbie horses, or any theme character desirous of them. Icons of St Cuthbert and St Audrey are carried at the head of the parade, in front of the banners. The ram's horn and guilded gauntlet are traditional symbols in Renaissance village fairs and as such are also carried near the front of parades. are there any other props used just for Dickens parades?

Opening and Closing Parades

At the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, the opening and closing of the Faire day is dictated by the passing of the corresponding parade. In these parades the following songs are sung: