Summer Knights : Fair: Pirates, peasants and other revelers at the Medieval Fantasy Festival have fun the olde-fashioned way.

Mike Harshbarger needed little more than the nearly foot-long drumstick clasped in his hand to be transformed into a 16th-Century pirate.

“Aye, matey,” he grumbled, tearing at his turkey leg and taking a swig of lemonade as if it were a frothy brew.

“You just can’t help but get into this,” he said, gazing around at the strolling peasants, pirates and pageantry of Queen Elizabeth’s court.

Harshbarger, of Altadena, was among several hundred revelers drawn to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center on Saturday for the first Medieval Fantasy Festival.

Though Harshbarger’s only costume was a pair of arm greaves and a keen imagination, other fair-goers fully got into the spirit, donning the trappings of 16th-Century England.

Many played out their fantasies by dressing up as knights, lords, pirates and ladies-in-waiting at the mythical kingdom.

The half a dozen acres that hosted the fair were re-created as an Olde English village complete with Elizabethan thespians, jousters, jesters, minstrels, peasants, craftsmen and Sir Francis Bacon--an enormous, 3 1/2-year-old pig.

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The festival, which continues today, was designed to conjure the feasts, battles, parades and pageants of the era.

“When I walked in here it was like really entering another century,” said Paula Pringle of Valencia, who brought her 7-year-old son, Cameron.

“In medieval times, everyone would go to the fairs to shop at the markets to restock their castles. That was the main purpose,” said Karen Borter of Studio City, who went by Karen Elizabeth, a peasant wench, at the Black Gryphon] Tavern at the festival.

Borter has been attending festivals since she was a teen-ager, often dressing up for them. She’s worked in costume as a member of a Renaissance guild for the past year.

“We try and re-create that energy at the festivals, so we wear the authentic costumes and try to stay in character,” she said.

Most of the character roles involve prodigious flirting, flaunting and frolicking.

Borter and the other wenches in her guild put their most obvious assets forward to attract visitors.

“You can come closer sir, but you can’t touch,” the women joked to an older man caught staring at their cleavage.

“We do a lot of flirting, but that’s what used to really go on during those times,” said Mordara S. Webb, head of the St. Eastwick’s Guild. Webb, of Reseda, started the guild in March to add more levity to the fairs, she said.

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Renaissance festivals are nothing new in California. About a dozen are held annually throughout the state, but more often on a larger scale. The Equestrian Center’s event was relatively small, but it had its share of ambience and spirit.

And it showcased a host of eclectic talents.

There was fire-breather William Hyatt of Fresno, who has been spitting surges of flame for two years at festivals around the state.

There was snake charmer David Buttles, also of Fresno, who traversed the grounds with two Colombian boa constrictors wrapped around his neck.

And there was the roving Gypsy who asked to keep her true identity hidden, not wishing to step out of character. She wandered through the festival strumming her guitar-like lutar.

Harshbarger opted for the life of a pirate--and the chance to be brazen and obnoxious, if only for the day.

“This is great,” he said, beaming. “I think I could live in this time period.”