history

The Totally True Story of MOPO

The date was somewhere around July of 2003. MOPO originator Eric Voecks (Sir Eric of Twenty Lashings) was browsing the Omaha World Herald and noticed a small item calling for volunteers to work the new Nebraska Renaissance Festival. Eric and his wife Kathy (Bonny Kate) had been playtronizing faires for quite some time, and now with her off in Grad School and him with nothing to do with his spare time, he thought "what the heck... at least I won't have to pay at the gate."

Secretly, however, he had a plan. Eric and Kathy had wanted to start their own renaissance act for some time, based on the strolling "magistrate" character who would detain patrons for silly reasons and make them do silly things to earn their freedom. Eric figured this volunteer gig would be a good way to make a few contacts in the ren community.

Things went swimmingly, and Eric was invited to participate at the Iowa Renaissance Festival in the fall of 2004. This time he asked to bring along a couple of other folks with him, namely his wife Kathy, and good friend Steve Lindzy. (Captain Douglas) By now that vauge idea of a strolling character act had been fleshed out, and The Ministry Of Petty Offenses was ready for their first run as a group. With Eric as judge, Kathy as the prosecutor and Steve as the public defender, they were ready to roll. As they arrived, the faire promoter asked them to work the "Pirate Cove" area of the faire, near the stocks.

Well, it was a marriage made in heaven. Now MOPO had a base of operations from which to run their mock trials, and it wasn't long before the stocks became the fourth member of the troupe. They would go on to have their own stocks (ahem... pillory) constructed and moved on to their next gig, the Nodaway Corn Carnival.

Something strange happened in Nodaway... a talent show looking for entrants. Eric and Steve quickly confered with each other about a quick routine they could do, ending with a silly song Eric remembered from his Boy Scout days... something that started with "thumbs up" and ended with farting noises. The entered the talent contest, won second place and thus the first MOPO stage show was born.

A return to the 2004 Nebraska Faire saw the stage show fleshed out with Kathy joining the chaos on stage, and over the winter months a script was developed, another member recruited (the Magnificent Amanda Zeller as Captain Grace O'malley) a second pillory built and all sorts of new bad puns thought up.

2005 heralded the new and improved MOPO, with ongoing street entertainment throughout the day, and regular stage shows to boot. A small but dedicated grass roots following grew, and before long MOPO was earning accolades for their off-beat brand of law and dis-order. More faires followed, and before anyone could prevent it, The Ministry of Petty Offenses turned into a legitamate renaissance act.

As we head into the winter and look foward to 2006, MOPO promises to continue evolving and changing, adding new shows, new devices of detainment and new puns. (Still bad, but new) We look forward to our continued growth, and hope that you will become a part of it!

~~Eric S. Voecks

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MOPO was there...

Nebraska Renaissance Festival 2003
Iowa Renaissance Festival 2004
Nodaway Corn Carnival 2004
Nebraska Renaissance Festival 2004
Des Moines Renaissance Festival 2004
Nodaway Pirate's Banquet 2005
Nebraska Renaissance Festival 2005
Des Moins Renaissance Festival 2005
Central City Mideval Festival 2005
Riverssance Festival, Sioux City (summer) 2005
Belle Plains IA Fun Days 2005
Iowa Renaissance Festival 2005
Nodaway Corn Carnival & Renaissance Festival, 2005