This year, Frank Tunison, who has bone marrow cancer, was too weak to attend his favorite festival. So instead, the Renaissance Festival came to him.
Frank Tunison, 65, has always been obsessed with medieval times: in high school, he attended a costume party dressed as a knight in tinfoil armor. He has a huge collection of metal and porcelain dragons, and even a few antique swords. And though his job as a printer operator didn’t involve much old-tyme romance, every year, he would look forward to visiting the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, where he’d dress in costume and enjoy the festivities with fellow lovers of the past.
This year, Tunison, who has bone marrow cancer, was too weak to attend his favorite festival. So instead, the Renaissance Festival came to him.
Tunison’s daughter, Laura Kuhnley, called the Festival’s main line, asking if there might be anything they could do for her dying father. Kuhney’s message “really tugged at my heartstrings,” Anita Kelling, the Festival’s entertainment manager, told the Pioneer Press. “As it was told to me, what he wants to do more than anything is go to the Renaissance Festival.”<
Kelling sent out a message to Rennaisance Festival workers and volunteers, asking if they might pay a visit to Tunison –and more than 50 people said yes. A cook created a historical dish for Tunison, and musicians and dancers performed on his front lawn. Tunison, who had been told that his daughter was simply hosting an Avon meeting, was stunned and thrilled by the show of support from his fellow festival-goers.
After an afternoon of festivities and a feast fit for a king, Tunison laid down to take a nap –dreaming, perhaps, of slaying a dragon.