RALEIGH - On a sunny day in Bond Park in Cary, Heather J. Hackford is standing on her head, while Tara Pozo and Rebecca Blum pull on her ankles as if she were a wishbone. All three are reciting different speeches from Hamlet.

Starting Saturday, that will be one of 70 bits they can draw from as they entertain patrons at the North Carolina Renaissance Faire.

Along with group founder Carmen-maria Mandley, they form the Nickel Shakespeare Girls. They have worked the fair since 1999 when, Mandley says, "We didn't know what to do, so we started selling Shakespeare [for] a nickel or any higher denomination." Now they take their act on the road to renaissance events across the U.S.

Shakespeare done with acrobatics, silliness and boundless energy is only one small part of the North Carolina Renaissance Faire. There will be seven stages of Renaissance-themed performance. In addition to a joust and a re-creation of the court of Elizabeth I, there will be musicians, magicians, jugglers, belly dancers and fighters. More than 100 merchant booths will offer food, crafts and clothing.

Last year's fair attracted more than 25,000 patrons. "We give people a lot of entertainment value," said Donna Varner-Sheaves, founder and executive director of the event. "And where else can you see a joust up close and personal?"

The fair has evolved since it was first held in 1995 as a fundraiser for the Unity Church of Raleigh. About 1,000 attended that two-day event. Varner-Sheaves says, "we had no concept that it was going to go long term, that we'd continue."

But they did continue, and attendance snowballed. This year the fair celebrates its "lucky" 13th season. The event has been held at the State Fairgrounds since 1997, although organizers hope to some day have their own permanent site.

The festival offers stage acts that hark back to vaudeville or variety show days. Some travel from as far away as Maryland and Illinois.

A roving street cast will offer a more interactive experience. Even though the modernist icon Dorton Arena looms in the background, Varner-Sheaves says, "We want people to really feel like they've walked into a little village. It's called environmental theater."

This year's theme is pirates, and a storyline featuring Irish pirate Grace O'Malley, portrayed by entertainment director Anne Miesel, will play out over the course of the day.

The fair will also be open for Tartan Day, April 6. Scottish-themed events include historian David Ross discussing William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, and performances by the Celtic tribal band Albannach.

On Sunday, 40 volunteers gathered to rehearse in an asphalt parking lot behind a nondescript office building. They will portray the denizens of the village, from the royals to the peasants. They lined up in a "circle of precedence," ranked by social class. When the lower classes meet those above their station, they must "reverence," or bow to them. Even the empty throne of Queen Elizabeth must be reverenced in this way. It's just one more touch to create an atmosphere of authenticity.

Not all street characters will be drawn from real history, though. Nick Fields, 17, wearing a "Shakespeare hates your emo poems" T-shirt, practiced playing the flute for his role as the god Pan.

Varner-Sheaves justifies the inclusion of the fantastic characters: "It's hard to understand the culture of that time unless you understand the beliefs, the mythology."

People might attend for the jousting, the rousing music or the turkey legs, but the players hope to educate as well as entertain.

"The coolest is when people say 'eww, Shakespeare,'" Rebecca Blum says. "Then we do a piece for them and they walk away waving at us and chuckling and [saying] how that was Shakespeare and it was fun."