Draw your sword and ready your coin purse, Adventurer - Ren Faire season is upon us! In this week’s edition of Rediscovered Realms, we’re celebrating the playful chaos, medieval cosplay, and turkey leg-fueled revelry of summer renaissance festivals. Whether you’re a seasoned knight or faire-curious peasant, there’s no better time to step back in time.
You should absolutely check out the Texas Renaissance Festival (or TRF as we call it down here) in the fall! It's supposedly the largest one in the country! I haven't been in a few years because it's almost a 5 hour drive from DFW where I live, so I don't know how it is under the new ownership (the Ren Fair documentary on MAX is about the sale of TRF), but it was awesome last time I went. One of my favorite parts is that is stays open past dark which really adds a new layer to your emersion!
There's several, yeah. Scarborough Faire is the one closest to me that I go to every year. It's about 45 minutes outside of Dallas & Ft Worth and runs 'til Memorial Day. Sherwood is outside of Austin. It starts earlier than Scarborough and overlaps it for a couple weeks. I've only gone to Sherwood once, about 10 years ago. It was smaller than Scarborough, but there's 3 or 4 rooms in the "castle" that you can actually rent, and one of the pubs stayed open for a while after the faire closed for some extended revelry.
My absolute favorite act I've seen at any Ren Faire is Arthur Greenleaf Holmes. He's a "wildly inappropriate" poet who's funnier than most standup comedy I've seen live. If he's ever performing at a faire you're attending you have to see at least one of his shows (I'll bet you go back for more, though)!
My first Ren Faire was about 25 years ago and it was really cool but so hot! I didn’t go again until this year. My daughter wanted to go and dress up as pirates. Now I’m 25 years older but what the heck. We went, horrible heat in costumes, and stayed all day. Still had a great time but the next day I was wiped out! lol
The heat is definitely a deterrent! There are so many costumes that would be fun to wear, but way too uncomfortable. That's why I want to try a Fall Ren Faire at some point. (I hope your daughter enjoyed herself!) 🏴☠️
ren faires...hoo boy. met my wife at Bristol in Wisc., used to go every weekend, in garb. we had our own Scottish clan to rival the one which was there before us, and somewhat pompous, we were the wild and rowdy clan ( and fortunately in good with the head of security). we ended up moving away , now about 100 miles to faire 1 way, and it is held in high summer, and i have no wish to wear 9 yards of kilt in 90+ degree weather any longer. so far as food was concerned it had to be the mushrooms for us...and the sassparilla after my fill of ale
Sounds like West Side Story for the Scottish Ren Faire clans! Thanks for sharing your experience. You must have tons of great stories. Just remember, Heavy, no matter how far you move away, 🎶When you're a Mac, you're a Mac for life ...
You should absolutely check out the Texas Renaissance Festival (or TRF as we call it down here) in the fall! It's supposedly the largest one in the country! I haven't been in a few years because it's almost a 5 hour drive from DFW where I live, so I don't know how it is under the new ownership (the Ren Fair documentary on MAX is about the sale of TRF), but it was awesome last time I went. One of my favorite parts is that is stays open past dark which really adds a new layer to your emersion!
Thanks, Damon! The events always sound amazing there. There's another one in TX that I remember seeing - "Sherwood" or something similar?
There's several, yeah. Scarborough Faire is the one closest to me that I go to every year. It's about 45 minutes outside of Dallas & Ft Worth and runs 'til Memorial Day. Sherwood is outside of Austin. It starts earlier than Scarborough and overlaps it for a couple weeks. I've only gone to Sherwood once, about 10 years ago. It was smaller than Scarborough, but there's 3 or 4 rooms in the "castle" that you can actually rent, and one of the pubs stayed open for a while after the faire closed for some extended revelry.
My absolute favorite act I've seen at any Ren Faire is Arthur Greenleaf Holmes. He's a "wildly inappropriate" poet who's funnier than most standup comedy I've seen live. If he's ever performing at a faire you're attending you have to see at least one of his shows (I'll bet you go back for more, though)!
My first Ren Faire was about 25 years ago and it was really cool but so hot! I didn’t go again until this year. My daughter wanted to go and dress up as pirates. Now I’m 25 years older but what the heck. We went, horrible heat in costumes, and stayed all day. Still had a great time but the next day I was wiped out! lol
The heat is definitely a deterrent! There are so many costumes that would be fun to wear, but way too uncomfortable. That's why I want to try a Fall Ren Faire at some point. (I hope your daughter enjoyed herself!) 🏴☠️
ren faires...hoo boy. met my wife at Bristol in Wisc., used to go every weekend, in garb. we had our own Scottish clan to rival the one which was there before us, and somewhat pompous, we were the wild and rowdy clan ( and fortunately in good with the head of security). we ended up moving away , now about 100 miles to faire 1 way, and it is held in high summer, and i have no wish to wear 9 yards of kilt in 90+ degree weather any longer. so far as food was concerned it had to be the mushrooms for us...and the sassparilla after my fill of ale
Sounds like West Side Story for the Scottish Ren Faire clans! Thanks for sharing your experience. You must have tons of great stories. Just remember, Heavy, no matter how far you move away, 🎶When you're a Mac, you're a Mac for life ...
1 MacGregor 2 MacGregors 3 MacGregors 4
4 MacGregors make a clan and so do many more