The Renaissance of Renaissance Faires

“Comeback kid of the century”

In 1937 J. R. R. Tolkien started to write “The Hobbit” it was the first in his decades long series of modern-renaissance fantasy themed novels that would be completely published in 1955, the Lord of The Rings. Nearly 20 years later, in 1974, Dungeons and Dragons blessed basements across America for the first time. 20 years after that? George R. R. Martin published “A Song of Ice and Fire” in 1996, and nearly 25 years later, fans are still waiting what actor Ian McShane describes as “Only tits and dragons”. However, no matter if someone is in it for the wine, women, dragons, or just really cool armor and costumes, one time that fans can come together and celebrate the now booming fantasy based, medieval era, is at renaissance faires.

What was once a gathering of fans celebrating their love for literature and shedding light to America’s obsession with counterculture, is now a nationwide phenomenon due to the pop culture success of shows set in the time period.

At the start of 2020, streaming service Netflix blew fans and newcomers alike out of the water with it’s rendition of Andrzej Salkowski’s “The Witcher”. The series started off as a book, and reached popularity as a successful game franchise, made only more popular with the show. Helen Lewis of The Atlantic cheers on the series’ popularity by acknowledging the faults of other fantasy tales before it. In her article published in January of this year she declares, “The Witcher shares the Game of Thrones attitude toward gore (plentiful) and nudity (gratuitous), but its tone could not be more different. It knows it is ridiculous, and it simply doesn’t care.” But, it is that exact ridiculousness that keeps fantasy fans engulfed in the culture of mead, maidens and monsters. The Lord Of the Rings franchise, paved a way for the next generation of fans who grew on to love Game of Thrones, and with the rise of throwback themed show’s like Stranger Things, even Dungeons and Dragons has rose again from the ashes, bigger and better than ever before in the face of mass consumption. The Witcher’s success just drove home that popularity. With so many things focusing on one general theme the genre carved out a huge following for itself. What was once seen as exclusively nerd culture now has an entire array of household names under its umbrella, and where there are fans, there are gatherings for those fans. That’s where renaissance faires come into play. It’s like comic-con, only in a more vintage package.

Starting in 1962, at the what was the start of America’s “rebellious phase”, the first Renaissance Faire came into existence as a fund raiser for a Los Angeles based Radio Station (Rubin). This was known as the “Renaissance Pleasure Faire” and it drew in nearly 8,000 people in it’s first weekend. While it may have taken the modern day America a while to catch up, jousting festivals and the faires that the throwback weekends imitate, range anywhere as far back as 19th century Europe to the 1700’s (Buycostumes.com). Gatherings that modern day festivals imitate consist of artists markets, food festivals and of course knightly battles, typically for honor and glory in the name of the queen. The first faire started simply as a gathering of a few Hollywood based friends, comedians and general enthusiasts of the culture and turned into a nationwide celebration of fantasy and history. Today, you can find at least one season-long faire in any state across America, with the rate of attendees soaring ever higher with time.

In present day, all sorts of people attend renaissance faires, and while some adults might get a good chuckle out of giant pickles on a stick, the environment definitely calls for it being a family affair. But what is there to do there? At the forefront of it all, Renaissance faires host an amazing assortment of food. Of course one might sincerely doubt the likelihood of deep fryers in the 1700’s, but the bell of the ball and focus for most meat eating attendees is most definitely the giant Turkey Legs, almost cartoon-esque in nature, eating them makes anyone feel like they just hunted it down and cooked it over an open flame. For every one food provider at a faire, there’s probably 10 more artisans and vendors. Being that the first faire was an idea to raise money, this is where the things to see may overwhelm the average “normie” but enchant and entice long time fans. It also is the catalyst for younger generations to discover on the arts behind handcrafting things like leather arm or, sketchbooks, and jewelry. While the idea of buying so many things sounds so-so on it own, the true fun comes in wearing the garb during the event, or perhaps even another event in later seasons. Everyone at renaissance faires has some type of period-friendly clothing on, or maybe they take a more whimsical approach and dawn fairies wings, or pirate gear. In any case, the fun of the faire is what you make of it. If dressing up isn’t your thing, perhaps watching other people dawn the garb and act out Shakespearian acts is. Or maybe, joining the local pub crawl and hearing raunchy jokes, while drinking out of Viking horns is more your style. For some, a jaunt down the forest of fairies is enough to keep them coming back year after year. For others, the joust is a spectacle enough to make it worth the trek. Whatever the interest, the renaissance faire has something for everyone, and that’s barely scratching the surface.

There isn’t enough time in one day to explain the things to do and see at a renaissance faire, and maybe there isn’t enough time to explain the appeal of it all, but one thing is for certain, and that’s that as long as fantasy themed media is around, faires aren’t going anywhere, they only get bigger and better with time. Across America more medieval themed events pop up, and no matter how grand or small the scale the spirit behind them is all the same. So, no matter if you want to a princess in a fairytale, the knight that saves her, a dastardly pirate existing for chaos and booze, or just an average modern American looking for some cool art and a new experience, you will find whatever it is you’re looking for at a Rennaisance Faire. Most importantly, what awaits you is welcoming warm environment to provide a days long escape from the modern world. A place where friends and families can be whisked away and become whatever storybook hero they want.

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SOURCES:

Lewis, Helen. “Why 'The Witcher' Is Better Than 'Game of Thrones'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 1 Jan. 2020, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2020/01/the-witcher-is-absurd-thats-why-its-brilliant/604297/.

Rubin, Rachel. Well Met: Renaissance Faires and the American Counterculture. New York University Press, 2012.

“Everything You Need to Know About Renaissance Faires.” , Buycostumes.com, 20 Oct. 2016, www.buycostumes.com/ideas/everything-you-need-to-know-about-renaissance-faires/.

Bijouxandbits. “What to Expect at Your First Renaissance Fair.” Offbeat Home & Life, 13 Oct. 2015, offbeathome.com/what-to-expect-at-a-renaissance-fair/.