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What happens when your favorite Renn Faire moves and its management starts to show signs of failing? You find a new one. Okay, so for us, our new home will be the Sarasota one.
Still, was there one bigger? Teresa set out to find one and indeed she did. The Texas Renaissance Festival is the world’s largest Renn fair (well, they say everything is bigger in Texas). Did I say it was large? How about this? It is housed on over 50 acres (and these are permanent buildings), has over 200 acres of campgrounds, 21 stages, 400 shops, and hosts over half a million (500,000) guests annually. It has been running since 1974 (which will make 2024 its golden year) and they are adding another 20 acres to the fair for a total of 70 acres. But, it is true and is it worth it?
Teresa looked up dates and times and decided to make it a weekend trip. We have a rennie friend (Megan) who wanted to go when we were talking about it. And her boyfriend, Mike, had never been to a renn fair and was interested too.
So we booked our flights, a rental car, hotel rooms, renn tickets and got our costumes together. None of us knew exactly what to expect.
Our trip was going to be a fast one. The plans was to fly out on Friday, stay the night, get all dressed up and spend the day at the festival (we still call it a faire, but hey, when in Rome…), and then fly back Sunday. We knew the festival was going to be large and were told we might not see it all in one day, but still, we felt that would be enough for Mike. I mean, if he did not like it, why torture him?
We landed and collect our baggage and set out to toward the hotel. But first, food. I don’t recall who mentioned or recommended Velvet Taco, but boy I am glad they did. We got a few sides, but also 16 or so Tacos. They had a good vegetarian selection for Teresa and they were all delicious. Make sure you try their WTF taco (it is the Weekly Taco feature…get your mind out of the gutter). I would highly recommend them if they are in your area. We were very satisfied when we left to check into the hotel.
We got up early and headed to the festival. It was advised we arrive early as the traffic can be bad. We were also warned NOT to use the GPS when we got close as the local police will ticket people taking short cuts through neighborhoods.
This was not an issue for us and we arrived and got parked relatively close. The festival has golf cart style shuttles readily available and inexpensive. We had yet to see a building or tent.
We got to the gate and was not surprised to see a permanent building. Even small fairs seem to have those. However when we got inside, we were astonished to see ALL the vendors in permanent structures, like along long town streets. These were stone and brick buildings and they seemed to go on forever.
We grabbed food and drink immediately and then made our way down the avenue.
We came to our first stage and it looked like it could seat a couple three hundred.
We knew this was going to large, but we did not expect this. We looked at the map and it was divided into regions, like England, France, Germany, Italy, and Greece. Each “region” was themed with food and drink from the region.
Like many renn fairs, the costumes varied in creativity and detail. There were people dressed from all eras, vikings, medieval, crusades, even some Star Trek and Doctor who. Renn fairs are a people watchers dream.
As time passed, we found the need to take a break and looked for the privvies. Having been to many a fair, we expected to find port-a-potties at strategic locations. Not the case here, like the vendor buildings, the privvies were truly restrooms in permanent building with stalls, plumbing and electricity. And even with the number of people there, the waits were short (at one point, the ladies has to wait for us).
I am not sure when, but shortly into the adventure, both Teresa and I decided to put down the cameras and just enjoy the event. Late in the afternoon, Mike and I were waiting on the girls and I asked him what he thought of the faire. He said that he had not reference, but from how we described the fiars we had been to before, he felt like those might have been like state or county fairs and this one was like a Disney World production. I am not sure if he knew what he was predicting.
There are a number of stages around the grounds, but also the field of champions (the jousting field). This is a colosseum; it is huge. I cannot even estimate how many it seats, but it is a lot. Now in the local fairs, they generally close down around 5-6pm. Not here. Here, they have lights throughout and there is a “Fire Show” done on the field. By the time we got there, there seating was limited. It was impossible to find room for four, so I decided to let the ladies sit and I would stand near the top. I did not expect it to get more full, but it did and all around the top rim, it was packed and more were coming.
The show was not a disappointment. It was amazing and lasted a good 30 minutes. And then the lights came up. I was expecting a rush of people leaving and many did, but the night was not over, not yet.
Enough people left though that my group was able to find room for the four of us. Thank goodness, because while my boots have always been comfortable for several hours, I’ve not had to wear them for a day and into a night and my dogs were barking. The program said there were fireworks, but we thought that the big fire show was it. It was not and the lights in the arena went down again.
One of the actors came out to the field and lit a fuse. Then the fireworks started. They were being launched from behind the King’s stand and beyond the lake behind that. And it was not just a few, it was an entire show that lasted a good 20-30 minutes. This show rivaled the firework shows we have seen at Disney (not kidding, Mike called it earlier and his wish came true).
Overall, this was a great festival to go to. Teresa and I were talking about making it an annual event. We shall see. If we do, we may make it a two day event as I am sure we missed a lot on our one full day.