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Renaissance Faire (Ren Faire or just Faire) is an amalgam of many things. Its partly a craft fair, its partly historical reenactment, its partly performance art. Everyone working at Faire dresses in costumes (or garb) typical of the late Elizabethan period. There are many booths selling both crafts and food. Parades wind their way through the crowds. Jugglers, musicians, magicians, and other entertainers perform through the day. You wander about, examining goods for sale, sampling foods, watching plays and performers, and drinking fyne English Ale.

What is a Renaissance Faire?

Faires during the Renaissance were annual events celebrating the end of deadly winter and the spring rebirth of the lands and animals necessary to survival or were scheduled during a feast day in honour of a particular saint. Nonetheless, Farmers displayed their early crops. Inn Keepers offered specialty dishes. Craft people hawked their wares. Artists, Musicians, Jugglers, Actors, amused and entertained. Faires were less frequent than local markets which were usually held on a weekly basis, and as such a wide variety of goods and services were available. It was a time of hope and promise; a time for those bound in by their class to dream of escape.

Like the Faires of the 16th century, modern Faires offer a sensual feast of crafts, entertainment, exotic foods and drink, games, and above all, an opportunity for any person to actively participate in an historical reenactment.

Leaving this fast paced century far behind, you will find no chrome and steel at Faire. Stages and booths are hand made from wood, burlap, and cloth.

Instead of the boringly familiar, "Hi, how are you?" you will be greeted with "How now, good Lord and Lady, welcome" Rather than Brittney Spears or Garth Brooks, the sounds that lay background for this colorful cornucopia are lutes, flutes and handmade skin drums. You are encouraged to immerse yourself in the stark simplicity of the times; dressing of the period, speaking the olde English, and lending your good cheer to the pageantry.

Hark, be bold! Take on the guise of a Renaissance figure: Be it Lord or Merchant, Peasant Farmer or Court Jester. Then stroll the spectacle of the market place in your new personae, delighting in the surge of strange sights and tantalizing smells. Make way for the royal procession, lest you lose your head to the Queen's Royal Guards, Barter with a merchant for fine crafted wares. Indulge your appetite with succulent meats, vegetables and fruits. Cheer on a dashing Knight. Rejoice in the ribald street performers. Eavesdrop on the gossip mongering Ladies In Waiting.