History of the Renaissance Faire

As readers, you know that over the years in this blog I have described my visits to numerous medieval/renaissance faires.  In this post, I wanted to describe some of the origins and history of the renaissance faire.

To fully understand where the renaissance faire came from, we must look back at America (the origin of the renaissance festival) after World War II. At this time there began an interest in the renaissance period. Legends of Robin Hood and King Author were being revisited.  This interest in these legends could have a sociological, psychological reason.

After world war II the country, in a sense, was in its own renaissance as manufacturing and productivity was booming.  This time also a time for the expansion of education. Veterans were given the opportunity to use the GI bill to attend college.  Being in a renaissance, we began to examine previous renaissances.

Progressive education in schools also moved forward after the war.  There was now education basted on practical or hands on education.

It was after World War II that America became a superpower.  Our country with its military and its ability to produce weapons and maintain an economy on the home front defeated the axis powers. America had now become supreme leaders of the world, and with it came a self-examination into our self-conscience.  Would we become a “Might make Right” or “Right Makes Might” country? I believe we as a nation concluded on the later.

We would look to the Arthurian legend as a guide for us.  Where being right would make a difference in the world not might.  Even John F Kennedy limited time as president would later be referred to as the new Camelot. 

During this time, there was a revival of ancient music. With this combination and a new national consciences, the seeds were sewn for the first renaissance faire.

California in 1963, a schoolteacher named Phyllis Patterson put together a small renaissance faire for her students in her back yard. The faire represented a market place in Elizabethan time (see below). Later that year, she continued with this faire, alongside her husband Ron, to put on the Renaissance Pleasure Faire.  The faire was a fundraiser to help the radio station KPFK, over 8,000 people attended.

The Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California was held in 1966. This is considered by many to be the first truly commercial renaissance faire.  It was here that “guilds” of actors were established. These actors would be classified as royalty, trades people or peasants and were required to stay in character throughout the faire.

Now at this time I would like to make a distinction between a renaissance faire and a living history event or historical reenactment. Although both can merge into the other there are peculiarities between the two that make each unique. The main difference between the two is what they are trying to emphasize.

A living history event, or historical reenactment concentrates on historical accuracy for a time period or event in history. In short terms, they reenact a specific battle or live style.  Reenactments are not new, in ancient Rome in the coliseum they would often reenact famous battles.

Living historians do something similar, they try to “live” life, or an aspect of a culture as closely as possible to that original culture.  This may not be the whole way of living, but keeping a part of it. Example of this would be as an art form, such as playing a Hurdy Gurdy, or engaged a practical trade skill such as creating a quilt.

Renaissance faires are designed to entertain the audience in what is perceived as a medieval/renaissance setting. Its main purpose is to bring an audience to the faire for means of entertainment.

Now, as I stated there is a crossover between the two. To expand the knowledge to people, a living history must have some short of entertainment value such as a battle, or an art form to gain an audience.  You would not receive many visitors showing the life of someone on guard in a watch tower for 6 hours.

On the other hand, many people performing at Renaissance faires are also reenactors. I mention the “Brotherhood of the Arrow and Sword” in many of my posts.  This group’s knowledge is unmatched on the topic of knights during the middle and renaissance periods, and during their demonstrations they give this information to the crowd in attendance. Groups like this are geared to preserve knowledge of a period and also share this knowledge with others.

Although there is a crossover between the two types of events, the big distinction is the concentration toward either entertainment or historical accuracy. Imagine a group like the Brotherhood of the Arrow and Sword doing a demonstration at a Renaissance faire.  Here they could show different weapons and techniques from numerous periods of time.  At an historical reenactment, they would be limited to showing the weapons associated with a specific time in history.

Faires can encompass many time frames, such as Medieval faires, or one based on Robin Hood.  The location can vary also, such as being based in a specific country, city, or even a mythical place. Even with these variables, there are many common factors that many different renaissance faires share. 

Many of these faires (as was the first one) seem to concentrate on Elizabethan era or a time period of the reign of Elizabeth the 1^st of England. The period of Queen Elizabeth 1558–1603 is considered the English Renaissance or a Golden Age. There is an argument to be made for this.  England has won a major victory over the Spanish Armada; the America’s were now being populated by English colonies and William Shakespeare was at his peak.

 Groups like Vixens En Garde base their performance on the works of Shakespeare.

So now you have an understanding of how the medieval/renaissance faires began, and how their focus                     can affect the attitude of the faire.

Now let us reflect on some specific information about medieval/renaissance faires.

Readers of my post will know I refer to these events as faires, not fairs. This is because I am using the Middle English version of the word.  In some instances, you may see the fair referred to as feire, feyre, and fayre.

I have been recently asked about when I used the term “Major Faire”, this is another debate in the medieval/renaissance community.  Some people consider a major faire as one with permanent structures and lasts over several weekends, if not months.  I call these types of medieval/renaissance faires as “Commercial faires”, this is because many are in fact run by major corporations.

We should look at major faires more in terms of accessibility, and turnout based on availability of an audience. The commercial faires I describe above are usually located near major population. This gives that faire a higher number of attendees, which allows them to maintain permanent structures and also allows them to have multiple weekends.

Here, in New York State, there are two commercial faires. One is The New York Renaissance Faire located in Tuxedo, NY, which is not that far from New York City. The other is the Sterling Renaissance Festival which is in Sterling NY near Oswego, a good-sized city, and also located near Syracuse, NY, one of the major cities upstate.

These faires will have a large attendance, because there are so many people nearby. With a larger audience, they have more money incoming, more income the more performers they can hire and maintain physical structures with the faire. This along makes them a major faire, even though I often refer to them as a “commercial faire”.

In my opinion a major faire is one which may not have the above luxury of a large population nearby. These faires will not be able to afford year round permanent structures.  To me, a major faire has a large attendance combined with many numerous types of attractions.  These attractions include a variety performers, and vendors or merchants. 

L.I.A.R.S 

The Ladies of Integrity, Aristocracy, Repute, and Society

perform at many of the faires I attend, singing medieval and renaissance music.

Over the past several decades, the renaissance faire has expanded over the world. Germany (called a Mittelaltermarkt literally "medieval market") Canada have gotten into having renaissance faires, as well as Australia.

Another expansion of medieval faire is Charles Dickens at Christmas. Tours, or faires where people dress as characters from his stories (mostly a Christmas Carol) have popped up all over the country.

It appears now that medieval/renaissance faires are becoming mainstream. In my opinion, their influence will expand beyond Europe and the time frame. Imagine a faire based on medieval Japan, or Africa during the Sayfawa dynasty, the possibilities are endless.

I hope you enjoyed our look at the history of the renaissance faire. Please leave a comment, I would enjoy hearing from you.

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W.A. Rusho is a professional wrestler, historian and author. You can contact him via his website, or email