A Renaissance Affaire
Atlanta, Ga.- When walking through the grand gates of the Georgia Renaissance Faire, or “ren faire,” I walked past fairies, knights, businessmen, princesses and suburban moms within the same five-foot radius. Just inside the entrance is a wooden castle tower, and all around are stalls and booths with fauns, jesters and more fantastical creatures enticing passersby to purchase something.
This space offers a sense of community for the many types of people that attend year after year. I had heard from friends how magic of the faire touches each person who enters it and hooked them onto this unique experience. I decided to attend the ren faire and first ordered tickets to attend in 2020, but the festival was shut down due to COVID-19. It remained closed the following year, and this year marks the first reopening since the pandemic hit.
The Georgia Renaissance Festival has been going for 37 years strong now, I was excited to finally participate in the faire with friends and explore all it had to offer. Dressed in elf ears and a cloak with a dagger on each hip, I spoke with multiple people about their experiences with the GA ren faire as I made my way through the day.
Hannah Pearson had never been before, but always wanted to go because it seemed like it would suit her interests. Dressed in a grey peasant blouse and a black corset smattered in stars, she was perusing a stall glittering with necklaces and tiaras of all colors and sizes. “This is my first one, I’m so impressed and blown away. There’s a lot of cool people dressed up and a lot of clothes you could buy. The people here are beautifully dressed, I love the fantasy elements. It feels like another world.”
Her favorite part was seeing everyone dressed up and really liked the fantasy clothing shops and corset shops, but the food felt lacking. “I was expecting mutton legs, but they’re actually turkey. I did expect the food to be better quality, it’s a bit cheap, but it’s not bad”. I felt rather inclined to agree after trying the meatball wraps, which for 8 dollars was not worth the portion I received.
I found Graham Newman in everyday clothes while polishing off my meatball wrap. He said has been attending the renaissance faire since middle school. “My first ren faire was actually a field trip, not too much I remember from it but being a young middle school boy I spent a lot of my time at the blacksmith looking at cool swords.”
When I asked him what the best part was, he said “It’s just a cool place to be able to see how people can express themselves creatively with cosplay and other stuff like that. There are almost always some new things to see there and some slight variation every time you come by, every time there’s new stores with new items and new stuff to see. I recommend the birds of prey show.” Note made, I continued on to find myself a drink.
It was unseasonably cold for April 9th, and I was in desperate need of something to warm me up. I am a particular fan of Monk’s Meadery in Marietta, Georgia, and I had heard it would be supplying an exclusive beer for the faire that I just had to try. Each pour was nine dollars and felt meager for the cost, but at 12.5% ABV three beers combined with a lack of food were enough to keep me satisfied throughout the day, even through a freak snowfall mid-morning. I had to run inside one of the nearby stalls to keep warm and managed to find a corset seller with a heater in the back. After spreading my cloak like a bat over it in an attempt to soak in some of the warmth, I ventured just outside to the area which holds the birds of prey show.
Sitting next to me was Aaron Hiller who claims to be a “veteran faire goer.” “People here get into whatever character they want to be. Not to mention the shows are great, it really allows people to express themselves and there’s a lot of cool shows you wouldn’t see in something like a local fair, at least not for the cost.”
His favorite part is seeing and interacting with the many people that attend. “What keeps me coming back is introducing new people and seeing how they experience it. Dressing up too of course, I didn’t have the time this year,” he gestures at his plaid button down and jeans “but I like to do so. It’s nice to be back since the renaissance faire in general hasn’t been going on, you know, but it’s fun to be back.”
Matthew Andino attended the faire dressed in a cloak remarkably similar to mine and wielding a staff. He says the best thing about the faire is going with friends. “My best friend invited me for the first time a few years ago. He hooked me up with a cloak, I asked ‘what you do here’ and friend said ‘just become the character you want to be.’ Good memories are made and the ability to be to yourself but as a character, it’s a big relief in general.”
On my way out, the last item of the day was the jousting. They take place throughout the festival, but I had heard the last one of the day was to the death, using fake blood and gore. On the benches, I was excited too watch the show. Suri Smith told me she is self-proclaimed renaissance faire hobbyist, and frequently travels interstate to hit every faire in the season. “My first ren faire was twelve years ago, my good friend loved the Pennsylvania one and I said I’d never been, and my friend’s jaw dropped! She took me with her and I didn’t know what I was in for, or have an outfit prepared, but it was magical. I was hooked!”
When asked what made it magical, she said “It’s a huge combination of things that’s special to ren faire because it’s dressing up and people watching and many kinds of performances and access to arts and goods not available elsewhere, but it melds together, you can dress up like Halloween but it’s everyday time, or you can just people watch. It’s a chance to step away from everyday life for a bit, it’s a fun break no matter what you like to do, for me that’s dressing up and making merry! It’s always special and slightly different to go and see what’s it’s like with these friends or dressing a different way or all the themed weekends and it’s never actually the same.”
The Georgia Renaissance Faire has established a sense of community and escape for these people and many others. The people within it foster a safe and welcoming environment that welcomes newcomers while remaining firmly worth revisiting. The faire for me was a chance to take a break from real life and become the character they want to truly be, while enjoying a cold beer and mildly disturbing jousting and acrobatics shows. To experience the ren faire is to experience a little bit of magic hidden away from the “real world,” and that’s enough of a reason to dedicate much time to visiting it. “Also,” to quote Smith, “reality is boring and I hate it!”
If you are interested in visiting the festival to see it for yourself visit the website to book a ticket and see the available entertainment.
