5 Reasons I was WRONG about the Minnesota Renaissance Festival
I’ve heard of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival my whole life but NEVER wanted to waste my time or money going. I’d heard all of these stories and opinions from others. None of them painted a picture of an event I would want to attend.
Then one day some family members decided to get together and go to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. They asked me to go. I’ll be honest, the only reason I went was to not be “that guy” with my family. It was after all time with family I don’t get to see very often. I reluctantly agreed.
The day before we were going I was dreading my decision; playing out all of these ideas I had about the MN Renaissance Festival in my head. Then I decided to start looking at the website to see what I was getting myself into. I was shocked!
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It’s just a small local event…WRONG!
The current location of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival is 150 acres. For perspective, the average home lot size in the US is around one-fifth of an acre. That means the land that holds the MN Renaissance Festival could be developed to hold about 750 homes! I was amazed! I had no idea it was that big. With the average number of visitors hitting around 300,000 a year, this is no small local event. In fact, it is listed as the largest renaissance festival in the United States.
The festival offers 16 performance stages with everything from jousting, Irish dancers, comedy acts, and my personal favorites; knife throwing and fire dancers!! Every year approximately 250 renaissance-inspired artisan booths are offering handmade wares at the MN Renaissance Festival. There is beautiful jewelry and handblown glasswork. As well as, pottery, metal work, and clothing. Don’t forget to check out the Scottish kilts!!
You will get teased by street performers…WRONG!
Ok, so this was one of the main reason’s I avoided the Minnesota Renaissance Festival!! I heard stories about people who went and the street performers picked them out of the crowd and teased them so other guests stopped and watched. While I can’t say this NEVER happens, I did not experience this and I did not see anyone else experience this either.
The thing to remember is the Renaissance Festival performers and demonstrators are known for staying in character when on the festival grounds. If you try talking to them about modern items they may call you out as they “don’t know what a cell phone is.”
The street performers will approach you and try to immerse you in the renaissance experience. If you help them stay in character by embracing the renaissance time period, you will have a pleasant conversation and may learn something new.
The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is just a cheesy dress-up show….WRONG!!
The Minnesota Renaissance Festival parking lot is HUGE!! When we drove to our parking spot I noticed one thing….many, many, many people were dressed in period-specific costumes or even wearing fairy wings and elf ears. My immediate thought was is this just a cheesy costume party??
Once inside the gates, I noticed more and more people in costume. The more I looked around the more ornate and beautiful costumes I saw. The dresses on some of the women were beautiful ball gowns with intricate beading and embroidery. The Scottish Kilts on the men had amazing wool fabric with shiny pins showing off the rich history of family colors. It was far from cheesy costumes; it was authentic period-specific garments!
The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is a bunch of beer-drinking Old English crap… WRONG AGAIN!!
I thought the only time period at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival was Old English. I was so surprised when I looked at the festival map and saw: Fairy Wing Forest, Celtic Cottages, Mermaid Cove, and the Viking encampment!! Of course, there is the traditional thinking Old English representation but there is also so much more.
Due to my heritage and past travel, I was very drawn to the festival’s Celtic Cottages and the Viking Encampment the most but the Fairy Wing Forest and Mermaid Cove bring you into a different world of enchantment and imagination. It’s truly magical!!
There are several theme weekends too which draw in additional events, vendors, and performers in line with the specific theme. That does not mean the other areas go away for the weekend but you will see an emphasis on the theme area.
The Minnesota Renaissance Festival only has Turkey Legs… WRONG!!!
This one was also a big misconception for me. Every picture I saw or story was about people gnawing on giant turkey legs. Ever since a somewhat traumatic event in high school I have struggled with eating any food off of the bone. I wondered if I would be starving all day with no other options.
The good news…the first place we came across sold turkey legs but also hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken strips…your basic food. I was happy I would at least have some options. The bad news….we ate at the first place we saw. Don’t get me wrong, the food was good but basic. As we continued our walk around the villages, we discovered so many more options from all over the world; Mexican street corn, chicken and waffles, ravioli, Kielbasa pretzel dogs, cheesecake, and even Korean BBQ Pork!! The food all smelled and looked so delicious I was mad at myself for assuming basic chicken strips were my only option.
Take my advice, before settling on food for the day, do a quick walk around the grounds or check out the festival map!!
Should you go to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival?
ABSOLUTELY!! I am so happy I decided to stop making assumptions and just go see the Minnesota Renaissance Festival for myself. I quickly found everything I thought to be true was wrong. The costumes, the performers, the live demonstrations, and the food were all worth it.
My only warning, going to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival will take you to a different time and place and might just open your mind to new adventures.
Check out the Website for dates, times, themes, and tickets: https://www.renaissancefest.com/opening/
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