The 28th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Faire will be held tomorrow at Mirror Lake, the Ohio Union’s west lawn and the South Oval.
This year, the theme of the event is “The Legend of St. George and the Dragon” and the festival is packed full of events designed to tell the tale. It also features events with acting and musical performances designed to transport Faire patrons back to medieval times.
“It’s a lot of fun, and there is a lot that you can do with the period, performance-wise,” said Andrew Kankey, a member of the Council of the Medieval and Renaissance Faire, which organizes the event.
“We do try to educate, but this is mainly just for fun; we don’t try to force feed anyone anything,” he said.
There is plenty to keep those in attendance busy this year, with performances of “Pleasant Peasant Dancers,” “The Princess’ Play,” “Dragon Bait,” and a retelling of the Faire’s title legend itself. There will also be an event dubbed “Human Chessmatch,” a live action, life-sized game of chess complete with battles between the game pieces.
The actors who stage the battles, act out the stories and perform in songs and dances from the period come from different backgrounds, but are largely Ohio State students interested in the time period and performance pieces of that era.
“Most of our performers are students here at OSU, but we do get some that come in from other Renaissance Faires, like Minstrel Woode, who will be performing,” said Cori Hoffman, president of the CMRF. “These performers are paid, and are considered professional performers. It’s great for us because we get to see some great up-and-coming talent.”
In addition to Minstrel Woode, which presents original Celtic influenced folk music, other visiting performers and groups include the Center for Medieval and Renaissance studies; Marion Consort, a group of musicians which plays instruments from the period; the Medieval and Renaissance Blacksmiths, who will create items and field questions about period and modern blacksmithing; the Ohio Gaming and Role-playing Enthusiasts, who run events and games in a fantasy setting; the Pagan Student Association, which will give free tarot readings at the event; and the Swords of Valour, which will be exhibiting some of the fighting techniques of the medieval period, complete with steel and wooden weapons.
No renaissance fair would be complete without vendors to provide patrons with their own magic wizard wands, chain-maille accessories, swords and any other equipment that one would need to properly slay a dragon. The Faire will feature a marketplace full of merchants specializing in face painting, artwork, jumbo smoked turkey legs, weaponry of the period, leather goods and hand-painted porcelain crafts.
At the end of the Faire, there will be a special song-and-dance performance that captures the medieval experience, in which everyone in attendance is invited to participate.
“The one thing that’s closing the Faire this year – each year we’ve done something a little bit different – is a big event of period dances and songs that we hope everyone will join in on,” Kankey said.
“We really want the audience to participate, do a dance, sing some songs and just have the whole group together having a good time at the end of the day,” he said.
The 28th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Faire runs 11 a.m.-6 p.m., rain or shine. Admission to the Faire is free for everyone.
