The Arizona Renaissance Festival is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-themed

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

and

Renaissance fair A Renaissance Festival (medieval fair or ren faire) is an outdoor gathering that aims to entertain its guests by recreating a historical setting, most often the English Renaissance. Renaissance festivals generally include costumed entertainers ...

located in

Gold Canyon, Arizona Gold Canyon is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The community is sometimes incorrectly called Gold Camp. The town name is referred to as Gold Camp on weather statements issued b ...

, east of the Phoenix metro area in

Pinal County Pinal County is a county in the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 census, the population of the county was 425,264, making it Arizona's third-most populous county. The county seat is Florence. The county was est ...

. First run in 1989, the Arizona Renaissance Festival runs from mid-winter to early spring every year due to the mild winter and spring weather. The fictional village of Fairhaven is open Saturdays, Sundays, and

President's Day Presidents' Day, officially Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February. It is often celebrated to honor all those who served as presidents of the United ...

Monday. In addition to the many stages of live entertainment, another popular feature is the Pleasure Feast. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

caused the 32nd annual festival to end early in mid-March 2020, besides deferring the next festival to 2022 (when it resumed), as 2021 saw it cancelled.

General information

Designed to be reminiscent of a 16th-century English village, the festival fairgrounds feature 16-stages; regularly scheduled daily

jousting Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...

tournaments; Birds of Prey display; games of skill such as: axe throwing, archery, and more; and a feast. The festival also has the Artisan Marketplace, an outdoor arts and crafts market located throughout the park in which merchants from around the nation and other countries sell different kinds of hand-made or period-themed goods. Other staples of the park include a

petting zoo A petting zoo (also called a children's zoo, children's farm, or petting farm) features a combination of domesticated animals and some wild species that are docile enough to touch and feed. In addition to independent petting zoos, many general ...

, several live performances including comedy routines,

sword swallowing Sword swallowing is a skill in which the performer passes a sword through the mouth and down the esophagus to the stomach. This feat is not swallowing in the traditional sense. The natural processes that constitute swallowing do not take place, bu ...

, a live

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

exhibit, and a selection of food such as 'steak on a stake', sausages, "turkey legs", and others. Patrons are welcome to wear costumes and costumes are available to rent at the festival.

References

External links

The official website of the Arizona Renaissance Festival
{{Coord, 33.320175, -111.429838, display=title Festivals in Arizona Renaissance fairs 1989 establishments in Arizona History of Pinal County, Arizona

General information

See also

References

External links