Visit to the Arizona Renaissance Festival

We attended the Arizona Renaissance Festival on Monday this week which was President's Day. The park here sells a coupon book called The Coyote Book with discount coupons to restaurants, shops, attractions and events in the area. Well the Coyote Book had a coupon for 1/2 off the admission on President's Day. So we decided to go with our friends Ron and Patsy. It was a warm sunny day with a slight breeze. Perfect for attending an event like this. Last year we heard about the Renaissance Festival from other park residents but didn't attend. The festival location is further east of our park so we get a lot of traffic on the weekends out in front of the park. This makes it difficult to enter and exit the park during the day on the weekends from February 6 - March 27. Typically the festival is held on Saturday and Sunday during this period. However with President's Day on Monday there was an extra day. We didn't think we wanted to attend all day so we planned to go for just the afternoon. We arrived at the LARGE parking lot and walked up to the ticket booth.

Ron and Patsy in line

Well on exactly up to the ticket booth. We had to wait in line for about 20 - 25 minutes. Some people attending the festival were dressed in Medieval clothing.

Of course many of the actors, actresses and vendors were dressed in appropriate clothing of the period.

The festival has been going on each year for the last 28 years. Rain or Shine. It's a combination of theatre, amusement park, artisan marketplace and jousting tournament.

The website states "The Renaissance Festival is a medieval amusement park, a 13-stage theatre, a 30-acre circus, an arts and crafts faire, a Jousting Tournament and a feast, all rolled into one non-stop, day-long, family adventure!"

I had no idea this place was so big. We started walking through the park and saw several interesting characters.

We stopped at an open grassy area to watch a gentleman do a whip demonstration and he even set a whip on fire.

He was very accurate with his whip skills. It was a great demonstration. Everyone there is very theatrical and real gets into their characters.

We stopped to watch another actor/entertainer perform a sword swallowing act. He was very entertaining and had a lot of good jokes to go with the act. At the end of the act he swallowed a long balloon.

 Another actor had a juggling and balancing act. He too was very funny and brought some children up on the stage to help. They were very cute.

After some time walking around the park and seeing more folks dressed in the period, performing their acts and allowing photos of them it was time for the Joust.

The joust takes place several times during the day culminating in the final joust of the day to crown the victor. We attended the final joust. There is stadium seating around the arena and so we took our seats and watched the festivities. Each area in the area was assigned a knight to cheer for. Ours was in Green and White. Of course there was an evil knight.

A few wenches

This woman was announcing the jousters

The queen and her court parade around the arena

The knights that will joust

The Evil knight

Our (good) knight

The Joust and breaking lances

Well of course the evil knight ended up winning the joust and a sword fight at the end. Great acting and theatre. Once the joust ended it was close to closing down the park for that day. We walked back to the car and along the way I noticed this actor standing on a platform like a statue dressed as a court jester. When anyone would come near him he would move, greet them and offer the ladies a rose. He was quite good.

We had a fun time and worth the trip to see these artists and actors.

If you would like more information on the festival. Just click on the link at the beginning or HERE.

I don't know if I would attend again but it was worth going to at least one time.

I also enjoyed the dedication these artists give to their craft.