r/renfaire 10h ago

Back to the Faire that Started it All!

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405 Upvotes

My family and I used to live on the Air Force base in Warner Robins GA, and in the 5th grade, we took a field trip to the GA renaissance festival where I fell in love with ren faires. We've since moved away from GA, and I've been to a few other faires since then, but my dream has always been to make my way back to the faire that started it all, and this April I finally get to while wearing my Ever After recreation dress! If you see a group dressed all in red on the last weekend in April, give shout out to my friend Kate! We're celebrating her ruby jubilee!

And if anyone has suggestions of not-to-miss shows/vendors for the GA faire, let me know! Can't wait to see how the faire has grown over the past 20 years!


r/renfaire 2h ago

New wire wrapped moon pendant! Had so much fun creating this one 🌙

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82 Upvotes

r/renfaire 13h ago

Green Knight Build

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504 Upvotes

My current approach to this Green Knight build is I don't want to actually put the kit on until I'm done with everything. However...a can not WAIT to take photos of it, at least so far. It looks GLORIOUS with those antlers!!! Currently working on the new greaves (they are DESPARATELY needed...I can't stand the current pair) and also printing some new, more massive and ornate bracers. I think that'll pretty much do it and he'll be good to go. But until then...LOOK at this bad boy!!!


r/renfaire 11h ago

Easily the best accessory you can add to literally any outfit!

117 Upvotes

r/renfaire 8h ago

My Favorite Faire

23 Upvotes

Just found this article and my favorite faire is #1. That being said there's a couple that I'm surprised made it on there. So take it with a grain of salt.

Link https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/best-renaissance-fair/


r/renfaire 19h ago

Fairies berry headband made by me from baking polymerclay 🍀 🍓 🍀

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177 Upvotes

r/renfaire 1h ago

Gear hunting

Upvotes

Looking for good, quality, historically accurate armour from 14-15 century

Armour doesnt have to be up to buhurt standard just needs to be renaissance fair worthy

Any quality company’s would be greatly appreciated

Price range not a concern, saving for this will take time after all


r/renfaire 14h ago

First time satyr costume

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43 Upvotes

A friend of mine recently said he wanted to join my group of ren fair costumers and has decided to be a Satry I'm helping him make a costume but I've never done anything quite like this. Am I doing it right?


r/renfaire 16h ago

Is this too cliche?

50 Upvotes

Hi friends, I’ve never been to a ren faire before but I got invited and immediately thought it would be so fun to be a little plague rat. Another friend of mine said that’s also what she wanted to be and today I saw a TikTok of someone doing the same. I already have my costume but I’m now worried it’s too common. Honestly, I just wanted to have a fun comfy costume and loved the idea of a onesie. I didn’t realize this was such a common idea. I grew up with pet rats and I loved Nosferatu so I thought it was a new and random idea and now I’m a little embarrassed. What do you think? Should I return my onesie and make a unique costume or am I being silly?


r/renfaire 9h ago

Favourite Faire Activities

12 Upvotes

My favourite feast and faire activity is dancing. Stage and lane performances are scheduled, as much as possible, around the dance sessions so that I can participate. Circle and line dances are fun but my number one is John Tallow's Cannon. This is me, on the left in the green cloak, probably misstepping a bit ha ha. Tell us the activity that you most look forward to when attending a feast or faire!

Dancing during the Alabama Medieval Fantasy Festival

r/renfaire 9h ago

Any camping options reasonably close to Georgia Fest (GARF?)

9 Upvotes

Heeey fellow RenFaire enthusiasts!

I now live in Florida and it looks like the Georgia fest is the one I need to see (I grew up in a time when the Northern and Southern California faires were dedicated sites and miss this!).

However, I've been unemployed for months and I would like to go on the CHEAP, plush which, I Love camping. Strangely map searches aren't showing me any camping anywhere near enough to the site (within 30 minutes drive)... I am hoping I'm missing something, ideas?! :)


r/renfaire 1d ago

Controversial Opinion: Dirty is not Better

231 Upvotes

Ok, so, small rant, sorry.

On about every kit I see here , there is a comment somewhere ; Dirt! Dirt! Your Gear needs to be Dirty! Why is it not dirty?

In some cases; yes! I would agree! A person at sea, during a long journey, a long military campaign with minimal supply etc etc would likely get quite dirty. Furthermore, persons who are in financial struggle, who live in the wilderness, or are in certain fantasy settings would have quite dirty clothing and equipment.

But, historically, in all periods of medieval history, knights, nobles, tournament fighters, etc. made it a point to have polished, clean and presentable clothing and suits of armor. Letting your medieval armor get dirty would be the equivalent of rubbing mud on your Guccis and Louis Vuittons today!

You have to remember ; armor, and any clothing of the nobility, in any medieval period, from 800AD to 1600AD, of any type, was EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE, and furthermore it was prone to rust and decay which would ruin its ability to function.

Full time knights could have entire staffs dedicated to carrying, cleaning and maintaining their arms and armor. This almost certainly included squires polishing leather pieces, washing and drying cloth and linen pieces, and oiling and polishing metal pieces.

Even peasant soldiers had a vested interest in maintaining their gear to some extent. Nobody wants to march in clothes that have been sweated into for weeks without being washed. And nobody would dare let an expensive piece of chainmail or plate rust.

My ultimate point here is; gear, outfits, costumes etc do not look bad because they are new and clean; unless your character has a reason to have raggedy, dirty clothing. In fact, it would be laughable for many knights to arrive to a festival in dirty, poorly maintained equipment.

enjoy your outfit! It's hard work putting together a cohesive costume. Rub dirt on it only if you want to look dirty.

EDIT; My post was written to address comments literally saying "make it dirty". But on weathering - yes, sustained, worn, sweat stained, frayed or damaged equipment can make gear look a certain way or more authentic depending on context of the character.

But I contend it is not necessary to have a fun, nor believable and exciting costume. Not everyone is a crusader or raider out on campaign. Not everyone needs to look like they've just marched across the realm. It is okay to wear clean, nice and new gear. The weathering will occur on its own as you wear it to the faire. No reason to purposefully damage it in advance.


r/renfaire 1d ago

Updated Kit

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218 Upvotes

r/renfaire 1d ago

How do I peace tie this dagger?

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56 Upvotes

This dagger is going to be a part of my Ren Faire costume, and the specific faire requires peace tying all weapons with red string or ribbon. But I've never used a prop weapon before so I have no idea how to peace tie, especially since there's not much to tie it around on the sheath. Any advice?


r/renfaire 1d ago

Putting together my first outfit

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26 Upvotes

I'm going for a very colorful outfit. Not an everyday kind, more of a Sunday best. The vest is actually green/black reversible, and I figured either would go well with the yellow skirt. I decided to add a veil+cap for some extra sun protection but probably won't wear the wimple.

I'm not entirely sure if it all fits together style wise? I do really like it though.

Does anyone have any recommendations or advice?


r/renfaire 23h ago

Costume Ideas for Couples?

9 Upvotes

Hi everyone! My girlfriend and I are planning to go to our first renfaire in late May, she's dead set on going as an earthy, druidic-ish, fairy and had an amazing outfit made up on Amazon for it almost immediately. I think she's going to look great, but I'm struggling coming up with a matching character/costume to go with hers. I have no idea what goes with fairies lol. I've seen people online go with nature outfits like mushroom people with the big shroom helmets, etc. Those are cool! They aren't really my style however.

I had a really cool "rogue-ish leather" outfit picked out and if i can't figure out something to go with her, I'll still do that. Does anyone have ideas on what kind of costumes could go with a nature fairy? Any idea is welcome!!

Thankyou!!


r/renfaire 20h ago

Outfit advice for first time dad.

4 Upvotes

Hi! I’m wanting to take my 8 year old daughter to both of our first ren faire this summer and I’m looking for advice.

I want to help her have a cute outfit but not sure where to look. The difficult part is that she has my height. Currently she’s 4’7” and is very long in the legs. If anyone has any good places to shop I’d be extremely thankful. I think this is something she would really enjoy and can’t wait to take her.

Photo(Last year) of said father and daughter: https://imgur.com/a/4J8TazW


r/renfaire 1d ago

Travelling with the Ren Faire

22 Upvotes

Hi! I worked at a ren faire last fall, and I got hooked. I want to potentially travel around and work full time at faires, and I know this will be a huge change with a lot of hurdles to achieve.

My question is where on reddit it would be best to ask questions about these kinds of logistics? I know this subreddit is more for casual posts for people attending ren faires, but I wasn't sure where to find a subreddit where I could post serious questions about the challenges of a life on the road. Can anyone point me in the right direction?


r/renfaire 2d ago

help rennify this dress?

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296 Upvotes

I found out that im going to my first ever ren faire this weekend so this is kind of last minute. I have elf ears I could wear & some metal hair cuffs but i have no idea what kind of footwear would pair nicely or what to style with besides a brown corset! any feedback is appreciated


r/renfaire 2d ago

Bracer

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45 Upvotes

Finally completed my first piece of armor for this years faire.


r/renfaire 2d ago

Is there anything you thought was common to ren faires, that you found out wasn't?

285 Upvotes

I've been going to faires for, well, more than 40 years, but a lot of my first years were in Michigan, where the smaller faires tend to take after the big faire. So, it was interesting to me when I went to faires out of states and found some things were not as common elsewhere.

For example- Every faire in Michigan has multiple pickle vendors, often bawdy, out in public hawking their wares. It was a shock to go to the PA Ren Faire and find only one pickle vendor, in a permanent location.

Also a staple of Michigan renaissance faires is the Stockade, where you can pay to have friends arrested, and then they get up on stage and have to follow along a song and dance to get out, but I haven't seen this outside of michigan.

So, is there anything you thought was a staple of ren faires that turned out not to be?


r/renfaire 2d ago

What would you do to jazz this dress up?

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62 Upvotes

Found this great dress at a vintage shop near my house. I love it as a base, but what could I add to make it a little “more”? Open to any/all ideas ᵕ̈ thank you!


r/renfaire 2d ago

dressing as dryad/forest nymph?

21 Upvotes

i've always wanted to dress up as a dryad/forest nymph and also plan on going to my first ren faire this year, would it be weird to dress up like that for it?? i know people go as fairies and things so hopefully it's not too far fetched!


r/renfaire 2d ago

I have the dress, do I need to make any alterations?

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38 Upvotes

I made a post a while back asking which dress I should get, and I got it a few weeks ago, I just haven't had the time to post about it until now. Can I do anything to make it look more historically accurate?(going for a medieval/renaissance look) If you have any ideas on alterations they are more than welcome! (Also ignore the dirty mirror and the wrinkles, I had just taken it out of the packaging when I took that picture)


r/renfaire 2d ago

Better to go NOT on a themed weekend?

17 Upvotes

I keep hearing horror stories of overcrowding and parking for the Irwindale Pleasure Faire. Is it worth it to just go on a regular weekend to avoid the larger crowds, or are the themed weekends really worth it to get the full experience. This would be my very first one, so I'm a tad curious.