Ohio Renaissance Festival

In early October, my husband, my parents, and I made the hour long drive from Columbus to the Renaissance Festival in Harveysburg Ohio. None of us had ever been to the event that is 17 years running. After sitting in a line of cars and witnessing the parking area, we began to grasp the fact that this was no small event. I was surprised to see acres of cars in an enormous field. Unfortunately the lot isn't divided or marked in anyway, making it hard to find your vehicle when exiting.

Hundreds of people flooded the entrance which is in the form of a castle with medieval characters yelling humorous anecdotes a la Monty Python's Holy Grail. I noticed about a fourth of those entering were dressed in gothic garb. After walking around for a few minutes, I realized it was hard to tell who worked at the festival and who was just attending.

I had tried to plan out a bit of a schedule from the list of events and times posted on www.renfestival.com. There were many activities going on at once. We decided to watch a joust first. It was a lively challenge involving mounted "knights" in full armor thrusting lances into targets and into each other. Next up was a fairly lame pirate act, full of slapstick and bad jokes. Surprisingly, large number of people in the crowd really seemed to like it. As we made our way through the festival, I was starting to notice this was an event geared more towards families with children.

There were rides scattered throughout the grounds, none of which had motors or electricity. This included a climbing wall, rope ladder climb, and barrel and rope swings powered simply by muscle. I thought this was a great fun learning experience for children.

The different "villages" are filled with musicians, performers, and vendors selling food, drink, and merchandise. There are few places where you can purchase chain mail, swords, turkey legs, and handmade paper all within a few yards of each other. The food lines, unfortunately, were incredibly long. My father waited about 15 minutes for a turkey leg (a popular item) but my mother and I stood in line twice that long for a hummus garden pita. My husband tried for a soup bread bowl but the line was about double the size of ours. Most food items were priced around five dollars for decent sized portions.

Every weekend has a different theme. We attended the festival during "Celtic Dreams". We watched a group of Celtic dancers performing to music made somewhat unpleasant by a bad speaker system. There were also "Olympic" type games with burly men hurling weighted bags over a very tall bar.

Each day's events run from 10:30 to 6. We stayed around five hours and were all pretty tired walking back to the VICINITY of our car. The only event my mother enjoyed was an entertaining two-man show titled "The Swordsmen". They actually fought with swords and told jokes simultaneously. My favorite was the Maypole ribbon dance. My husband and father liked the jousting.

Regular admission is $16.99 but discounts can be had online along with season passes and family packages (food tickets included). I received my tickets from a local radio station so of course it was worth the visit. However, I couldn't really see myself paying full price admission.

If you plan on making a day of it, I suggest bringing a picnic to avoid the food lines. You're allowed to exit to your car and re-enter the festival. Also, bring a flag to mark your car for easy locating.