The Maryland Renaissance Festival will celebrate its 50th season when it returns to 1821 Crownsville Road in Crownsville, Maryland, on Saturday, August 29.
The annual event will run Saturdays, Sundays, and Labor Day Monday through October 25 at the festival’s 27-acre Village of Revel Grove. Organizers say the festival will feature more than 200 performers across 10 stages, armored jousting tournaments in a 3,000-seat arena, more than 140 artisan shops, five taverns, and 42 food and beverage vendors.
Entertainment this season includes returning acts such as Shakespeare’s Skum, Debracey Productions’ jousting troupe, Topsy Turvy, Hilby the Skinny German Juggle Boy, Jacques Ze Whipper, Barely Balanced, and the comedy duo Puke and Snot. Visitors can also browse handmade goods including jewelry, pottery, clothing, woodwork, stained glass, and leather products created by artisans working in Renaissance-style shops.
Food offerings include smoked turkey legs, steak on a stake, crepes, gyros, ribs, seafood, sandwiches, desserts, and a variety of beverages. Admission information, schedules, ticket prices, and special events are available on the festival’s website.
Full news release: “The Maryland Renaissance Festival, a tradition for the entire family, begins its 50th season August 29th and runs Saturdays and Sundays and Labor Day Monday through October 25th for nine weekends of thrills, feasting, handmade crafts, entertainment and merriment in Crownsville, near Annapolis, Maryland.
The 27 acre Village of Revel Grove comes to life each autumn with more than 200 professional performers on ten stages, a 3,000 seat arena with armored jousting on magnificent steeds and streets filled with village characters. Join His Most Royal Highness King Henry VIII in the forests and glades with over 140 artisans exhibiting crafts in their own renaissance shops, five taverns featuring cool libations, 42 food and beverage emporiums providing a vast array of succulent and sweet treats to sate even the most hearty of appetites.
The almost continuous entertainment on all ten stages features many returning favorite performers: Shakespeare’s Skum with rollicking twenty-minute renditions of the Bard’s most popular plays; A Fool Named “O” and LaLa mime show; walk with nobility through the village with King Henry and his Royal Court. Minstrels, magicians, musicians, jugglers, daring feats of skill and artistry abound. Returning this season is the jousting troupe Debracey Productions with a field full of horses, men in armor, chariots, trick riding and thrills for all ages. Major additional acts include Topsy Turvy, Markita’s One-Woman Stunt Show; Piper Jones; The Queen of Hoops, Paolo Garbanzo; Hilby, the Skinny German Juggle Boy amazes and confuses; the enormously popular Jacques Ze Whipper for three weekends, and Barely Balanced’s acrobatic antics, and in the 53rd year of their enormously popular comedy sword fighting and witty repartee Puke and Snot bedazzle with their fast paced humor. Add in a village full of stilt walkers, beggars, hermits, wenches, pick pockets, rakes and rogues for an entertainment experience not only to be seen but to be immersed amongst. Visit www.rennfest.com/entertainment for a full listing and their dates.
The Maryland Renaissance Festival’s reputation of unique and predominately handmade wares by the very artists in their renaissance shops is among the best in the realm of festivals. Metal work, wood sculpture, jewelry, furniture, clothing, footwear, ceramics, stained glass, headwear, glassblowing and many demonstrating craftsmen fill the shops and studios.
The King’s kitchens prepare a sumptuous feast of delicious and wondrous delights to satisfy most any Lord or Lady. One pound smoked turkey legs, steak on a stake, fresh crepes, stuffed chili peppers, gyros, succulent ribs, a fresh seafood raw bar, sweet concoctions and tender sandwiches of chicken, fish, crab, beef and pork with bountiful servings of all manner of sides add to your table. Cool, mild drinks and an array of ales, ciders and wines cleanse your palate and refresh your constitution.
Prices, special event info and full schedules are available at www.rennfest.com.”
