Renaissance faire in Greenfield this weekend

Organizers of the second annual Traveling Renaissance Village, coming May 11-12 to the Adair County Fairgrounds, promise attractions that will entertain and educate the entire family.

The first year of the event went very well, and planners are excited for the event to continue to grow.

“Last year’s exceeded our expectations for only being put together in four months,” said Anna Somtch, who is co-organizing the event with Ryan Albright. “I was expecting maybe 150 people with not a lot of advertising, but getting over 300 people, every vendor was ecstatic with what they made. They made twice or three times their vending fees, so they were happy.”

Albright explained that the original draw for him in bringing the renaissance faire to Greenfield is that he wanted to give local residents and visitors something that’s not “normal” to do.

“It completely goes outside what people would expect to happen in a place like Greenfield, Iowa,” he said.

Renaissance faires are outdoor gatherings that aim to entertain guests by recreating a historical setting, most often the English Renaissance. They can include costumed entertainers, musical and theatrical acts, arts and crafts for sale, and lots of food. Some faires are more historically accurate than others.

At many faires, there are a king, a queen, or a joust. While those aspects aren’t a part of this faire, there are still numerous vendors and entertainers for attendees to experience such as fire breathers, sword fighters, belly dancers and a wandering magician.

There will be interactive games for attendees to enjoy, like archery, knife throwing and ax throwing.

“We liked the idea that Greenfield has a very large grounds area for us to have this, and it’s smack dab in the middle of about 15 towns within a 30-minute drive,” Somtch said. Eventually it is the goal to expand and travel around the area with this faire on multiple weekends.

Among food vendors will be several non-locals, as well as local favorites Corndog Caravan and Eddie’s Popcorn run by the local Boy Scouts.

Merchants largely feature handmade goods that they sell.

“I love the wide array of it,” Somtch said. Both planners said they expect the number of vendors to double this year from what they experienced last year.

“It means we’re bigger, but it means that when people are there, they’ll have more things to look at and do,” Albright said. “It’s not just one row of things and you’re done, you can wander around and see things you might not normally see.”

The Travelling Renaissance Village is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 11 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 12. Admission price is $5 for one day or $9 for the weekend.