We have a great one here in middle TN. The guy who started the Ren. fair here bought a bunch of land and started building a castle! I mean a freaking for real castle! Unfortunately, the state of TN decided to put an interstate right down the middle of his property. He fought it for years but eventually lost, so he had to buy more land to hold the fair. He had been building on his castle now for years. He offers tours every year and you can go through and see what he has done. A whole lot of it has been done by him personally. The Ren fair is held every weekend during the month of May and includes the Memorial day weekend. They also have a Romance weekend. They have many vendors, actors, people demonstrating all kinds of things like blacksmithing, etc. Of course the jousting is totally cool! In fact there is a place in Kentucky (or used to be anyway) that trains horses for jousting! Pretty neat. Also, there is a group (can't remember their name) that comes and dresses up as Queen Elizabeth and her court, complete with ladies in waiting and courtiers. The woman who has played the Queen for several years looks so much like a real queen it is unreal! Her clothes are just fabulous. My husband took her picture one year and it was awesome! They walk around the fair and play their parts so well! There are also musicians that walk around and play these instruments that you would have seen in Queen E.'s time. It is great! I have been several times and have my own costume. There are serving wenches, pirate types, bellydancers, food vendors, and of course the knights! It is a lot of fun to don a costume, which are sold there, and let yourself go back in time for a while. If anyone can make it here sometime next May, it is definitely worth the trip. Since it is in May the weather isn't too hot yet. I haven't been in 2 years but I want to go next year and see the castle again.
