The ORF Blog

November 22, 2023

Are you ready to celebrate winter in a picturesque outdoor village? Yuletide Village 2023 starts this Friday, bringing an array of delights that are perfect for your family festivities. This glowing lights display expands across Renaissance Park, the same place as the famous Ohio Renaissance Festival, and gives folks the opportunity to enjoy the atmosphere […]

November 15, 2023

These days, most of us don’t till the soil ourselves. We don’t raise the turkeys or dredge cranberries out of a bog. But to those of our past who did this as a matter of survival, it only made sense to give thanks for the abundance that would keep them and their families alive. It’s […]

November 8, 2023

Forget freezers and canned goods. We live in an era where robots can bring food right to your table and your fridge can keep inventory and let you know when you run out of milk. We add preservatives to food to keep it shelf stable for longer, and we don’t feel as dependent on the […]

November 1, 2023

A (Very) Brief History of Low Comedy When looking back at the long tradition of ren faire entertainment, comedy comes in as the most prolific category. Whether it’s the bawdy aesthetic, the pageantry of color and sound, or the fact that we’re all walking around speaking in the accent of a country we fought a […]

October 25, 2023

With Halloween fast approaching, and Trick or Treat Weekend at the Ohio Renaissance Festival just around the corner, all sorts of shrieks and screams are waiting for you to enjoy! As we participate in this modern season of the supernatural, do you ever wonder what the Elizabethans believed in? Did they have a love for […]

October 18, 2023

Wel folowing his maistre and doyng whatever he hym commandeth, he shuld be good and kyndly and clene, glad and joyful and playeng, wel willyng and goodly to all maner folkes save to the wild beestis. 14th century quote as to the mannerisms expected of dogs In the Elizabethan world as well as modern times, […]

October 11, 2023

When it comes to the myriad of musicians at renaissance festivals, the talent displayed is overwhelming. You have people who have dedicated their lives to the romanticized notion of a wandering bard bringing their music from town to town and spreading joy like a guitar strumming Johnny Appleseed. With all this skill, it’s strange to […]

October 4, 2023

Ask anyone you know about their first visit to the Ohio Renaissance Festival and you can see their eyes light up as they launch into their memories of what a wonderful time they had. The faire has changed a lot over the years, but something we have never given up is our dedication to making […]

September 27, 2023

A (Very) Brief History of the Laundress In the annals of history, the work of the average individual is overlooked in favor of the life-world-altering events that so often define our knowledge of the past. This is especially true of tasks that were considered ‘women’s work’. The drudgery of maintaining a household cannot possibly be […]

September 20, 2023

A (Very) Brief History of Mimes When it comes to mimes, (and clowns in general), we often see them portrayed in media with a sense of trepidation or even outright malice without any real explanation as to why. We tend to think of the mime in its French incarnation, with a monochromatic aesthetic a la […]