Finally attended the
Ohio Renaissance Festival (~45min north of Cincinnati), which has been a big hit for many years. It lived up to its hype. Tons of crafts, hecklers, music, entertainment…turkey legs being eaten. And live jousting, of course! In fact, there is a show on the History Channel called
"Full Metal Jousting" and many of the participants have roots to Monroe OH and appear here. Very family friendly, yet still welcomed the die-hard fans who were compelled to dress in full-plate armor, pirate gear, or druid capes.
Their
Entertainment Schedule was buried on their site (linked here) and is useful to plan a visit; the schedule is available at the front gate but it is nice to plan your route first. We were particularly interested the crafts and enjoyed watching one blacksmith and glassblower (images below). Great place to have your fortune read, purchase armor, or buy a nice leather artifacts (leather bound tomes, capes,etc.).
You can even ride camels, horses, get trapped in a maze, throw knives, shoot bows, and even mud wrestle…I think. See my daughter and wife below pretend to be the archer Katniss from the Hunger Games (image). Highly recommended autumn fun.
