Renaissance faires in Connecticut

Connecticut's anchor event is the Connecticut Renaissance Faire, founded in 1999, which returned for its 28th season in 2026 billed by its organizers as one of New England's longest-running Renaissance faires, running weekends from late August through late October at the Lebanon Country Fairgrounds with more than 200 shops, daily live jousting, and nine themed weekends. Its companion event, Robin Hood's Medieval Faire, announced it will not return for the 2027 season, with the team saying their energy, creativity, and focus now go entirely to the Connecticut Renaissance Faire. In Ansonia, the Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire — co-founded by Daniel GreenWolf in 2011 at Warsaw Park — mixes Renaissance and fantasy themes and by 2018 fielded more than 100 in-costume characters alongside flaming jugglers, magic shows, and combat demonstrations. The Torrington Renaissance Faire is run as a fundraiser that helps send local children to summer camp, featuring armored combat by the Knights of Gore and an immersive Green Sash Vikings encampment. The state's Celtic wing is anchored by the Highland Festival Association of Scotland, CT Inc., whose Highland Games festival has been held for 35 years in eastern Connecticut, now at the Brooklyn Fairgrounds, with Highland athletics, dance, and bagpipe-and-drum competitions. Mystic Seaport Museum — founded in 1929, with 19 acres of grounds on the Mystic River — stages a recurring springtime Pirate Days with cannon-firing drills, pirate musical performances, and a parade around its Village Green. Taken together, Connecticut's scene runs on borrowed grounds rather than a single permanent faire village: agricultural fairgrounds in Lebanon and Brooklyn, a maritime-museum campus in Mystic, and a YMCA camp in Torrington.

Sources: Connecticut Renaissance Faire 2026 press release · Robin Hood's Medieval Faire · Wikipedia — Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire · YMCA Camp M.O.E. — Torrington Renaissance Faire · The Last Green Valley — Highland Festival of Scotland · Mystic Seaport Museum — Pirate Days press release · AnyDayGuide — Connecticut Renaissance Faire