Renaissance faires in Indiana

Indiana's flagship renaissance faire has had two lives: the Indiana Renaissance Faire ran for years in Hamilton County at venues such as Ruoff Music Center and Saxony Park before fading away in 2019, then was revived at Johnson County Park in Nineveh by Midwest Festivals, which bought the event's name and also organizes the Iowa Renaissance Festival, Lincoln Renaissance Revel, Nebraska Renaissance Faire and Quad Cities Renaissance Faire. The revival landed hard — organizers estimated more than 11,000 people on the reborn faire's opening day, with three stages of jousters, sword swallowers, falconers, fire performers and aerialists, and its success prompted an expansion to two weekends. At the state's northern end, the Michiana Renaissance Festival in South Bend is produced by Entertaining History, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and is built around four re-enactment periods — Medieval/Renaissance, the Golden Age of Piracy, the Time of the Vikings and Fairytale Storyland — with working demonstrations like glass blowing and metal forging. In the south, the Southern Indiana Renaissance Faire started in 2014 according to its board secretary, and operates as a nonprofit whose biannual fairs fund scholarships for local high schoolers pursuing arts or entertainment degrees; one spring faire brought 105 vendors, full-contact jousting and a falconer to its Charlestown grounds. Castle settings are a distinctive Indiana touch: the Charlestown faire is staged at Birdsell Castle, and in Bowling Green, Clayshire Castle — a medieval-style bed and breakfast on 120 acres between Indianapolis and Terre Haute — hosts its own annual Medieval Faire that takes visitors back to the Wars of the Roses in medieval England.

Sources: The Republic · Louisville Public Media · LEO Weekly · Michiana Renaissance Festival · Clayshire Castle