Connecticut Renassiance Faire Review

My son is learning about the Renaissance in his 8th grade homeschool class. When we heard about the King Richard's Faire (KRF) in Carver, MA and we thought this would be a great way for him to experience this period of time. Well after doing some research on the internet we found that there were several bad reviews of the King Richard's Faire in Carver, MA and stumbled upon a more affordable alternative (the Connecticut Renassiance Faire in Hebron, CT).

Notes:

• Free Parking
  
• $16 per adult / $7 per child (online coupon available to save $1 -- somone in line was nice enough to give us)


• $5.00 fried dough was nice and hot and very good


• $7.00 beef stew bowl was good but the beef could have been cooked a tad bit more.


• $3.00 french fries was OK


• Bottle of soda was $2.00; Can was $1


• Costume rental was $20.00


• Cash is allowed for food (no buying tickets like KRF). You can bring your own food and drinks in. Some vendors take credit cards.


• There are a lot vendor tents selling hand carved swords and sheilds to elegant costumes (one costume we saw cost over $1000)


• This location is about 2+ hour drive to travel from the NH Border and about 1 hour from Worcester.


• This event is held at the Lions Clubs fairgrounds.


• Real bathrooms which were clean and well maintained.

Characters / Dressing Up:

When we arrived we were politely greeted by the guides and was asked if we were here for the wedding. There are many, many interactive characters throughout the fairgrounds. They all speak with a British accent. My 10 year old daughter was dressed in a fancy princess dress we got her several years ago for our Disney trip, and my four year old son was dressed in his Knight costume (for Halloween this year). They both received a lot of attention. Even some of the pheasants would bow down to her. There were "characters" who were all dressed up in mud (yes I said mud). There was mime character. There was a farmer girl trying to catch a "6 foot rabbit". Many of the adults attendees (probably 50%) were also dressed up as wenches, princesses, knights, etc. If we return next year - I am so dressing up! LOL!

Storyline:

When we arrived we watched a sword fight between the King's court. There was activities regarding the wedding all day including a wedding shower, a very interesting wedding (where the evil step sister almost conquered the kingdom), and a wedding reception (where my daughter got to dance with the princess and was later "knighted". The great thing about this was that between scheduled performances you couldn't turn a corner without seeing a group of the King's court in the "Market area" interacting with each other.

There was three jousting shows (the last one was called the King's Joust with knights in full amour on horses). The show and storyline was nicely done and made my oldest son (14) want to come back and see each one. There were numerous smaller shows taking place at several stages. They pass the hat around for gratituies.

Misc:

They had activities for the kids. There was a investigation mystery paper with several questions that you collected and had to get clues from vendor shops or the characters walking around the fairgrounds in order to solve a "who-done-it" puzzle. Many times the kids would have to do a simple activity (e.g., belly dancing, jumping up and down, etc.) to get a clue. Overall we thought there was too many questions and the overall activity was a bit convuluted and complex that we ditched this activity about 1/2 way through. There was also free sword lessons for the kids and several games for them to play. They were not bored.

Overall

For our first EVER event in Connecticut we had a superb time! We loved the characters, storylines, and renaissance feel and felt it was a really good value. I do agree this fair is not for everyone.

I probably spent less than $100 (which I would have spent that alone for tickets at KRF -- not to mention food ticket prices). We drove over 200 miles (round trip) to make this event and have very fond memories and overall feel it was well worth it!!!

This CT Rennaissance Faire appears to be more family friendly and affordable.