King Richard's Faire is a
Renaissance Faire
A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire or Renaissance festival is an outdoor gathering open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which purportedly recreates a historical setting for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent the ...
held in
Carver,
, which recreates a 16th-century marketplace, including handmade crafts, foods, musicians, singers, dancers, minstrels, mimes, jugglers, whip artists, magicians, comedians, puppeteers, acrobats, animal acts,
mud beggars, stilt walkers, knights
jousting
Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament (medieval), tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying t ...
on horseback, a royal court, and the fictional King Richard. King Richard's Faire is the largest and longest-running Renaissance Faire in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
.
History
The Faire was founded in 1982 by the late Richard Shapiro and his wife Bonnie, who ran the original "King Richard's Faire" in
Bristol, Wisconsin (which was renamed
Bristol Faire when the Shapiros sold it to Renaissance Entertainment Corporation in 1988). Today, Bonnie and her daughter Aimée Shapiro Sedley produce the show. King Richard's Faire is the largest and longest-running Renaissance Faire in New England.
There was no faire in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The 39th faire was deferred to 2021.
The 40th anniversary season runs weekends and Monday holidays from September 4th through October 24th, 2021.
Performers have included
social media personality
An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...
and
Guinness World Record
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
holder
Jack Lepiarz (who set his first world record at the Faire).
Details
King Richard's Faire is operated on
of pine forest and has 8 stages plus a tournament field for live jousting. The buildings are permanent year-round structures. King Richard's Faire runs for eight consecutive weekends from the first weekend in September through the third weekend in October (including
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
and
Columbus Day
Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492.
...
),
closing for bad weather.
See also
*
List of Renaissance fairs
This is a list of Renaissance faires and other Medieval-themed faires worldwide.
North America
United States
Included below are the permanent-site fairs in the United States which are either notably long running, which regularly have had at lea ...
*
Historical reenactment
Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational entertainment, educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms or costumes and follow a plan to recreate aspect ...
*
Society for Creative Anachronism
The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...
*
References
External links
*
{{coord, 41.864526, N, 70.762784, W, display=title
Renaissance fairs
Carver, Massachusetts