If I had the time this summer, which faire in the States would be the closest for me to drive to? We are about 2 hours north of Toronto. I would love to experience one of the bigger faires but since our plans for attending Rendezvous fell through, maybe we could do a road trip instead later in the summer.
Any suggestions, recommendations???
Sterling Renn fest in Sterling NY is about an hour or so from the Kingston crossing point or 4-5 hours from the Livingston Bridge. The Michigan Renn fest in Flint is 4-5 hours from Toronto in the direction of Sarnia.
If you want BIG, then Maryland is huge and a great fest but it is a long drive (8-9 hours I believe). But if you fly down to Baltimore it is not far from there.
Sterling is coming up in July and we would love to have you. To bad the ferry is no longer available, you could have taken that to Rochester then drove about an hour to Sterling. Hope you can make it, if not I hear Michigan is a great Faire as well.
Let's see here. There's a LOT of big-medium sized shows within a 10 hour drive of Toronto.
Ohio Renaissance Festival - just outside of Columbus/Dayton - about 8 hours from Downtown
Michigan Renfest - just outside of Flint, MI - about 4 hours from Downtown
Connecticut Renfest - just outside Hartford - About 10 hours
Great Lakes Renfest - Ashtabula, Oh, about 6-7 hours around the lake
*Pennsylvania Renfest - about 10 hours but Worth It
*Bristol Renfest closer to 12 hours Just north of Chicago DEF worth it
I starred the biggest of the shows that are further away but WELL worth visiting if you really want a great Faire experience. I can tell you this cuz I've worked all those shows (laugh) and those two are the most impressive.
The Biggest of the Big - Maryland or Texas I would recommend flying to; even the Bristol show. You can still fly fairly cheap on Southwest out of Buffalo/Detroit; and it's easy to shuttle to those airports & parking is also fairly cheap.
Hope this helps; enjoy whatever faire you choose!
Best,
Bunnie
The Limeybirds
Isn't there a smallish faire in Waterloo in September?
Would love to have you come visit the folk of WarwickShire (Sterling).
Hope to meet you there.
Hausfrau...how are you?
My favourite Faire is the Great Lakes Medieval Faire (GLMF) in Geneva/Ashtabula Ohio....a smaller Faire for sure, but lovely people. Have found myself a most wonderful Faire family there. It takes me about 3 hours from Hamilton.......other than that I would say Stirling is the closest, and a great Faire as well. Have visited that one 3 times now.
The GLMF season runs July 9th to August 14th I think. I am attending 3 times this season; Opening Weekend, July 23/24 and Closing Weekend. Would love to see you there!
http://medievalfaire.com
Thank you everyone for your replies. It would be awesome to be able to travel to other faires and I really hope to do so this summer. If I had my wish we would be able to set up a caravan of Ontario people to go at one time.
Oz! Long time no chat. I kinda thought that Sterling was your home faire but I couldn't remember. I will be sure to be in touch if we are able to make the journey this summer. What are the dates that Sterling runs please, Oz?
Arianwyn! Even longer time no chat. I've missed you and hope you have been well. The next faire we are able to attend will be Pirate Fest...I have had to miss Country Renn this weekend and I am so bummed not to be able to see everyone. Please remind me nearer to the dates that you are going and maybe, just maybe we can arrange something.