Hello all!
While I, of course, love going to various faires across the country, there's something that's been niggling in the back of my mind. I have a BA in Classics (the study of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, among other topics), and try as I might, I can't find what could be called a Renaissance Faire...but for the Classical world rather than the Late Medieval/Renaissance era.
Does such a beast exist, anywhere? I know such an event would fall out of the preferred time period of [nearly] everyone here; having said that, I think there would be a place for an event like that.
There are people out there more knowledgeable than I am, but when we lived in Williamsburg, VA, every year at the Jamestown Settlement, there was a weekend called "Military Throughout the Ages." They had everything from BC to Vietnam (we lived there in the 80's, and Vietnam was the last war).
I remember taking our sons around to the different camps, and there were Greek and Roman camps. I had 4 years of Latin in high school, so I made it a point of searching those camps out. These groups had weekend gatherings around the U.S. Maybe if you can find one of these weekends, the Greek or Roman groups can advise if there is such a thing as a Classical faire.
I was going to say, there are a couple pretty good Roman groups around here (the central CA area), but not too many. I usually see them as part of Celtic Faires or Scottish Games, as they portray British Roman auxillaries circa 3rd-4th century CE. I have not heard or anything more focused on that period though. In truth, I wonder if it would have as much of a public draw. As a history major who is currently studying late antiquity and early medieval, I would find it fascinating. However, with more renaissance artists being known in general society (Shakespear vs Ovid), and a little more time spent on education for the period (some of the original US colonies were founded during the reign of Elizabeth) I think people are far more familiar with at least the concept of the Renaissance. And from what they do know, there is a certain romance around the wenches, bawdy humor and ends of chivalry that people picture as Renaissance that they are less likely to find in what they know of antiquity (war, legions, murder, togas, and vomitoriums). I in no way mean to say that this is what Antiquity was all about, and there is still a draw to Greek philosophy and mythology that is impressive after two thousand years, and I wish there were more opportunities to make history come alive from all eras. Enough of my rambling thought though. But to answer your question, I know there are living history/re-creation groups around, but I have not seen or heard of any dedicated faires or events.
On a side note, my daughter did spend an afternoon, about two years ago, training wiith one of the local auxillary legion groups around here, learning to march and throw a short spear. She was 5 at the time, so it was pretty cute and fun to watch. And the first thing out of her mouth after was to ask for her own spear.