This review can also be found on Reddit.

I love Renaissance Faires, to the point where I’ve gone on two different road trips to attend Renaissance Faires in different parts of the country. As a result, I have now attended 12 different Renaissance Faires! With so many now under my belt, I guess I should rank them, and describe in detail which ones are worth attending (hint: pretty much all of them, but usually only if you happen to be in the area).

If it’s not on my list, it’s only because I’ve never been there. I have future plans to attend the other major Ren Faires in the country!

I’ll post one per day for the next twelve days. Feel free to respond with your own thoughts, and include suggestions for future Faires. I want to take a trip in March or April, so recommendations for those months would be greatly appreciated.

12. Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire

Location: Ansonia, CT
Last Attended: July 2024
Website: https://www.mfrenfaire.com/

I guess it shows how much I love Ren Faires when I even had a good time at the one ranked at the bottom!

This was the first Faire I ever attended where I was okay with leaving early, since I’d already done everything I’d wanted to do. What I did was great, but there weren’t many artisans (with only a couple dozen or so) nor performers.

Though, the few performers they did have were surprisingly top-notch. This includes Paolo Garbanzo and The Flaming Ginger, who usually do much bigger Faires. Plus, there was The Foxy Bard and Twig, one of my favorite music acts; he puts so much fun energy and excitement into his performances, it is absolutely electrifying.

It’s one of the few Ren Faires to not have a joust. But, they do have the Knights of Gore, who do steel-armor combat. And unlike the jousts, this is totally real. Absolutely brutal and awesome. If you haven’t seen live armor combat before, I strongly recommend it.

Despite the high-quality shows, there are barely any artisans. Probably the booth I remember the most was the 3D printed goods booth because it was so large, and that is not a good thing (3D printing is a blight on artisan spaces, which is a rant for another time). And the grounds are so small you can loop around in like five minutes. So, while I had a good time and I don’t regret going, I don’t feel a strong need to return to the Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire.