You can also discuss 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 this list, it’s only because I’ve never been there. I have future plans to attend the other major Ren Faires in the country!

Welcome to day 6, where I introduce the C-Tier with perhaps the most controversial Faire on this whole list.

E-Tier: If you happen to live close by

#12. Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire (Ansonia, CT)
#11. Vermont Renaissance Faire (Essex, VT)

D-Tier: Worth a bit of a drive

#10. New Hampshire Renaissance Faire (NHRF; Fremont, NH)
#9. Enchanted Orchard Renaissance Faire (EORF; Phillipston, MA)
#8. Robin Hood’s Medieval Faire (RHMF; Harwinton, CT)

C-Tier: Standouts

#7. King Richard’s Faire

Carver, MA
Last attended: September 2023
Website: https://www.kingrichardsfaire.net/

It’s so weird to have this Faire be ranked so low when it’s my “home” Faire and the one I’ve attended the most by far.

Their artisans are excellent. There are tons of high-quality crafts that feel like they were made by real professionals. Ceramics (including an awesome puzzle mug I got one year), woodcrafts (Van Ness Woodcrafts made my absolutely amazing wooden mug that I have since lost, though he has since passed away), high-quality clothing, leather boots (Son of Sandlar, which I own a pair of, and they are both gorgeous and comfortable), blacksmith swords, pewter mugs, and so much more.

This is also the only Ren Faire in New England with a permanent setup, which helps with the immersion. It really feels like a medieval town in a woodsy environment (but this was back in 2023, and things may have changed, which I’ll discuss soon).

The dog show is absolutely fantastic. There’s like a dozen dogs on stage, they’re really well-trained, and they’re so cute (I mean, all dogs are cute, but man, they are so cute).

The joust is one of the best around. Four knights really going at each other in brutal combat with amazing feats. It’s probably the second-best joust on this list (the best one is much later).

This was also the first place I saw The Rowdy Bardlings, a really fun Celtic folk band that will demonstrate the five types of Irish music for you.

But, there are some major cons. For one, their food system is absolutely awful. First, you have to buy food tickets in lots of $5, which has a pretty long line. Then, you have to wait in another long line to actually get the food. And then any extra tickets you have are just wasted (you can’t use them the next year, since they change the colors). The food line is a bit longer than average for a Faire, which isn’t too bad, but combined with the food ticket line, it brings it makes it almost unbearable. I’m told they now take credit cards at food vendors, but this took way too long to implement. And the alcohol lines are ridiculous; I think I once had to wait like 15 minutes for a beer. For the most part, the food itself is okay, at least for Faire food, but this whole process is a major con.

Their list of performers has gone way downhill. I used to say that a trip to King Richard’s Faire is not complete without seeing Jaques ze Whipper and Ses Carny. Whenever I dragged friends along, I told them we need to see those two shows, and skip the third joust of the day so we could see their Secret Show. But when they were gone in 2024, I mean, what’s the point? I’ve been a huge fan of them for over 15 years, and to not have them perform feels like a huge slap in the face.

(Side story: I once went on a date with someone who said she knew Jaques and Ses. And the only way I could have been more star-struck is if she said she knew Weird Al!)

At least Jaques was back for 2025, but they haven’t invited Ses back (even though he literally used to be the featured performer on their billboards). It just doesn’t seem like they respect their performers enough. (I’ve heard other rumors about their poor treatment of performers, but nothing I can personally substantiate). A Ren Faire this big should get the best performers on the circuit, but they seem to be relying on their name instead of being better.

And unlike other Ren Faires, this one does not allow re-entry. I thought this was normal until I started branching out, but nope, they just suck. So you have to be there the entire day, and you can’t sneak off to your car for a break or food that’s not too greasy or sugary.

I mentioned earlier how the location is a big pro, but they have gotten a new location since I last attended, so I can’t speak on how good that is. But according to a friend of mine who went whose only other Ren Faire experience was the EORF (number 9 on this list), she liked the EORF better, since she claims the EORF felt more like a Faire, and KRF felt more like an amusement park pretending to be a Ren Faire.

It’s also expensive, at around $50 per ticket. That’s as much or more than the biggest Ren Faires in the country, but not nearly as good quality. And unlike some other expensive Faires, performers still need to ask for tips.

I could go on and on about my complaints (like the time they had a “Beer Olympics” with no actual beer, not enough seating at the cleavage contest even if you arrive really early so you can’t see anything, etc), but I should probably move on.

I boycotted them for the last two years, and it looks like it worked, since I’m told attendance was down in 2024 and made them reevaluate (after all, Jaques is back). It was even sold to an LLC. I already bought my tickets for 2026, so maybe they’ll earn a higher spot on my next list!