REN IN THE GLEN

I moved to Minneapolis fourteen years ago, and I think I have attended the Minnesota Renaissance Festival most of those years.  Minnesota has one of the largest festivals in the country and it really is spectacular and a lot of fun.

Entering the Festival grounds.

A dapper lad and his lass.

My friends Steve and Todd work at the Minnesota Festival but also help out at other festivals.  Last week Steve helped our friend Sheri work her booth at Ren in the Glen, a small festival near Glenwood, Wisconsin, and Todd and I visited it on Saturday. 

The fire jugglers were awesome.

It's always good to know where the privy is.

As I said the festival is very small, especially if you compare it to the Minnesota one, which takes up acres and acres of space.  But while I love the Minnesota one, there was something special and unique about Ren in the Glen.

Steve and Sheri working their booth.

A fashionable Lady.

"I am Groot!"

A beautiful formed leather fox mask.

The Minnesota festival always reminds me of a celebration that might be held in a substantial Elizabethan town, complete with city dwellings and a royal lodge.  It has everything that you expect a city to have like town squares, a jousting ring, and theaters for entertainment.  It really is a wonderful urban festival.

Guardian of the bridge.

An old fashioned lathe.

Ren in the Glen, on the other hand, is more of a festival that would be held in a small rural area.  The fair is housed in a small filed with vendor’s tents instead of permanent shops.  It’s the type celebration that the village locals would attend.  It was simple, and yet still incredibly fun.

Knights gathering  . . .

. . .  For combat games.

I love attending Renaissance Festivals, and really like how different, and yet similar, the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and Ren in the Glen are.  They present two very different communities of the Elizabethan period, while celebrating in similar ways.  This was my year attending Ren in the Glen, and I’m looking forward to going back.

***Are there Renaissance Festivals in your area, and do you attend              them?