Ohio Renaissance Festival

Fun fact, I love the Ohio Renaissance Festival. I’ll spare you the pictures of my sister and I dressed up as pre-teens. We didn’t get to make it last year because Baby O was still just a little too young. But, this year she was big enough to enjoy the costumes, food, and matching outfits. The Ohio Renaissance Festival is about 45 minutes south of Columbus in Waynesville, Ohio. It’s a super easy little day trip no matter where you’re coming from in Columbus, Cincinnati, or Dayton. Especially, when it’s a beautiful day like this one! Clearly, we weren’t alone in thinking this weekend was the best one to visit the festival.  The Ohio Renaissance Festival runs from Labor Day Weekend through the end of October and every weekend has a different theme. The weekend we attended was Feast of Fool’s Weekend, which seems fairly fitting. The last weekend is Tricks or Treats Weekend with fun activities for kiddos all around the park. Learn about the other themes here, including how you can renew your wedding vows! 

While I couldn’t fully commit to getting in complete costume (this year), I did have to do a little matching with Baby O to be a bit festive. If only we had another matching shirt for The Beard. Watch out for us next year! 
If you ever lose your way, don’t worry, there are plenty of signs to lead you to your next destination. Personally, I’d follow any of the food directions. If you don’t come for the hilarious shows, the clever costumes, or the fun games, you at least have to come for the giant turkey leg! It’s a site to be seen and it’s saltiness is best washed down with a beer or maybe like a gallon of water. As you can tell, even Baby O wanted in on this snack. Also, this was taken right before she was stung by a bee! I thought she was having an allergic reaction to the turkey leg, not even kidding, because she didn’t flinch at all when the bee stung her but her arm swelled and got these pesky little rashes. The Beard calmed me down enough to not immediately take her to the nearest hospital. We used a credit card and swiped her arm to “get rid of the venom” and wouldn’t you know in 20 minutes, her arm looked perfectly normal. After our slight brush of terror with the killer bee, we kept perusing around looking for a snack or two to enjoy. This cute little place looked reasonably fine and I love some good beignets, so we took a gamble. I promise there are fried little dough balls under all that powdered sugar. They weren’t the best beignets in the world but you can’t totally go wrong with fried sweet dough dipped and covered in sugar. There was also this stand that featured fish and chips but we were too stuffed at this point to eat any more fried food. But, I appreciate their maritime humor on their board so I had to throw the picture on this post. I think what I love about the Renaissance Festival is that there really is a little something for everyone. They have cute, family-friendly shows like this Pirate show here and live music from people like Friar Finnegan and Wenches A’Wailing. There is some time of show going on at all times all around the park which makes sense why they sell a season pass! In addition to the turkey leg, Baby O LOVED the ladies of Rambling Rhythms, she couldn’t stop watching! At one point, one of the ladies came over and told me that the trick is that it’s actually “all in your knees,” not your hips. Little did she know that that tip actually didn’t help me at all and I’m a hopeless dancer. But, their show was awesome and Baby O was starstruck. 

Baby O is still a little too young, and has too little hair, to take part in hair braiding but they have that option too if your little Prince or Princess wants to get extra fancy.  

They also have super cheap face painting if your little one is into looking like a butterfly. I know I am.

As you are wandering around the Festival, weaving in and out of all the fun shops, you’ll also see lovely craftsmen like this gal who was making pottery on site. You can purchase items immediately from her, which I think is pretty cool. I saved two of my favorites for last! The KamiKaze FireFlies are hilarious and make me laugh every time we see them. They’ve been featured on America’s Got Talent too, which is lovely because I also love that show. Their act is featured around comedy and slightly terrifying stunts with fire and hula hoops and you’ve gotta see it. They are positioned in the back of the festival near the Kid’s Game area and climbing wall. Yes, there is a climbing wall here, which is awesome. Seriously, the thought of even hulahooping gives me nausea but then she adds fire. She’s quite the daredevil.Last but definitely not least, the Mudde Show! They might actually be my favorite and that could be my English major showing. They have a few shows throughout the day, Beowulf, Dante’s Inferno, and The Viking Show with each one being a little bit different. The main commonality is that they are all hosted in the Muditorium which means that you shouldn’t get too close if you don’t want to get dirty. These guys tell a hilarious rendition of these classics while flopping around in mud, yes, mud. It’s gets pretty dirty and hilarious. Now, what are you waiting for, go get your tickets!