Fun at the Renaissance Faire

Links for Weapons and Equipment 

Armor Makes the Man

Medieval Weapons, Swords, Body Armor, Medieval Clothing, Renaissance Clothing

Medieval weapons, medieval clothing, renasissance clothing, costumes, weapons, swords, body armor from Museum Replicas.

They sell really good stuff, not tinfoil crap from the costume store. The clothing, armor, and weapons actually have heft and a feeling of protection, and you can imagine a soldier from that era actually wanting to wear it.

Welcome to Starfire Swords, Ltd. Website!

Starfire Swords, Ltd. create swords, daggers, axes, pole-arms, and leather accessories for theatrical use, costume, display, and staged-combat.

Don't let the "theatrical and costume" use fool you. These are beautiful and authentic weapons, the only concession to modern times is that they are not produced with sharp edges. Definitely NOT the aluminum cheap crap that floods the market, these weapons are actually made by a master swordsmith (I know - I once visited the facility with some friends on a trip through northern New England, and they gave us a very nice tour despite the fact that we stopped on a whim and were entirely unexpected).

King Richard's Faire

King Richard's Faire is a vivid recreation of a 16th century English marketplace at festival time. Actors, dancers, puppeteers, minsterels, mimes, jugglers, magicians and musicians perform each weekend for the favor of his Royal Highness King Richard and his Queen Katherine.

A pretty good faire, except for one of my main complaints (see rant above). I always liked the little "town" with shops, some complete with sleeping or storage space above. Sadly, King Richard's has declined somewhat from when I first started going, with some of the actors (including my favorite act, Smee and Blogg, the Dancing Executioners) leaving the production for other faires, but they still have quite a cast and they've been pretty imaginative in changing the "storyline" every year.

Connecticut Renaissance Faire - Southern New England's Renaissance Festival

Now is your chance to see why thousands of families from around New England have made us their family tradition as we transport you back in time. See a 400-year-old agricultural festival as it would have been back in the Renaissance complete with jousting knights, fire eaters, sword swallowers, and over 60 hours of live entertainment daily. There is so much to see and do.

This faire is at least more reasonably priced and they actually have some discounts. They seem to be more skittish about weapons (my sword had to be plastic ziptied) but they put on a good show and seem to feature quite a few "refugees" from King Richard's (Smee and Blogg, to my surprise). Goes on at almost the same time as KRF, so you can compare the two if you live or travel to the Northeast in the late summer / early fall.