I've been to a few renaissance festivals in my time. Most of them turned out to be two hours in a park with people dressed in leather, trying to sell me turkey legs, while somebody dressed as a court jester walked through the crowd while juggling.

And not much more.

And then my wife dragged me off to the Michigan Renaissance Festival two weekends ago. Apparently, I'd been renaissancing all wrong, 'cuz I had a freakin' ball. I'll include some photos, but here's my review.

First, they had plenty of parking, with cops directing traffic. Second, the site where they hold this thing in Holly is permanent, so it really looks like you've gone back to the 16th century. The entertainment (music, comedy, jousting, etc) was done by people who were committed to putting on an actual show. Above and beyond all that - a LOT of people who were paying customers were in full costume. We felt a little under-dressed in our 21st century jeans and t-shirts. (My only question was the guy coming in as we were leaving, dressed as Boba Fett from Star Wars. But even then it was the best Boba Fett costume I'd ever seen.)

Can you tell? I'm a big fan. The Festival runs on the weekends through the end of the month. It's NOT free, but that's part of the reason for the high quality - and online coupons are out there.

 

Banana Don and Stephanie McCoy amuse and thrill you every weekday morning from 5:30 – 10AM on the radio at 100.7 WITL.

Noted zythologist and all-around fun guy Banana Don can be reached via email at don.jefferson@townsquaremedia.com and on Twitter @WITLFM. Also, Facebook friend Banana Don and Stephanie at Facebook.com/BananaStephanie and Facebook.com/WITLFM.
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