Travel Channel – “Best Renaissance Festivals in the US”
Give me NorCal any day! The climate is cooler. The sports teams are better. The trees are bigger. The surfers are nicer. The kooks are nuttier (in an adorable way). The place is generally just healthier.
There is no bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic, no poseurs, no hipsters, and no annoying reality TV show stars. The cost of living is also in no way brutal.
It has the capital. It has wine country. It has places called Weed, Yolo, and Paradise. It has a fascinating juxtaposition in the tech towns embracing the future and the hippie towns conserving nature and preserving the past. It has a way more legit music scene, and it has the best festivals. Take, for instance, the really awesome Northern California Renaissance Faire up in Hollister.
According to the Travel Channel, it is one of the best renaissance festivals in the US. It runs a whole month from September to October, and you get access to all these wonderful features in the cool NorCal autumn.
- Unique Marketplace – If you have a taste for the rare and one-of-a-kind, do some shopping at the NorCal Ren Faire. The place is teeming with artisan goodies from hand-blown glass and chain mail to romantic clothing and hand-wrought jewelry. It’s known for great eats as well. Chomp on some amazing cottage meat pies and guzzle down something that is cutely called my little pony mead, but watch out because it packs a punch.
- Awesome Themes – You don’t have to come in costume, but it would be more fun if you do. You can rent costumes if you don’t have any of your own. It’s the perfect weather for gallivanting in a warm costume outdoors. As for weekend themes, you have Celtic, of course, plus Pirate, Oktoberfest, and Fantasy.
- The Best Celtic Rock This Side of the Pond – If you enjoy Celtic music, you’ll definitely enjoy the featured entertainment at the fair. It’s not all Celtic, though; you also get the traditional English country ballads as well as gypsy music. Besides these, you are also treated to swashbuckling sword fights, comedy shows, and sketches.
The Renaissance Faire in NorCal always draws huge crowds. If you want to guarantee attendance each year, you could take advantage of unlimited access all your life through the Faire Forever Pass. You’ll be happy to note that children 12 and under get free admission every weekend.
There are plenty of reasons to visit, if not altogether move to Northern California. The Renaissance Faire is certainly a very strong one.
*Photo Credit – The Northern California Renaissance Faire Facebook