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There are port a potties located on the 4 outside corners of the park. Restrooms are also located in the library on the west, just across Wood Avenue from the park.
Dates: October 26th and 27th
- The faire goes from 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sat, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
- We are an all-volunteer event. Those who work for the faire as staff, make no money on the event. They simply have a love of the time period and a desire to share that love with others within the community.
- Our faire is way smaller compared to most smaller events, but what we lack in size we more than make up for in atmosphere and good downhome southern hospitality.
- We are a community event, and actively encourage the local community to get involved. We have several entertainment acts that are local to our area, and even host a free costume workshop where we make simple basic outfits that folks can take home and “dress up”. We have many who show up in costume and create characters and interact with us as faire performers and the general public.
- We are a not-for-profit event, founded upon education through entertainment about life and times in the medieval/renaissance period. We know that we can’t be 100% authentic to history 100% of the time. We’ve made peace with that, but we do strive to reach it when we can.
- Because we are founded on education, we regularly do interactive demos in public schools, libaries, community orgaizations, etc. We bring an assortment of weapons, armor, books, music, and other period artifacts, and more than enough trivia to go along with them. We teach simple medieval/renaissance dances, and even engage in some simple improv from time to time.
- The opening ceremony of the faire is Saturday at 12:30 p.m., at this time we have the current Monarch open with a speech, along with the Mayor of our city Florence.
- For story purposes, one of our volunteers created a backstory where our Kingdom was put under a curse many years ago, that allows our Monarchs to only reign one year. Each time we change, the hope is that they will be the one to break the curse. However that has yet to happen of course.
- At 12:30 is the opening ceremony. After some speeches and the like, we have a parade around the faire site and invite anyone who would like to join in. The King & Queen then hold court afterwards, and folks can seek an official audience with them at that time. They are free to do so, at other times as well, but we publically advertise this one for folks who might not otherwise know that they could be granted an audience.
- On Sunday at 2:00 p.m. we hold an awards ceremony for kids who won in contests for sonnet writing and art. As we were founded on education, this is something done through the local schools. The winners come to the faire and the Monarchs present them with books as awards for their efforts.
- Sunday at 3:00 p.m. is the Coronation Ceremony. This is where the current King and Queen lose the crowns and whomever found the coin at the previous feast takes over as the new Monarch(s) of the faire. Each Royal has left the throne in different ways, and we strive to make it fun, lively, and full of drama, with action in some years as well.
This YouTube video was sent to members of the Alabama Renaissance Faire’s Roundltable Committee. It is from a BBC show known as Horrible History.
This guide was circulated to the Roundtable via email. In order to view the file, all you need do is click on the link and it will open into an online pdf file. This guide is 35 pages long and looks to cover everything from the proper underwear (briefs not boxers) to how to make doublets and what style hose to wear as well as the type of materials that are considered proper for medieval costuming and of course how to put it all together in order to make a proper appearance.
For our 25th Anniversary, which occurred in2011, Lady Janet (who is with Renaissance Magazine) came to our weekend long event and took pictures of our Faire. This year (2013), we are included in Renaissance Magazine as a 12 page pictorial. And it turned out to be q