Go Back in Time at the New York Renaissance Faire

By Eric Horn, AKA the Husband —

 

Huzzah! What a great day was had by all.

It is only striking me now, but it had been twenty years since I last visited the Renaissance Festival in Sterling Forest. It always interesting to re-live a childhood experience that you cherished with your kids but this was especially poignant for me. I remember what a big deal it was dressing up to go to the festival and my brothers and I still have an assortment of swords, daggers, staves and helmets in closets and basements to prove it.

I brought my three kids and my parents, or you could say my parents, two warriors and a faerie princess, with me.

 

 

I had everything planned out so that they could follow the day’s main storyline.

We made our arrival with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth herself.

Then we marched through town to catch the end of the knife throwing act, where we were in position to follow it up by watching Robin Hood and his Merry Men duke it out with the Sheriff of Nottingham’s crew.

 

 

As a parent blogger, one point I have to make is to bring a real recreational stroller.

We went with a light weight stroller and it struggled quite a bit over the rocks and dirt. But being a stout crew, we persevered and were enthralled by the fight on the bridge. A nice extra surprise was the giant sea serpent slithering through the pond on the other side of the bridge. That really got the little guy going.

After visiting with some forest folk and seeing a little more of the village we stopped for lunch. There are a lot more eating options than there used to be but I am kicking myself for not getting the old fashioned turkey leg. If for nothing else, I need to go back next year to have one of those with a pint of mead.

Once we finished lunch and meandered about, we saw Arsene Dupin and his Magikhana Show.

That was a good choice for the whole family and it was really funny.

By the early afternoon, my youngest was a little hot so he stayed under a tree with his grandparents drinking lemonade while we watched the living chess.

That really brought back memories. It definitely made me happy when my oldest said that it was his favorite part of the day.

Then we followed it up by watching the archery tournament and the joust, which was still just amazing.

Even though we were running a little late the kids managed to scoot their way to the front and got to watch a spectacular fight. In spite of their protests, they were beat so we made our way home.

The NY Renaissance Faire goes on until September 21.

If you don’t have a car — there is a bus from NYC. Go to this link – https://www.coachusa.com/shortline/booking.asp?action=ProductDetail&TRP=1&productId=3167

Thank you the NY Renaissance Faire for giving tickets to my family. No other compensation was received.