The Tennessee Renaissance Festival is a Tennessee tradition as old as time itself. As fabled as the great legends of yesteryear. Heroes, knights, lords, and ladies converge upon Arrington, between Franklin and Murfreesboro, for a month-long celebration of mythical proportions.
Maybe that was a bit dramatic, but if you’ve never been to RenFest, there’s no just way to describe it. On Sunday, I ventured out there to check it out for the first time in nearly 10 years.
It was a cloudy, drizzly Sunday morning, but I knew I wouldn’t get another shot at this thing until next year. Thankfully, no real rain impeded progress. It ended up being a nice day after all. We arrived at 11:30AM, just in time to see the jousting tournament. The field had quite the list of shows prepared for the day between the jousting, the royal rumble, and the birds of prey.
After watching the tournament, we made a couple of laps around the festival – seeing merchants set up selling everything from jewelry and incense to armor and swords, taking in all of the costumes in between. We saw knights, witches, pirates, elves, and everything of the sort. Of course, I was dressed as an ordinary man in my SoBros hoodie and shorts.
We stopped a bit to take in some of the ninja star-throwing and archery exhibits, though I didn’t feel much like engaging. I’m too clumsy. I didn’t trust myself to NOT put an arrow through my own face.
All in all, we spent about two hours perusing the festival – after walking around and looking at all of the booths, we stopped for food and then made our trek back to the car.
Ratings
Food: 6/10. We went with a meat pie, scotch eggs, and a creme puff. It was hearty and filling. A little dry for my liking, but in the way of fair food, was definitely above average.
Beer list: 6/10. Pretty cool to see Blackstone Brewing Company set up. Definitely beats your standard issue light-beers-only festival stereotype.
Value: 8/10. $25 for a ticket may seem steep, and really the value is what you make of it. But, there’s so much going on that you have ample opportunity to squeeze every penny out of the festival that you can. From the jousting to all of the various comedy shows and musicians performing, if you time everything right, you could spend the entire day taking in the festivities. I’m afraid my plan probably didn’t maximize that value, but it doesn’t mean you can’t
Atmosphere: 7.5/10. It’s a bit crowded for an anxious man such as myself, but it’s not so far off from your typical fair or festival. Everyone seems to be in a great mood, so that definitely helps.
Overall: 6.88/10. It’s a time-honored tradition in Tennessee for a reason. There’s a myriad of reasons to love the RenFest – beer, turkey legs, and all. The value is great for everything that comes with the price of admission, and all the festivities are family-friendly. Gotta put this one on your to-do list every May.
For more on the Tennessee Renaissance Festival, check out their website here.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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