Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival returns with new acts, old favorites
Submitted photo
A crowd of patrons and “play-trons” enter the gates of the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival, open weekends until Sept. 25.
Submitted photo
A fire breather is one of the more popular attractions to return to the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival, now open until Sept. 25.
Maryanne Frabotta
ON THE COVER: One of the most popular attractions, jousting, will return to the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival, now open until Sept. 25.
The Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival has returned with new features and old favorites that offer visitors a trip back in time.
“It was fantastic last year,” said Susan Treadwell, the site director/craft coordinator for the festival.
The Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival started in the mid 1990s at the Butler County Fairgrounds, and then moved to its currently location in West Newton around 1997.
Since then, the festival has attracted around 90,000 people, averaging around 7,000 visitors every day, depending on the weather and what attractions are featured any particular weekend.
“Some weekends are more popular than others,” Treadwell said.
She said last year’s turnout was especially great due to people returning to the festival after it was closed in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“Everyone was tired of being cooped up,” she said, adding that, also because of COVID-19, the festival started later than normal last year, running weekends in September and October.
The festival is back on track with its normal run this year, going from Aug. 20 to Sept. 25 every Saturday and Sunday, as well as Labor Day.
Treadwell said the festival has new and exciting entertainment this year including harpist Sarah Mullen, who plays beautiful melodies from around the world and throughout the ages; the Squire of the Wire, performing death defying feats over the heads of the crowd; Rose and Thorny, a duo who sings bawdy songs and does comedy; Thunder’s Power Show with stunts and circus comedy and the a cappella musical group Chaste Treasure.
Returning are the popular acts the audiences come back to see like the combat jousting; The Craic Show, which is a medieval world music group; The Angels, a renaissance variety act; Washing Well Wenches, a group of wacky, wonderful and funny washer women; Lady Amyelia The Hypnotist, who takes patrons on a romp through the inner mind; The Duelists, who match wit and comedy in a sword fight; and Dragonfire, a Guinness Book of World Records holder for fire manipulation.
“And we have our regular cast of characters like the king, the queen, the peasants and the villagers,” Treadwell said, adding there’s also approximately 100 local and national craft artisans, selling everything from cloaks and herbs to artwork and pottery.
“This is not going to be the stuff you find in a flea market,” she said.
Each weekend throughout the festival’s run holds a different theme: Celtic Weekend, Aug. 27 and 28; Children’s Weekend, Sept. 3, 4 and 5; Wine Revelry, Sept. 10 and 11; Pirate Invasion Weekend, Sept. 18 and 19 and Love and Romance Weekend, Sept. 24 and 25.
Treadwell said another fun part of the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival is the patrons themselves.
“We call them ‘play-trons’ because they play along,” she said, adding that many play-trons wait all year to dress up and come to the festival because they fit in like it’s their second home and everyone has fun. “It’s their time, too; they’re a part of this festival.”
Admission is $25 for adults, $12 for children 5 to 12, and free for children under 5.
More information on the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival can be found at pittsburghrenfest.com