Huzzah!

It's time for the Niles Renaissance Faire.

This is always my favorite times of the year.

I love Renaissance festivals.

I've been going to them since I was a kid, and I have with me.

Carrie here.

Carrie you are.

You are a queen.

Is that your official title?

Yes it is.

I am Queen Curiel of the Niles Renaissance Faire.

I love it, I love it.

Now, this is coming up this weekend, which I'm really excited about.

I know there's a little bit of a chance for rain, but this event happens.

Rain or shine, correct?

Yes it does.

All right.

Now, I know you guys have continued to grow over the years.

How many years have you guys been doing it there in Niles?

So this is our eighth annual year.

We did have to take a year off for Covid, so it would be nine years if Covid didn't happen.

Okay, okay.

You know, there's always that asterisk in there, right?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

No.

To get into the festival or to the fair, there are tickets, there's an admission price, but a lot is included with that.

Let's talk about everything that you can do once you get through the gates.

So we have over 50 regular vendors.

So they do everything from, clothing to jewelry and all that stuff.

I know you guys are busy setting up still right now, right?

Yeah.

I'm turning off my my my walkie talkie.

So, anyway, we have a bunch of vendors, like I said, clothing, jewelry, hand, hand on pottery, chain mail, dice, you name it.

That kind of goes along with it.

And we're we're we're we're pretty much have it.

We have five food vendors this year.

We have, I think, 14 different acts, including like encampments and stuff like that.

So yeah, perfect.

I know I have one of my one of my favorites here.

I don't know if you if you've been to a Renaissance Faire, you know what this is.

This helps cool you off, keep you cool.

Right?

You just kind of shove it in.

And this is how they used to do it.

And they all do taste right.

Now.

Why do we celebrate the Renaissance Faire?

Why?

You know, the medieval times is such a turning point.

You know, why do we do these Renaissance fairs here in our community?

I think a lot of it has to do with nostalgia.

And, you know, everybody loves the story of King Arthur and the Round Table and the idea of sword fighting and riding horses and jousting and all that stuff.

And I think a lot of it has to do with, like, it's magical, you know, and it gives you it gives adults a reason to be silly and have fun and not be adults.

And it gives the kids a little bit more of that wonder, you know, when they're running our fair, doing our scavenger hunt, looking for dragon eggs.

You, the kids run in and they are so excited when they when they finish that scavenger hunt to come get there.

There is.

Tell me more about the scavenger hunt.

What is that?

So I have five dragon eggs.

There are about 15in tall.

They get hidden throughout the fair and various vendor spots, and the kids are tasked with running around and finding them.

And then when they're done, they get a little gift bag with, like, a pretty rock and a coin that has the Niles Renaissance Faire on it in the year, and a tattoo and a like a little toy also.

And is that free to do for the scavenger hunt?

That is absolutely free to do.

So cool.

How cool.

I love that too.

And of course, you know, you have so many tremendous vendors, all the things that you can find that you can wear, that you can play with.

I love some of those toys, you know, similar to what they used to play with.

We have one of the.

Oh, I should have brought it downstairs.

One of the juggler things, you know, where you can flip it and turn it.

But you guys also have performances.

Let's talk about that because that's going to be happening both days Saturday and Sunday.

Correct?

Yes.

So we have a comedy act.

His name is the idiot Rick Rock a draw for for all over the state.

Pretty much.

If you have been to a Renaissance Faire in Michigan, you have heard of Rick Rock.

Perfect.

He's been doing it for years.

We have a sword fighting group called the Swords Valor.

They do they do live steel combat.

We have the Azure Musketeers this year.

They're new.

They do a pike drill with the participants in the fair.

They teach them how to use the pike and stuff like that, as if they were going to stop a charge.

We have a couple of encampments.

We have a pirate encampment, and we have an encampment called Corvus Corvus cohort.

And they kind of show life in the times and stuff.

Yeah, we have several musicians, a singing pirate, a group of women that sings and oh, I'm I'm missing one.

I don't know, you guys have a list of your events somewhere?

Yes.

Okay.

Yep.

They actually they actually just went up on our website this morning.

All right.

Perfect.

So you can get that on the website.

What is your guys website so people can check out the details Niles Renaissance Faire com and is spelled with an e. So it's a I r e perfect.

And now for those who don't know when is it happening and where it is at Plym Park and Niles.

So that's over by the golf course.

Okay.

It is Saturday and Sunday both days.

We open at ten.

Saturday we close at six and Sunday we close at four.

Perfect.

So lots of time to get it.

And the tickets are each per day correct or do you have a weekend pass?

We do not have a weekend pass.

Tickets are per day adults, so that's kids 13 and up.

Our $10 5 to 12 seniors and veterans with a military ID or $5 and kids four and under our free.

That's such a reasonable price to be able to have an adventure, if you will.

Yes, I love it.

Now you guys have food there too.

That's important because everybody needs to eat.

They need to drink while they're out and about.

Especially because we are expecting some more more temperatures this weekend to.

So let's talk about what kind of food you guys have.

So this year we have Woodstock and Grow, which does barbecue.

He's the guy that does our turkey legs, which I mean, you got to have a turkey leg at a Renaissance Faire, right?

Yep.

I will warn you, he he runs out fast.

Oh, okay.

Yep.

He also does pulled pork.

He does this macaroni and cheese with pulled pork on it that everybody apparently loves.

Yes, I've heard of them.

I do not eat pork, so I don't eat that.

Yup.

He also does some really awesome brussel sprouts.

Okay.

We have cottage in who everybody knows.

They do pizza.

We have, a place called Inspired Eats that's from a little bit north of here.

And they do Asian inspired food there new this year.

So we're going to see how that goes okay.

And then we have a kettle corn vendor who literally makes the kettle corn on site.

And we have apothecary's which anybody in Niles knows.

Apothecary's.

Yes.

And we also have a company called Wandering Espresso that does coffee.

Okay, perfect.

Now, I'm sure people come from far and wide to, to visit the, the fair because there's a draw for these kinds of events.

How maybe where's the furthest person that you've seen come and visit.

Last year I had a lady told me she had come from Arizona.

Wow.

That's awesome.

I love that and all of your vendors and your performers, are they mainly local or are they coming in as well to.

So I would say 95% of our vendors are from either Michigan or the South Bend area, Michigan, that kind of thing.

We do have a couple that come from a little bit farther, but not many, and the ones that do come a little bit farther tend to be a little bit more, you know, like of a niche type of thing.

Sure.

Yeah.

And I want to remind people it's okay to dress up for this.

It's encouraged.

Right?

It is.

It's absolutely encouraged.

We probably see about a 5050 mix of people dressed and people in what we call civvies, which are your your regular clothes, jeans, t shirt, short stuff like that.

Everybody's welcome whether you dress up or not.

And if you're like, hey, I want to make an effort, but I don't know how if if you're a girl and you get like a flowy skirt and, you know, one of those kind of poofy shirts that that is normally enough to get you going.

I've got my poofy shirt on, so I'm ready for it.

Yeah.

You can always put something together, I feel like, from your closet.

But there's also vendors there in site that you can grab something from too, right?

Absolutely awesome.

All right.

Well, Queen, I must say, right.

So will you be in your full queen attire during the weekend?

Absolutely.

I love it, I love it.

Well, I hope everyone comes out and experiences.

The Niles Renaissance Faire is going to be a great weekend for you guys, and a great way to celebrate medieval times and just live in it.

Yep.

All right.

Thank you.