I like arriving early to catch as much of the fair as I can. This particular day was going to be long as I was staying to see Celtica Nova‘s evening performance. The moment I walked into the fair I was greeted by multiple people, including the Royal Court! King Philip of Spain and his guards were there, Queen Elizabeth and her entourage were there, along with a group of faeries, the living tree Ser Oakheartt and the harpist Kathleen Finnegan. If you have not seen her perform yet, she’s set up straight through the front entrance. Go take a moment and listen to beautiful melodies.

After browsing through a few of the vendors, I made my way over to see Daniel Greenwolf – Celtic Magic. Daniel and his wife Bella perform a variety of magic tricks while incorporating his wild sense of humor throughout the show. If you weren’t laughing at the jokes, you were enamored by his magic. There was a very large crowd there to see him and it was truly understandable as to why. Daniel and Bella’s fire breathing and fire eating was a great display to close out their show.

Right following him was the Clan Tynker Family Circus. The troupe of five brothers and sisters perform in a “vaudeville” style bringing in silly to stylish to dangerous acts. Starting off with the Chinese linking rings, to juggling, to suddenly juggling machetes over her sister! Throw in some fire-eating and ribbon dancing for good measure. But, the finale is stupendous with three members juggling fire torches. It’s truly a sight to behold. Clan Tynker is a phenomenal act to see.

And then, of course, it was over to the jousting field to watch the knights of Noble Cause Productions put on their performance. King Philip made an appearance with his sister Juana to watch Master of Arms Sir William host some friendly test of skills between Sir Michael and Sir Lilith. After the tests of skill, Sir William recommends the two have a friendly joust and after a few passes, Sir William recommends the knights return later in the day for a true joust. The reason I love the opening joust is for the light-hearted affair. The jokes on Lord of the Rings, Lilith being sent back to her room, Michael about being hit by the quintain all provide the atmosphere for a fun and jovial event.

Afterward, I headed over to the Royal Glade for probably one of the most unique events, the Royal Feast. The Royal Feast is literally the cast of the Royal Court sitting outside and eating lunch in front of people. Literally. And all while staying in character. Even odder, did you know that you could bring your own lunch and sit down and join them? My wife and I did it the week before and it was hilarious. You have this unique opportunity to sit down and eat with royalty, yet barely anyone knows about it! Instead, you see attendees walking by and gawking at them eating lunch, maybe sometimes stopping to say hello before moving on. I decided to sit down and join them, taking the opportunity to snap some candid photos (after they had finished eating of course) and some of these were just priceless.

But, the best was seeing the interaction between Queen Elizabeth and Sir Robert Dudley. The two of them played out their roles so well and the chemistry between them is superb.

From there it was on to the second joust of the day when things start to heat up. The rivalry gets a little out of hand with chivalry on the line and Sir Lilith shows her true colors. The action sequences in this joust are well worth watching and both knights deserve all the cheers they get for their performances. The end scene with Sir William drawing his sword ready to get medieval on Sir Lilith will give you goosebumps. And this culminates over to the last joust of the day where it’s a fight to the death. Those sequences are by far the greatest ones ever and once again both knights put their bodies on the line for the performance. If anything, the joust is always my premiere event to watch, even though I’ve seen them so many times this season.

And then it was off to the Pub Sing! at the Queen’s Stage to wrap up the fair. And getting to see Queen Elizabeth chug down her drink was absolutely well worth it. The Pub Sing is great musical entertainment and a great way to close out the evening.

Now, for me, I was staying for the concert after the fair closed. First to the stage was the Black Velvet Band who provided a very fun performance with bawdy toasts and songs. Nothing too dirty but just enough the adults would understand but not the kids. Cu Dubh came on next going full out metal red lighting and all for their performance. They really are great musicians. And then we wrapped up the evening with Celtica Nova. Bagpipes, fire, and Irish Rock. What more do you need? They provided a great show for the fans and it was a fantastic way to close out the day.

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I arrived at the opening that morning and the parking lot wasn’t crowded. I wasn’t too surprised as not everyone gets off from work on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But, it did pick up not too long after I arrived. I hooked up my cameras and made my way inside. I was greeted warmly, as always, by the fair staff and made a quick stop at the Royal Family tent for my drink token (Royal Family members get one per visit!) and then decided to head over to the Queen’s Stage to check out the band Cu Dubh. I absolutely loved what I was hearing from the band. They are a heavy metal band with a bagpipe player. Their garb and music screamed “Viking!” and if I had to describe them, it was Amon Amarth (Google if you don’t know them) with bagpipes and no vocals. Could you headbang to this band? Absolutely! Could you dance to their music? Absolutely as people were doing that as they performed. Their set was very enjoyable.

From there I headed over to the Sherwood Forest area to catch the end of Unicorn Hugs. As I made my way to the bridge, I was greeted by Robyn Hood and her Merry Band who were sitting at the top of the bridge. I was shocked to see there were no fair attendees in this area at all. I walked over to the stage and was greeted by Lady Brittany who runs the Unicorn Hugs show. Unicorn Hugs, from their website, “is a not-for-profit specializing in bringing trained miniature therapy horses into children’s hospitals nationwide dressed as unicorns.” And she has a very special unicorn named Lucky Star who has a very special talent for performing math tricks. It’s a pretty cool thing to see. Brittany offered me the opportunity to do a photoshoot with her and Lucky Star that morning, which I loved. After we had finished, other attendees started making their way over right in time for the next scheduled show.

Next was Wyrd Friends Present: Robyn Hood. This appeared to be a new group to the fair that was performing a very interactive story of the classic Robin Hood tale. This was an interactive performance bringing up a child to play the Sherriff of Nottingham and getting the crowd to react every time certain words were said. I absolutely adored this show. It was lively, fun, and all the actors were very entertaining. I’d put this as one of the must-see shows for the pure entertainment and smiles it will bring you.

From there it was over to Flodden Field for the 12 PM Joust run by Noble Cause Productions. If you couldn’t tell, the Joust is by far my favorite event of this Fair every year. It has great performers, great actors, and fantastic action. My goal this day was to finally catch all three Jousts so I can see how the entire story unfolds. Most times if I’m with the family we get to the fair early but leave before the last one. Or we arrive late so I miss the first one. But, not this day! The first Joust sets up the story between Sir Michael (the honorable and good knight) and Sir Lilith (the win by any means necessary knight) showing off their skills.

The tone is light-hearted and you get to see the personalities of the knights truly shine. Everyone loves Sir Michael with his honor and chivalry. But, you can’t help but also love Sir Lilith with her me-first attitude and always wanting to smash something. And while she’s meant to be the villain, you can’t help but laugh with some of the things she says during the event. After some show of skills, Sir William the Master at Arms gets the knights to agree to return to the field at 2:30 PM for a joust to see who will be the victor. More on this later.

I ran back to Sherwood Forest to catch one of my favorite shows called Nature of Mercy. The Captain and Francesca provide a tale teaching kids to choose love and mercy over hate and violence in a very fun way. The Captain calls for all the children in the audience to come forward so they can play a part in the story and teaches them some lines and when to come forward at the right moment. The show also provides swashbuckling between the two of them with a huge amount of humor and some that are adult so parents would understand but the kids won’t. Nature of Mercy has been running for over 30 years and they’re two wonderful actors who absolutely get the audience laughing and engaged in the show. The Captain will pick a male adult in the audience to play the Earl of Leicester and get him to interact with the story. And Francesca has a way of getting that person to blush. I know from personal experience as I was chosen one time. And she got me again this year.

As The Captain was teaching the kids their lines, I was standing in the back of the rows with my camera taking pictures. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Francesca sneaking up to my right. She came right up beside me and in her Italian accent say, “Hey Earlllllll”. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh. The two of them have seen me at their shows so many times they recognize me, but this was the first time this year I was getting to see them so she wanted to say hi before jumping into her role. As the show went on, The Captain called out a family walking in late where the Dad was designated as the Earl of Leicester, but the Dad delegated it to his little boy which was hilarious. Francesca during the show always calls out to the Earl for various things. At one point she gets whacked on the butt by The Captain and Francesca always looks to the Earl for the next line. But, no. This time she eye-locked directly with me pointing at her butt saying, “Hey Earllllll, do you want to kiss this boo-boo.” I stood there stunned as I know this show inside and out and who is supposed to be the recipient of that line and it wasn’t supposed to be me! And then The Captain said, “Well, he didn’t say no” and then I started laughing.

It’s the moments like this why I love the Nature of Mercy show so much and they are a must-see show. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it and if you have kids they will love it too.

Right after them was Unicorn Hugs where Lady Brittany brought out Lucky Star to perform for the crowd and explain the purpose of her organization. That is a super fun show for kids and adults and watching Lucky Star do addition, subtraction, and multiplication is pretty impressive. After the show, the kids have an opportunity to do a meet and greet with Lucky Star and get covered in unicorn dust that will stay with you forever.

I headed out to hit the Krusty Barnacle Pub to grab a mead and started walking through the Jackdaw Careening Camp when I started to hear this beautiful melodic singing coming from the Queen’s Stage. I immediately recognized who it was and headed over to catch Sirena – The Sirens. The trio of Raidne, Legeia, and Leucosia provide amazing harmonic performance of part acapella and part drumming and vocals to produce their songs. They are very impressive and extremely talented.

Now it was back to Flodden Field for the second Joust. Queen Elizabeth made an appearance with her Royal Court to oversee the event. Sir William had them compete in a ring catch before they prepared for the actual joust.

This is the time when things start to get serious when the actual joust occurs and after a few passes it turns into mounted combat and that ending takes an unexpected turn, before Sir Michael and Sir Lilith are dueling pretty hard against each other. I won’t spoil what happens (the pictures do! Fair warning!), but the end result causes a declaration of a joust to the death to take place at 5:30 PM.

Before I got to my next show I wanted to see I encountered the Happy Goat Trading Company who sells freeze dried candy so check them out. And yes, his cart is pulled by a goat. I also encountered the eerie creature of obsidian and ash known as Atmos Rising.

My next stop was to see Galiana the Living Fountain. The owner of the fountain explains she was discovered many years ago and only comes to life when songs are played. She performs to three Sarah Brightman songs and dances while controlling the water in the fountain during the songs. It’s a pretty cool display with the music and her costume and what it can do is truly neat. I enjoyed watching this show a lot.

I realized how late it had gotten and hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast that morning. So I grabbed some yummy tacos (those are renaissance, right?) and went back to the Royal Family tent to eat and give me a chance to put my cameras down. After getting my energy back it was off to the last Joust!

The sun was starting to come down and it gave this ominous feel to what was happening next. Sir Lilith was riding her horse Barossa (who is blind) up and down the field getting a feel for it before the event. Sir Michael was waiting in the back. Two knights would enter, only one would leave alive. When Queen Elizabeth arrived, even she put on a brave face urging the knights not to do this, but neither one would yield. Both knights spoke last words before Sir William went through the ceremony of the knights receiving their helmet and shield and a prayer before the joust to the death.

The intensity of the passes felt different and they rode at each other at full speed making five passes. At each pass a clang of the lance against shield and a cheer from the crowd, but no one dismounted. And at each pass, the crowd breathlessly waited to see if anyone would be dismounted, but it never happened. Sir William called for the knights to dismount and engage in hand-to-hand combat, but Sir Lilith wasn’t having it. After Sir Michael dismounted, Sir Lilith rode with all her might at Sir Michael with Sir William enraged at her dishonor. Sir Michael grabbed his shield and braced for the blow literally knocking him off his feet. (By far one of the coolest stunts I’ve seen during the joust.) Sir Michael was ready for Sir Lilith at her second pass, but I won’t give away what happens.

Sir Lilith finally dismounted and the two of them engaged in hand-to-hand combat. If you thought the 2:30 joust fight was good, this one is even better. The two knights don’t hold back in this fight and are willing to give it their all to survive. I definitely will not give away the ending (THE PHOTOS DO FAIR WARNING!), but it was a great ending to the story built throughout the day. In the end, the Queen initiates a ceremony with the burning of The Wicker Man filled with people’s wishes to make them all come true as they burn into the air. It was a perfect ending to the night.

Now, the fair has one more event called the Pub Sing at 6 PM over at the Queen’s Stage, I was just so tired from the long day I called it a night with an hour ride home. Overall, it really was a fantastic day with all the events I got to see and photograph and I had the best time. Now, with that in mind, I didn’t even get the chance to stop at any of the shops! And there are so many great vendors around the fair.

The Brevard Renaissance Fair is truly a fun time for yourself, your family, and your friends. If you live in the Central Florida area or plan on visiting between January to first week of February 2024, add this fair to your plans. Keep your eyes out for their 2024 schedule over at https://brevardrenaissancefair.com/.

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