Michigan Renaissance Festival
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The Michigan Renaissance Festival is a Renaissance fair, an interactive outdoor event that focuses on recreating the look and feel of a fictional English village during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the latter half of the 16th Century. The festival has a sizeable Resident Cast, which includes Queen Elizabeth and Her Court as well as the Lord Mayor, his family, residents of the village, and others. A large number of patrons also regularly attend the festival in costume further fleshing out the streets with nobles, pirates, vikings, wizards, rouges, wenches, and an assortment of fantasy characters.
The festival began operation in 1979 on grounds near the intersection of I-75 and Dixie Highway just north of Clarkston. In 1985, festival organizers purchased a large area of property between I-75 and Dixie Highway, just north of the Mount Holly Ski Resort, and moved the festival there. The property is part in Holly Township, Michigan, and part in Groveland Township, Michigan, hence the fictional village's name of "Hollygrove". The festival has grown steadily over the years and now has an annual attendance of 250,000 people.
The 2008 season of the Michigan Renaissance Festival runs August 16th through September 28th, weekends, Labor Day and including Friday, September 26th. The festival is open from 10am to 7pm, rain or shine.
The Michigan Renaissance Festival is one of several such events owned and operated by Mid-America Festivals. Other events include the Bay Area Renaissance Festival in Tampa, Florida, Kansas City Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs, Kansas, and Minnesota Renaissance Festival in Shakopee, Minnesota.
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