Lords, ladies and at least 1 furry: Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival kicks off in South Huntingdon

Jul 11, 2023

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There are many sights at the annual Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival that are absolutely spot-on when it comes to medieval accuracy — the heraldry on a particular flag, the attention to detail on a splendid royal outfit or the satisfying way the pieces of a gauntlet slide effortlessly back and forth on a well-made suit of armor.

But a stroll around the grounds in South Huntingdon also produces sights with a little more cognitive dissonance — a sign in Gothic medieval letters advertising teriyaki chicken, a band playing electrified instruments that would’ve gotten them burned at the stake as witches or a person in a furry costume (although, to give credit where it’s due, the costume did include a tunic and a staff).

After being greeted by fair staff in period garb and grammar, visitors pass through the castle gates to a wide array of vendors, shows and cast members who act out their storyline throughout the festival, which will be open weekends through Oct. 1.

It wouldn’t be fair to expect the production to be 100% accurate. That would mean open wastewater ditches and a severe lack of safety standards in the jousting lists.

That wouldn’t do at all for Nik Hamilton and Matoaka Winston of the North Hills, who were dressed in matching cream-colored tunics and tartans with light-blue crossing bands.

“I want to see some jousting and some trial by combat,” Winston said.

While a love of the real-life history draws many of the folks in attendance, for Hamilton, it was more of a love for comedy.

“Seeing ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ is the main reason I started coming,” he said.

Rhonda Downs and her husband, Kyle, one of at least a dozen fair-goers whose outfit included pointed elf ears, drove from Virginia with their children to attend the fair for the first time.

“My son Jase loves the shows, and I love the shopping,” Downs said. “We were originally going to go to a fair in Maryland, but we saw this on Facebook and decided to come up. Kyle went to culinary school here in Pittsburgh.”

And despite the intricate detail on many of the outfits at the fair (both the staff and the fair-goers), it doesn’t have to take hours of sewing and an apprenticeship in metalworking to get your medieval outfit situated.

“I just ordered everything online,” said Dave Gaida of Altoona, who’s been coming to the fair for nearly two decades. He was wearing a Norman-style helmet and interlocking pauldrons on his shoulders, with the requisite chain mail underneath.

For Winston and Hamilton, putting the final touch on their outfits was just a short car trip away.

“We already had all of our under-clothes, so we just went to the fabric store to find the rest,” Winston said.

“The ancient kilt was made a lot of times from whatever was laying around,” Hamilton said. “So you don’t need to spend a ton of time to make it authentic.”

Gaida said his part of the fair is just taking it all in.

“I like seeing the people, seeing the events,” he said. “The whole thing is an experience.”

The Pittsburgh Renaissance Fair will be open Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 1 at 112 Renaissance Lane in South Huntingdon. Tickets cost $25 for adults and $12 for children, with a small discount for ordering online through Etix.com.

For more information, including a full schedule of daily events and themed weekends, see PittsburghRenFest.com/tickets or call 724-872-1670.

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .

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