If you like jousting, shopping, music or rides, Todd Mission, Texas, is the place to visit.
Guests of all ages are welcome and often wear costumes. Horns and swords are allowed to be carried. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU
Located 50 miles northwest of Houston, the town with a population of 107 comes alive every October and November to host the Texas Renaissance Festival, the largest and most acclaimed Renaissance-themed event in the nation.
Costumes are not required for guests, but many take the opportunity to dress up. Employees are required to be in character, which includes wearing costumes and using era-specific vocabulary and an accent.
The festival welcomes more than 500,000 guests to a 55-acre park each year, according to the website. Since 1974, the festival has been open, rain or shine, for eight weekends annually.
Adults’ tickets cost $29, and parking is free. All stage shows are included with admittance, but games, rides and refreshments cost extra. Costumes are available for rent as part of the festival.
Guests of all ages are welcome, and people have used the Texas Renaissance Festival to celebrate various events, from birthdays to weddings.
“Guards” in costume check guests’ tickets at the gates. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU
Each weekend has a different theme, including Oktoberfest and Pirate Adventure.
Will Ott, a third-year Texas Tech law student from Austin, worked at the Texas Renaissance Festival during the Roman Bacchanal weekend. A theater group from high school led him to work at the Sherwood Forest Faire. A director at the faire recruited him to sell jewelry at the festival.
The shop where he worked was just one of the more than 400 at the festival, according to the website. Merchants and artists sell anything from jewelry to jams.
Will Ott spends weekends working at the Renaissance Festival. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU
Although his job is paid, Ott said he works for the entertainment. He said he uses flirtation and a British accent as tools to sell the jewelry from his shop.
The job is unlike any other he has had, he said. His favorite part of the festival is the people who attend.
“They’re really honest with themselves,” Ott said.
Nicole Romanowski, another employee of the festival, agrees that the people are the best part of the festival. She calls herself an “almond girl,” and her job is to pass out free samples from her store.
The festival’s atmosphere makes it easy to talk to people, she said.
Extravagant costumes can be seen frequently in the festival. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU
“You get to be more of yourself there,” Romanowski said.
She said the last Saturday she worked, she got a ring she was wearing tangled in her hair on three different occasions. Every time she went to the bathroom to get it unstuck, she found a different stranger eager to help her get untangled.
Romanowski got her job by attending the Renaissance Festival Job Faire, where potential employees were able to listen to a presentation from each employer and choose what sounded most interesting to them, she said.
Because of the lack of lodging, employees usually camp at the festival’s campgrounds. Anyone is welcome to camp along.
The website advertises “food and drinks from all over the world to please every palate and quench every thirst.” One guest said his favorite foods offered are the large turkey legs and funnel cakes.
Guests are allowed to carry bottles of wine, margaritas and beer purchased inside the festival. Mead, a honey wine, is a popular drink at the festival for those of legal age.
Head jewelry is popular at the festival. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU
The festival sells exclusively made wines and offers free samples to guests 21 or older.
Shows are another main attraction. They range from kids’ shows to adult humor.
Performers include magicians, dancers, acrobats, musicians and jugglers. More than 200 shows appear on the 20 different stages daily.
Other activities offered include throwing battle axes, riding swings, jumping on trampolines, throwing pies at someone’s face, climbing a rock wall and more.
Guests can pick a henna design or bring their own. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU
Guests can pay artists to paint their faces for the day, or get a henna tattoo that lasts a week or more.
Animal lovers can spend time with donkeys in the petting zoo or ride an elephant.
Ott has been attending the festival since he was a child, and he thinks there is entertainment available for everyone.
“There’s literally no reason you shouldn’t go,” he said.
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