Western Highlands Province: Michigan Renaissance Festival

The Michigan Renaissance Festival (MRF) is a Renaissance fair, an interactive outdoor event that focuses on recreating the look and feel of a fictional English village called Hollygrove during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the latter half of the 16th Century. A large number of patrons also regularly attend the festival in costume further fleshing out the streets with nobles, pirates, vikings, wizards, rogues, wenches, and an assortment of fantasy characters.

The festival also includes many nationally known Renaissance festival stage acts, swordfighting shows, lane acts, a two-hour feast performed twice daily, three full contact joust shows performed daily, and activities and games for children of all ages. The festival is owned by Mid-America Festivals. The film All's Faire in Love was filmed at the Michigan Renaissance Festival.

History

The festival began operation in 1979 on grounds adjacent to the Colombiere Center in Clarkston, near the junction of I-75 and Dixie Highway. In 1985, organizers moved the festival to 100 acres (0.40 km2) of property between I-75 and Dixie Highway, one mile (1.6 km) north of the Mount Holly Ski Resort.

Roughly 30 acres (120,000 m2) have been developed so far for the actual festival site with 15 acres (61,000 m2) of that within the "village" walls and accessible to patrons. The property is accessible to patrons only from Dixie Highway, and includes two large parking areas, two lakes (Horton Lake and Walton Lake), and wetlands.

The property is part in Holly Township, Michigan, part in Groveland Township, Michigan, and to honor this the fictional village's name was changed to "Hollygrove". Permanent structures and stages have been built over the years and the festival has grown steadily to a current annual attendance approaching 250,000 people.

Added in 2008 was a new Valley of Adaire, where special events are held every weekend including Celtic villages, themed games, and more. Below are some pictures that I took after being there on Labor Day (09/07/09). Click on each picture for a larger view.