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Ren Fest will begin its eight-week run starting this weekend.: Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle
This weekend festival goers have a plethora of options to choose from in Houston.
For starters, the Texas Renaissance Festival will make its return Friday and offers the same medieval-themed fun that has been a Plantersville staple. The fest, the nation's largest according to their official site, will run until Nov.25.
If you need a refresher on what to expect, check out photos from last year’s fest or go back to 2009's event .
Jazz music will take center stage in Pearland starting Thursday with Red Cat Jazz Café kicking off its third Annual Red Cat Jazz Festival at Pearland Town Center.
Fans of horror movies shouldn't miss Splatterfest, which showcases local short films as well as a chance to meet 1980s star Anthony Michael Hall. Check out the trailers and the fest's full schedule.
Food fanatics should flock to the Original Greek Fest , which starts Thursday night . Traditional Greek cuisine is a strong selling point as the event draws over 40,000 visitors to Montrose and the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral.
Want to learn more about Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan? Well, the first Silk Road Fest in Stafford, which starts Thursday, has you covered.
Now through Sunday, fans of Indian cinema should head out to the City Centre location of Studio Movie Grill for the Indian Film Festival of Houston .
Silversun Pickups, The Toadies, Three Days Grace, Lit and Houston's own the Last Place You Look will be hitting up The Woodlands on Saturday for Buzzfest.
Dont go to the Ren fair, it is a waste of time. I went last year, and was completely offended by every worker there. Every single one made crude sexual jokes at my and my wifes' expense, with kids there asking what was so funny! Everything was overpriced, and I didn't see anything I couldn't go online and get anyway. Save your money and do something the whole family can really enjoy, unless you like being the target of relentless sexual jokes in front of your children.
Your're just a negative nancy. Maybe if you got in the spirit and were a little more self-deprecating you'd have a little fun. Maybe be a little open and have a drink and have fun for once in your sad little life.
it isn't what it used to be, that is for sure.
I first went there in the late 70s as a small child dragged around by hand by my parents. They too were offended. I thought it was all quite interesting. Back then there were only about 4 buildings. Hey, it's medieval. Not Disney. The best time is probably when you are in college.
Hmmm... sounds like you were "forced" to go and were going to find something wrong whether there was or not. I go 3-5 times a year... I've never met a rude EMPLOYEE and have always enjoyed myself. You, Sir, are a fool... you posted the same rant on another Chron article about fair except you forgot to gripe about the food this time.
Grow up... if you didn't want to go, you should've told your wife "No". Ticked because she made you miss a football game?
You are correct, he has reposted the same comment several times recently. That was funny about the food - he must have forgotten it this time.
Good job! Respond to someone whose feedback doesn't agree with yours with a personal attack! Who needs to grow up?
The Renaissance Festival always promotes itself as being for kids and families, but I don't think it's been family friendly in many years. It never was 100%--there was always crude humor--but if anything, it's probably just gotten worse.
How about posting festivals for all of October
The food and drink at TRF is no more/less expensive than any other festival-type event, and if you go for the day, your admission cost is far less per hour than seeing a movie - and you are getting live entertainment for your bucks. Priced decent seats for a concert or live theater performance lately? TRF is a bargain by comparison. While there is plenty of what I'd consider "junk" vendors at the faire (i.e. people who are doing nothing more than reselling something they bought from a wholesaler), there are also a large number of very talented craftspeople that sell their wares. Yes, you will pay more for them, but this isn't junk from Walmart either. When you buy a quality hand-crafted item, you pay for that according. And while their is plenty of crude humor to be had, not everything is the way Curtisd (melodramatically and hyperbolically) characterizes it, nor have I ever had an employee of the faire (as opposed to patrons or barkers for some of the shops) be rude to me. The majority of the comedy does toe the line of PG-13; those shows that go beyond it will also clearly (and repeatedly) tell you that they are going to do so.
Then you must be a prude. You are probably offended if a woman shows her (gasp) ankle. My wife and I have been numerous times every year, and I have never once been offended. Yes, there are a couple of shows that are probably PG13 to R rated. But they are clearly marked as "adults only". As for "every worker there" made crude sexual comments to your wife and kids, please list specific examples. If it was as bad as you say, then it had to have been a specific person. I have found that 99.99% of the people that work at TRF are very polite, friendly, and fun to talk to. Plus, I know if anyone tried to talk to my wife as you said they talked to yours, they would get punched in the mouth. So, either be a man, or shut up.
Going to the Ren Fest is like going to the mall only with a bunch of people affecting bad English accents. Once was enough.
Don't forget the Italian Festival at St. Thomas University next weekend. Super food, music, and entertainment.
Bocce contest included.
Hi Curtis,
Sorry you had a bad experience at our festival. I'm one of the actors, and have been out there since oh.. i dunno. 2008? 2007?
I believe that Duncan and Doublehelix hit the nail on the head-- there ARE offensive people out there, sure, but i GUARANTEE YOU it was not anyone hired by the festival itself. Entertainment company is an incredibly tight knit, protective group of individuals who shed literal blood, sweat and tears for eight weeks in the intense texas summer sun before the season even opens. Eight weeks of rehearsals go into every eight week run, and year-round preparation for a lot of folks.
One of the main objectives addressed in our rehearsal period is how to gingerly toe that line between completely vanilla entertainment and slightly cheeky banter. I can promise you, if our entertainment director ever caught one of us being inappropriate in ANY way, we would be (and have been, in several instances that come to memory,) fired on the spot.
I will agree with you that yes, the PATRONS can get SEVERELY out of hand. I've had a few escorted off property,and i know it's a common enough occurrence. People seem to think that buying a ticket to our festival gives them a blank check to act as absolutely horrifically as possible. I have had some disturbing, violent and disgusting outbursts happen to me, and in front of me to fellow castmates, and the one common factor is: The altercation was started entirely by a (usually over-inebriated) patron, and ended by my castmate or myself calmly alerting the nearest security officer. Which, by the way, are there for YOUR safety, too. If you felt threatened or offended at anything anyone did to you, be it a shop-help, cast member (which again, it's hard to tell us apart and i speak in good faith when i say we are some of the most well-behaved hooligans you'll ever meet,) or fellow patron, the security officers on hand would have been more than happy to put a stop to it.
I can't speak for the festival, but i know i can speak for a bunch of us here on cast when i say: we welcome feedback like yours. Unfortunately, chron.com isn't going to help fix anything, and certainly not a year later! Please come back out to the fair and give us another shot. We work *so* hard to make sure each and every patron has an exceptional time at our festival. As a few other users have pointed out, please do pay closer attention to shows' ratings as they are rated for a reason. Also, not every act does G-rated shows all day. Especially in the afternoon hours, they tend to bring out their adults-only repertoire but will ALWAYS make an announcement before the show begins, and throughout the show as well in most cases.
I certainly hope to see you out there again this year!
I think the Ren Fest is great- especially when you compare it to the International Festival. The Ren Fest is clean, free parking, ample bathrooms WITH SOAP, places to sit down and of course lots of entertainment. The only thing that sucks for me is driving from the galleria all the way to BFE to get there. Me, hubby and my toddler will be going again this year!
ugly fest? no thanks. stupid fest? no thanks......
The staff at the Ren Festival have always been very helpful and respectful whenever I have been there. If you chose to be offensive and disrespectful of them or the other patrons you will be the one to see the other side.
Might just be me but if you are stupid enough to think that everyone who is dressed up is working at the event then you have bigger problems in life than having a negative experience at a once a year event.
Just got back from a great day at the Renfest. I'm hoping that by going early this year I might actually squeeze in another trip in November if my schedule permits. Love the entertainers (was disappointed that Circa Paleo didn't make it this year) and could sit and listen to some of the music for hours. Food and drink can be pricey, but no worse than any other festival or sporting event, and at least there is a huge choice.