If you see a sword fight in Newport News this October, don’t be alarmed.
This October the annual Harvest Faire celebrates its 25th season, complete with all the magical moments a renaissance fair enthusiast could wish for. As the Virginia Peninsula’s oldest renaissance festival, it is set to bring centuries-old traditions to the modern city.
“I think people like this time period because there are a lot of things you’ve been told about it and your imagination really gets caught,” said Amy Reineri, director of the fair.
The Harvest Faire didn’t originally set out to be a renaissance festival. When it first started 25 years ago at Queens Lake in Williamsburg, Reineri said it was supposed to simply be a seasonal harvest festival. But as time went on, more and more medieval aspects made their way into the event.
Reineri said she had always been a fan of the festival but in 2007 when she went to look up information on that year’s event, she learned the owners of the festival weren’t planning on continuing it.
So Reineri decided to take over and made the event into a nonprofit that donates its profits to different charities.
“I had worked with a medieval festival when I was a teenager, so I thought this could be like a hobby,” she said. “Which I laugh at now because it’s become so much more.”
Reineri, who is also a full-time architect, said she had been part of a festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan growing up and her passion for the time period stuck with her into adulthood. As a result, she said she wanted to make the Harvest Faire a full-blown renaissance festival, complete with historically accurate games and activities.
Planning something that requires people well-versed in the culture of over a century ago isn’t an easy task. Reineri said the first year she hosted the festival, she found herself panicking during the summer because she couldn’t find enough performers and volunteers. As time went on, she learned that everything would fall into place as the event grew closer.
After more than a decade of hosting the event, Reineri said she has learned a few tips and tricks for planning such a large festival but the one thing she always worries about is attendance. Typically, the festival hosts approximately 1,200 people each year but Reineri said the space in which it is held, Endview Plantation, can hold over twice that number.
“We’re trying to get people to come out, it’s one of those best-kept secrets of the area,” she said. “Which really isn’t best at all when you need attendance.”
Still, Reineri charges forward with the festival each year because she said she sees the faces of guests that come from states away and all over Hampton Roads and she knows it is something special.
The event will have musical groups, reenactments and this year, possibly, fairies.
This year’s Harvest Faire will be from Oct. 11-13 at Endview Plantation in Newport News. The event will be from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
To learn more about ticket prices and the event, visit Harvest Faire on Facebook.
