You are cordially invited to a royal birthday party on weekends from April 26 through June 15. Please be prepared to meet the queen.
Amid much fanfare, the Renaissance Pleasure Faire celebrates 35 years of revelry. Trumpets will blare, drums will roll, and Queen Elizabeth I (or someone behaving a great deal like her) will be present at the re-creation of an English country faire, circa 1578, at Glen Helen Regional Park in the San Bernardino Mountains. The boisterous party includes Elizabethan-era shows, arts and crafts, and food and costume parades. Visitors can mingle with costumed characters such as Sir Francis Drake and watch the antics of jugglers, magicians and mimes.For 27 years, the faire was held in a rustic area of Agoura in western Los Angeles County. It was forced to relocate in 1989 when the site was tagged for development.
While patrons wander the waterfront market stalls and watch the papermaker and glassblower at work, take in the Queen's Royal Joust and munch on shepherd's pye and other treats, there are several new features to mark the royal birthday. Among them:
- The Mudslinging Mayhem Show, in which audiences are invited to cheer on their champion brawling in a mud-filled pit;
- A 45-minute version of William Shakespeare's comedy, "A Midsummer Night's Dream";
- A human chess tournament, in which knights, pawns, bishops, kings and queens, wielding wit and weapons, will make their moves on a giant chessboard;
- The Jester's Grove, a children's area with an animal farm, storytelling, a school for learning handicrafts nd fairytale shows in which children can participate.