Hundreds of people in medieval costumes and face paint gathered for the two-day Renaissance fair, dubbed “Ye Olde Harvest Festival.” There were food trucks and shopping opportunities for jewelry, clothing and art, along with live music, interactive quests, and even fencing matches.
Sage Anderson helped plan the festival. She said it may be Homer’s first Renaissance fair. Not everything went according to plan though – heavy rain forced last-minute changes. Anderson said organizers had to move the stage and some vendors who had set up on the lower field.
“They were just realizing it was getting kind of slippery on the grass because of the wetness. And so like 15 people, people from up top that had already gotten set up and stuff, they just rallied and went down and helped all of the vendors move up here and stuff. It was beautiful,” Anderson said.
Fair-goers still had plenty to do. One of the main attractions was live-action role play, or LARP, organized by Samantha Cunningham of the Homer-based, Barony of IceFire Bay group. Cunningham said people were able to enter a “fighting ring” to battle parents or Ice Fire Bay members.
“That's immensely satisfying sometimes. But today we're trying out a quest that's going on. In which case you can show up, get a tutorial on how to fight in the fighter ring, and then we send people out to literally find questing materials,” Cunningham said.
Anderson said overall the event was a success and was glad volunteers helped make her dream come true. She said she hopes to make the event an annual tradition.
“For anybody who didn't get to make it this year, remember, it's going to happen next year, and it's going to be even bigger and better, and it will we learn new things every year,” Anderson said.
She said they hope to expand the event next year to include more of the park and possibly the campgrounds.
