For the next six weekends, a stretch of scrubby, unincorporated land in Santa Clara County is home to the Northern California Renaissance Faire, a faux-historical anglicized extravaganza that sources the “best bits” of 16th-century British culture.
The faux village, dubbed Willington, has a $35 entrance fee. Queen Elizabeth I reigns over the village, home to knights, constables, merchants, and fools.
Many visitors wear elaborate garb, including feathers, capes, corsetry, and petticoats. The crown jewel of the Ren Faire is the joust, where knights in shining armor gallop toward each other, lances at the ready, while the crowd cheers them on.
On Sunday, restaurant software startup worker Stephanie Cervantez donned a purple peasant shirt and corset top and headed to Casa de Fruta, halfway between Gilroy and Hollister, to merrymake in the medieval wonderland for her first-ever Ren Faire.
“People will interact with you. … It’s the friendliest, most accepting environment you could go to,” Cervantez said.
Benita Benitez of Benitez Jewelers has been a vendor at Ren Faire for the past 35 years. She told The Standard it’s always a great way to build community.
No matter your reason for attending, whether it be to find a community or to gnaw on a turkey leg bigger than your head, you’re in for a good time. Asia Reyna, a second-year fairgoer from Modesto, said the sheer fun of it all keeps her coming back.
“That’s the great thing about Ren Faire,” she said. “I always seem to be wrapped up in shenanigans.”
Diana Heavenborn, a content designer for Meta, wore pirate garb to the 2024 Ren Faire. “Every year, we just like to adventure around the shops and find new things,” she said; she’s attended since 2017. “In our minds, we’re always leveling up with more loot.” This year, Heavenborn purchased a decorative pistol for her costume.
See photos from the opening weekend of this year’s Nor Cal Ren Faire below:
