The Connecticut Renaissance Faire is the longest running Renaissance Faire in the state of Connecticut. The faire lasts seven weekends in a row stretching from Labor Day to Columbus Day weekend and is located at fair grounds in Lebanon, CT. This event has really grown over the years and has been located in "Lebonshire" for at least the last 6 years, maybe even more. I remember when you used to be able to show up after noon and you could still get parking in the main lot, but those days are long over. The event is so popular, many people have to park in the shuttle lot, and the shuttle lot down the street easily holds about 200 vehicles. Having to take the shuttle is not a terribly long wait, so don't let a full main lot discourage you. Parking is always free where ever you end up. We attended two separate weekends this year, once on opening day weekend and again during Pirates & Vikings weekend. 

The theme for Opening Weekend was pretty much a free for all. On the Saturday, residents of the town of Lebanon could get in for free and they could bring their dogs too. There were a lot of cute friendly dogs about and a lot more people than I expected for opening weekend. Somehow we got lucky with parking in the main lot, and our friends we were meeting ended up taking the shuttle. 

One of the reasons Pahl and I like to attend Renaissance Faires in general is so that we can upgrade our costume/outfit accessories. Pahl is almost always a Knight at these events, but I can shape-shift in theme quite effectively. For this weekend, Pahl started his outfit as an adventurer, like Boromir. He has a linen blouse under a dark brown and black leather armor, black and brown leather arm bracers, black lightweight linen trousers, his brown leather riding boots, and a magnificent cape. Oh and a real sword, of course. 

I was an incarnation of the Roman God Mercury. If you remember my outfit from Pirate Day 2025, it's basically the same base corset and bolero with different accessories. Instead of wearing a tricorn hat, I have a white and off white winged headdress and I am wearing beige, red, and black harlequin diamond under the knee socks which I associated with being a sort of trickster and black combat boots (partially for stability and the fact that they are easy to clean as the faire can get pretty dusty or alternatively muddy when wet). I was also carrying a coffin shaped purse, and if you remember, Mercury had powers to travel between the worlds as the Messenger of the Gods. 

At Opening weekend I mostly tried delicious food and got a lay of the land, caught a couple of shows, including the joust and a magic show, and bought fantasy themed jerky from the Mystical Meats vendor. However, Pahl got the ultimate leather armor upgrade. 

For $400.00, he got this beautiful real green and brown long leather armor complete with metal clasps and leather finishing details on the epaulets. This was the one that was on the mannequin in front of the store, and I daresay it did not stay there very long. His look goes from Boromir to Jamie Lannister in the blink of an eye! 

The second weekend that we attended the CT Renaissance Faire happened to be Pirates and Vikings weekend. We were also trying to meet up with friends from the local Steampunk group, but we could not make it earlier when they said to meet up. I now know why they said to meet at 10 am. It took what seemed like an eternity to get to the shuttle lot as there were also lots of people walking on both sides of a narrow windy road that led to the shuttle lot and it was slowing everything way way down. By the time we got parked and on the shuttle, a good 30 minutes had gone by.  While we were waiting for the shuttle, we talked to some of the people near us in line, and they said that it was their first time attending the faire ever, and they believed that it was very popular as it was the only big fair happening as the Big E had just ended the weekend prior. They also took this lovely photo of Pahl and I in our outfits. Thanks random stranger! 

Pahl's Knight look was upgraded once again. Instead of wearing just a linen shirt under his long green leather armor, he is also wearing real chain mail. He is wearing longer dragon embossed arm guards and for his boots this time he has leather boot top covers, to make them look more adventurer and less Regency. The sword and its scabbard are the same as the first weekend, although this time he has added a black leather hip pouch. 

Even though I can interpret and have an illustrated guide to Norse Runes available to purchase, I do not have any costume that is remotely Viking coded, so I defaulted to Pirate. This is probably my fourth time dressing up as a Pirate, and it's getting better and better each time. 

I crafted a Pirate Persona from my spider brooch, and when the Queen asked me my name, I was able to respond Lady Orb Weaver. The base of my outfit is a polyester wine colored dress with a rounded sweetheart neckline, a short black velvet corset lacing in the waist area, and a long voluminous skirt with pockets!  To make the skirt more visually interesting, I added skirt hikes to the front of it. I am wearing red and glow in the dark chain mail earrings, a raven skull necklace, my black and gray tricorn hat, long cloth gloves with three belts and a zipper on each glove, textured black tights, and black leather cowboy boots. The makeup is also a little intense to give off an air of ferocity. 

It was getting slightly colder, at least in the evenings by Pirates and Vikings weekend, so I also wore my ouji coat from Arca and Ovis. I took out the front vest piece and wore it open. It was the perfect accessory to match my boots, tights, and hat. 

Honestly, I was so impressed with the craftsmanship of Pahl's leather armor, I made it my mission to go back to Crimson Chain Leatherworks and obtain a bralette for myself. The piece I am wearing is actually like a mini vest that is black and eggplant leather that goes over the shoulders a little bit and ties just above the waist. In the photo above, it just looks like an extension of the corset lacing already part of the dress. Near this giant wooden cut out of butterfly wings, there also happened to be a very talented vendor making flowers out of wood. I was also able to get a blue flower corsage style pin for my black/white/blue gothic capsule wardrobe.  

We didn't see as many shows this time, just one in fact, the last of the day from the Harlot Queens (they also perform at the Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Festival), which was filled with many adult jokes that went right over my head. We decided to call it quits a little before the joust was over and managed to get grilled cheese sandwiches and shared a cup of rabbit stew before the faire officially shut down for the day. Four hours is just barely enough time to get some fresh food, shop (they had a lot more vendors that weekend than the opening weekend), and catch one or two shows. I think next time I go back to this one, I will definitely make sure we get there before noon. Maybe we'll get lucky with parking too!

Earlier this year, someone else in my fashion community planned a Teddy Bear Picnic in the spring time, which I couldn't attend because I was at the Jane Austen Tea instead. However, they suggested that I make another Teddy Bear picnic in the fall, so that others who couldn't make the spring one could try attending as well. Apparently National Teddy Bear Day falls on September 9 every year, so I made my picnic date as close as possible to that day while falling on a weekend.

The first Sunday in September 2025, we found ourselves in New Britain, CT, on a bleak late summer day. The weather had been warm, but raining in the morning, so I told folks to start at the New Britain Museum of American Art around 11:00 am, and then we would proceed to the Walnut Hill Park Rose Garden (just a few blocks behind the museum) for the picnic part by about 1:30 pm. It was honestly optional to attend both parts of the meeting, so you'll see some folks did one or the other. Originally I was going to make the meeting just about the picnic, and then maybe the art museum afterwards, but the weather extended our meeting and the museum was just as much of a treat as the picnic at the park!

The fashion prompt for the Teddy Bear Picnic was to bring a stuffy and match your stuffy in style/ color. Some people assume that a Teddy Bear picnic would automatically be a Sweet style meeting, but it could have been interpreted in any EGL style. The majority of those pictured at the museum are in fact, Sweet style, but there are a few outliers. 

I used to go to the New Britain Museum of American Art quite frequently between 2004-2010, as I had been attending CCSU and still visiting the area every week as I held onto my college radio show a few years after graduation. I absolutely knew that they had this bronze bear bench somewhere in the permanent galleries, so it was my intention to get everyone's stuffies on it wherever it ended up being. It turns out that it is very close to the main entrance on the first floor!

Pahl used this late summer weather opportunity to pull out his new three piece linen suit. His pants and jacket are a beautiful chartreuse green with a burgundy pocket square. To enhance the burgundy contrast, he is wearing a deep red and navy paisley waist coat over a white blouse. He is wearing his garden themed bow tie, which he had to self-tie. He is also wearing a straw boater hat with a red and navy striped hat band and black oxfords as his shoes. Timmy, his childhood teddy bear that is light brown in color wears a black bow tie to match Pahl's look.  Pahl's look is undeniably coded as Classic/ Historically inspired. 

In preparation for the spring teddy bear picnic, I had purchased this posable limb stuffed bear bag from Chinese Indie brand Mademoiselle Pearl. Honestly I was inspired after the Doll Shop meeting to acquire a doll or a stuffy to bring to meetings, and this bear bag was the perfect solution. It is big enough to wear doll clothes, and I even purchased a few EGL sets for it to wear in the future! 

Then to match my stuffy, I went with ivory and brown in my coordinate. Sometimes ivory and brown are often used in Classic styles, but when it comes to almost anything chocolate themed, it's going to lean more Sweet, especially with a shorter skirt length like the one in my dress. I started with my Angelic Pretty Musee Du Chocolat Low Waist JSK in Ivory. Under it I am wearing a lightweight white cotton high neck blouse. Over it I am wearing the iconic Little Dipper Cotton Bolero Cardigan in Chocolate. If you think you've seen me wear this cardigan before, you have...just in 5 other colors. It's the only thing in my wardrobe that I have been that passionate about thus far, but the price and quality cannot be beat!

I am wearing a soft chocolate brown bear ear head piece and attached to it I have the waist bow that came with the dress. Then I am wearing the Yukine's Box Retro Chocolate Socks, which seem to have been designed around the Angelic Pretty Chocolate line and match extremely well with the crown as well as dripping chocolate motif. To further exemplify chocolate theme, I am wearing a more functional purse in the shape of a chocolate bar, with a little keychain of Rillakuma eating a snack hanging from it. I also have a ring with chocolate on it! Lastly I am wearing a pair of brown Modo Platforms. I actually took the soft bow clips and put them in the back of my hair, as I had two quasi pigtail braids in the back and I wanted to cover up my messy braiding. I also added white lace wristcuffs with brown bows attached to them. You never really see the bows, but its nice to have that little bit of white to echo my blouse. 

Jax is wearing the Dollbe Milk Carton JSK with a lovely white and pink sweet style short sleeve blouse. They have also mixed the coordinate with both food theme and bears like I did with mine. On top they are wearing a white beret with subtle ears poking out, white textured tights, and brown oxfords. I remember when they acquired their polar bear bag at the last swap meet. They could have just kept it white, but they cleverly went to their local Build A Bear, and selected this white and blue waistcoat for their polar bear that even better matches their dress. 

Cole went for a similar sax blue, pink, and white look to what Jax was wearing. She is wearing a celestial carousel themed JSK from Alice Girl, paired with textured white bolero and tights. She also has white nail polish and white sneakers. Her white rabbit stuffy matches her by wearing a light blue ribbon tie. This was her very first meeting and coordinate and I think she did a great job putting it together! 

Here Colleen is pictured on a bench inside the museum wearing a coordinate comprised of white, pink, and brown elements. The theme on her Baby the Stars Shine Bright Chocolate Fascinate Fairytale JSK also incorporates food and chocolate with fantastical architectural details. She is wearing a long sleeve white blouse, brown bear eared headband (similar to mine) with a white bow pinned to it, and elegant lace up white platform rocking horse shoes. 

Pixie went 100% bear themed with hers, but continued the white and pink theme like Colleen. She apparently had these care bear themed tights for awhile in her wardrobe, and recently her local Michael's started stocking fabric. She bought most of the available yardage for this Care Bear fabric, and made her own dress, hair bows, and matching holster for her stuffy Buddy, who accompanies her at every meeting. 

After a few hours of perusing the galleries at the museum, most of us headed to the Rose Garden at Walnut Hill Park for our picnic portion. Luckily, Erik, Sarah, and Nomi got to the Rose Garden first to look at the options. I had never been to this particular rose garden before, as it had been erected in the years after my peak New Britain visits. It's located on the top of a hill with a central fountain and obelisk surrounded by two concentric rows of roses of various varieties. On either side, there are concrete pavilions with a few picnic benches and trash cans. We selected one of these small pavilions to have our picnic under, as the ground was still too wet to sit on from the rain earlier that day.  It is a much smaller scale than Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in West Hartford, but it's still perfect for a picnic or a little walk among the roses. 

I didn't tell anyone what to bring and we had an amazing potluck! I brought a salad, Colleen brought Teddy bear head shaped sandwiches, Pahl brought homemade hummus and chips, Sarah and Erik brought a variety of foods they found at a local Polish market 5 minutes down the road, and Nomi made cookies. I know Barbara brought a variety of chips and dips, Pixie and Rex brought fruit as well as beverages and cups, and Jax made an amazing cake. We had about an hour to dig in before the local yellow jacket population discovered us and I lost my appetite. We proceeded to take photos around the roses, at the fountain, and behind the obelisk. 

Overall it was a wonderful day even if the weather wasn't the most cooperative. The overcast weather certainly made it easier to edit all the photos for this post, and it allowed us to do two activities in one day as opposed to one! The Rose Garden at Walnut Hill Park is so beautiful, and I highly recommend visiting it next time you are in the area!! I hope to go back next year during the peak season, which is probably early to mid June. But it won't have to be for a Teddy Bear picnic, it could just be for a regular one!