CT Renaissance Faire 2025

Connecticut Renaissance Faire 2025

Pahl's Opening Weekend look inspired by Boromir from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings

Danielle's Opening Weekend look inspired by Mercury, Roman God of Travelers, Merchants, Tricksters, and Messenger of the Gods

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. 

Pahl wearing his new armor for the first time inside the Crimson Chain Leatherworks Shop

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! 

Pirates and Vikings Weekend

The Knight is back, now with chainmail and a female pirate appears!

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. 

Lady Orb Weaver, without the coat

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. 

An Ouji coat really makes everything better

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. 

Danielle, now with bralette from Crimson Chain Leatherworks!

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!