Tennessee Renaissance Festival: What It’s All About!

Disclosure: I was compensated 2 free tickets to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. However, all opinions are my own. (Originally posted May 17, 2018)

Several times a year I find myself passing a castle just off the road on interstate 840 near Arrington, Tennessee. One day I was curious and, after some investigation, discovered that it was Castle Gwynn and there was a yearly renaissance festival held at the estate. Unsure of what a festival of this type was, I got on their website and checked it out. It looked like a lot of fun, so there I was standing in line at the 33^rd annual Tennessee Renaissance Festival.

I arrived at 915 because I had read that lines to get to the festival can be long. It was a good idea as there were about 100 people already standing in line to enter. I obtained my armband and was handed a brochure for the happenings of the day. I really liked the artwork on its cover and felt it was one of the most informational festival brochures I have seen.

It didn’t take long for me to realize the Tennessee Renaissance Festival was a big hit for all ages. Some young children dressed up as fairies or little dinosaurs. I talked to people who had drove hours just to come to the festival. While standing in line, we enjoyed listening to a man play the bagpipes and checked out the costumes that many people had dressed up in.

This was the line behind me at about 9:45 AM. 

At exactly 10 AM the lines opened and people started making their way into the festival area. I had a small bag that was checked by security staff and then I entered. As soon as I made my way to the tree line, there were a group of people welcoming us as they played their musical instruments. 

The festival was organized in a circle with a few aisles in between. The first thing I wanted to do was be greeted by the queen so I headed in her direction. The royal court looked stunning in their renaissance apparel despite it being so hot outside.

We also found some fairies that seemed to speak a special fairy language.

We continued to make our way under the trees along the path lined with handmade goods and foods. The first thing I purchased was a pina colada fruit smoothie. It was pretty yummy!

I was surprised to find there were old fashioned rides for people to enjoy. The Da Vinci’s Hurlinator reminded me of a modern day scrambler except participants were required to push and pull a lever in front of them. The harder they worked, the faster the ride became. 

I also saw a swing that looked relaxing, if you could handle going in circles. My niece did the Dragon Joust ride where she was placed on a play horse that was set up like a zip line. When released, she had to stab the dragon with her sword as she zoomed past it.

Tickets included a free tour of the gardens and first floor of Gwynn Castle from 11-3PM. So, we stopped for some fried snickers bars and head towards the exit area of the festival where a line had formed to take a bus over to the castle. We were able to get on the 3^rd bus and took the short ride over to the castle. We entered into a gate and made our way to the castle grounds.

We were first met by a member of the sheriff’s department who directed us further. We were ushered to benches set up by a sign that read, “Castle Gwynn Tour Begins Here.” This is where Mike Freeman, the owner and designer of Castle Gwynn, told us the story of why he built the castle along with a few details.

Freeman started building the castle in 1980 after deciding in his high school architecture class that it would be nice to live in a castle. Over the years, through hard work, determination, and help from others, he has made improvements to the castle and made it bigger. In fact, there are current plans for 4 more copper roofs to be added to the towers of the Great Hall.

Inside the Great Hall area were 2 parked cars, one being a bat mobile!

I continued the tour into a sun room that lead to the lovely kitchen.

Here, 60 brick arches are formed to display the lovely renaissance décor. We were told that it took weekends for 2 years to build the arches and that there were no blueprints, just the design in his head of what he wanted.

I made my way up to the first floor of the castle where a beautiful chandelier was hung surrounded by more beautifully designed brick work.

 During Freeman’s welcome speech, he mentioned that it is good luck to touch the palm of a sword. However, most swords are found behind glass in museums. Here at Castle Gwynn there is a sword that can be touched to get that extra luck!

If you make it to the festival, make sure to stop by Castle Gwynn. I highly recommend touring the house and feel like you will be missing out if you don’t. Even if you have visited in the past, Gwynn Castle is ever changing. Admission is included in the price of your ticket to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival.

Back at the festival, we continued to make our way around checking out the amazing art, tasting the yummy food, and enjoying the shows. There really is something for any age. We watched a magician performing his tricks and a man juggle items with fire and walk on stilts.

There are pirate sword fights but, we saw one of the pirates being quite humorous while not engaged in these shows. He gave us a giggle as he walked up behind an unknown spectator and placed something in his hood. Next, he went up to an officer and acted as he was going to do the same thing to his collar but decided against it at the last moment. His mannerisms were quite funny.

I noticed several children eager to attend the Queen Elizabeth’s Knighting ceremony. Here each child kneeled before the queen as she gently tapped them on each shoulder and forehead with her sword. After doing this, they were made a knight and given a certificate to remember the moment. I saw so many smiling faces during this activity. 

The birds of prey shows were very interesting for both young and old.

I feel the highlight of the day goes to the Royal Joust. During this event, two knights dressed in armor battle towards each other on their horses attempting to become the winner of the jousting.

We did a lot of shopping and browsing at the amazing hand made crafts available for purchase. There were all kinds of renaissance style costumes and souvenirs. I found a fan for only $3 that was so cute and was perfect for the hot day.

I honestly feel like the Tennessee Renaissance Festival is one of the best festivals I have ever attended and would not hesitate to return. The festival is usually held every weekend in May. I advise checking their website for dates as there are themes for each weekend.