Armored knights traded blows with maces and axes, jousters thundered across the field on horseback, and a village bellman led children on a treasure hunt for golden keys as the Utah Renaissance Faire returned to Mount Nebo Botanical Farm in Mona for its 14th annual event. The three-day gathering, held Oct. 16-18, mixed medieval-themed food, games and characters into a weekend built for families chasing a taste of the Middle Ages without leaving Juab County.
This marked the third year the faire has called Mount Nebo Botanical Farm home, according to ABC4 Utah. Rich Thurman, the event's creator and executive director, said the faire's popularity keeps climbing each year, and the station reported the event featured a long list of activities meant to let attendees experience medieval life firsthand. Event coordinator Zoe Smith echoed that growth, saying the faire expands annually and may eventually outgrow even its current, larger venue.
Jousters and Armored Fighters Take Center Stage
The Knights of Mayhem held full-contact jousting contests daily throughout the weekend, the station's report noted, drawing crowds eager to watch riders collide at speed. Alongside the jousting, a local chapter of the International Full Armored Combat League hosted a hand-to-hand combat tournament in which participants fought with maces, axes and other medieval weapons. The faire also featured sword swallowing, jesters, juggling, horse vaulters, archers and a parade of mythical and magical creatures, rounding out festivities organizers said were built for all ages.
Music carried through the grounds courtesy of the Wicked Tinkers, who played Celtic tunes for passing crowds, per the same account. The combination of combat spectacle and live performance has become something of a signature for the faire, which has steadily built a reputation beyond its early years at Thanksgiving Point, where attendance once grew from a few thousand visitors to more than 10,000, according to ABC4 Utah's earlier coverage of the faire's 12th year. Organizers told The Daily Herald that the faire outgrew its decade-long Thanksgiving Point home before finding its current footing in Mona.
A Treasure Hunt and a Village Bellman
Among the faire's family-friendly offerings was a children's treasure hunt led by a character known as Kelaarin, the village bellman, who sent kids searching booths across the grounds for small golden keys. Each discovery earned a stamp on a treasure map, turning a stroll through the faire into a scavenger hunt. Kelaarin called the event wonderful, adding that attendees appeared to be having fun throughout the weekend, ABC4 Utah reported.
Vendors lined the grounds with handmade goods spanning pottery, calligraphy, blacksmithing, leatherwork and woodcarving. Miranda Murray, who owns Mirza's Marvels, sold macrame plant hangers, bells, necklaces and other handcrafted items. Murray said she enjoys selling macrame and described the festival as large, with no shortage of activities and people filling the farm's grounds. Food vendors rounded out the marketplace, including several selling full turkey legs, a staple ABC4 Utah's report highlighted among the weekend's offerings.
A Faire Still Growing Each Year
The Utah Renaissance Faire's expansion has tracked a broader rise in the state's renaissance fair scene. By 2025, the event was being described as the largest renaissance fair in Utah, according to KSL.com, which credited the faire's world-class jousting and one of the best royal courts on the fair circuit for fueling that growth. Last year's event drew roughly 13,500 attendees, its largest turnout at the time, per the Daily Herald's reporting.
Elsewhere in the state, the Price Renaissance Fair has grown even larger, now welcoming more than 30,000 visitors annually across Washington Park and Pioneer Park, according to Utah Stories. That event launched with just 20 booths and about 800 attendees five years earlier before expanding to more than 150 vendors in its second year; it now caps participation at roughly 200 booths due to space limits, and remains free to attend aside from a single ticketed King's Feast. Whether Mona's faire follows a similar trajectory remains to be seen, but organizers in Mona have made clear they expect the crowds to keep coming.
