Fairies, elves and fanciful costumes took over Overton Park this weekend as Memphis got its first-ever Renaissance faire. The two-day event ran Saturday and Sunday, pairing daytime family fun with a decidedly grown-up evening twist, and organizer Jack Daniels said ticket sales were strong going in.
The Memphis Ren Faire took place at Overton Park on Saturday, according to the Daily Memphian, with the event running through Sunday at the park, located at 2080 Poplar Ave., per the Overton Park Conservancy. Sunday's event ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the Overton Park Conservancy. Daniels, who recently ran the Broad Avenue Art Walk, said he grew up attending and enjoying Renaissance fairs himself, and that Memphis had been missing this kind of entertainment even though the city already has plenty of food and music festivals.
Daniels reported that 2,000 tickets had been pre-sold ahead of the weekend, calling that rare for Memphis, where he said people usually wait and buy tickets at the gate. He said he hoped 3,500 people would have visited the park by the event's Sunday closing, and described ticket sales as strong for the faire's inaugural run. Interestingly, Daniels chose to run the event himself without wearing a costume, even as attendees around him leaned fully into the fantasy.
Wrestling, Tarot and a Maker Village
Entry included free tarot readings, face painting and medieval wrestling matches, according to memren.com, the faire's own event listing. The site also promoted games of skill, fortune-telling and feasting as part of the weekend's offerings. Shoppers could browse a maker village stocked with handmade crafts, Renaissance-inspired vintage goods, snacks, costumes and jewelry, per the same listing.
Photos from the event showed performer Fauna Flame walking on stilts while holding a hoop at the faire on Saturday. The event was presented in partnership with the Overton Park Conservancy, according to Memphis Travel, tying the new festival directly to the green space that hosted it.
A Smaller Stage Than Tennessee's Established Fair
Daniels said he hopes the Memphis Ren Faire can grow into a twice-yearly event, though whether that happens remains to be seen. For context on how big these festivals can get, the long-running Tennessee Renaissance Festival in Arrington reported slightly more than 19,000 opening-weekend ticket sales this year, a 66% jump over the prior year, according to Wilson County Source. That outlet also noted the Tennessee festival has built a reputation for drawing more costumed attendees than many similar events.
A separate account from Tullahoma News put opening-weekend attendance at the Tennessee festival at more than 19,500, a figure that doesn't exactly match Wilson County Source's tally but points to the same overall growth story. The Tennessee Renaissance Festival runs every Saturday and Sunday in May plus Memorial Day, according to Wilson County Source, a much longer run than Memphis's two-day debut. Visit Franklin has separately described the Arrington festival as a month-long draw pulling in more than 50,000 festival-goers, merchants and performers.
Whether Memphis's new festival can approach that scale remains an open question, but the comparison underscores just how much room there is for the local event to grow if Daniels gets his wish for a second annual date. For now, the inaugural Memphis Ren Faire gave costumed locals a taste of knights, maker stalls and tarot cards right in the middle of Overton Park.
