By Tyler Waugh, The Pearl/Local Journalism Initiative
Mount Pearl will be resplendent with kings and queens, knights and squires, wizards and blacksmiths, maybe even a pirate or two, as the 5th Annual Renaissance Festival Newfoundland rolls out later this month.
It’s all the brainchild of Darren Hann, a longtime attendee of renaissance fairs on the mainland who wanted to bring some of that medieval magic back to the Rock.
“It’s a great atmosphere. I got started getting a bunch of different groups together like Epoch on the Rock, they are a live action role playing (LARP) group here, and we put the first festival together,” Hann said. “It’s been well received and we are looking forward to another great time this year.”
Attendees are encouraged to dress up for the occasion. “You don’t really have to, it’s not mandatory, but it’s part of the experience and you’ll see all sorts of people as knights, fairies, kings and queens,” said Hann. “It’s a welcoming, family-fun atmosphere.”
Epoch on the Rock will once again be featured as entertainers with their live action role playing on the mainstage and there will be a Queen’s Tea featuring tea and crumpets on both days.
There will also be several period-inspired competitions from a homemade catapult contest to a heavy hammer challenge, where participants attempt to hold it up for as long as they can. This year there is also a Pirate Keg Toss on both Saturday and Sunday where participants will toss a rum keg to a set point and then back to the start.
The festival king will be on hand to knight attendees willing to enter his service. For the first time ever, that honour will also be open to furry friends of all kinds.
“Yes, we’ve had requests the past two years to see if they could knight pets, so this year will be our first knighting of the beasts,” Hann said.
Back again is the ‘Shire,’ an artisans working village that will include a cooper who crafts barrels, a leather maker, carpenters, a butter churner as well as a booth with representatives from the Newfoundland Boat Building Museum. The historical artisans will be selling their wares while showing off their crafts.
“They are all handmade items, really authentic and true to the period,” Hann said.
The festival ran for its first three years out of Paradise Park but was forced to switch venues due to the 2025 Canada Summer Games needing that space, so it landed at St. David’s Park in Mount Pearl last year.
Hann said the new venue created such a great layout that it was decided to return to Mount Pearl again this year.
“Paradise was great, nothing against them,” he said.
The festival runs Aug. 23-24 from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., with August 23 being Fairy Day.