Renaissance Festival at the Muskogee Castle.

Welcome to the 20th Annual Renaissance Festival at the Muskogee Castle. Our family had been to the Castle before for thier Halloween Festival and thier Christmas Festival, but this was our first ever Renaissance Festival. We came into this event with high expectations and a buy one get one free pass that we got for filling out a comment card during Christmasfest. To our amazement, and even though we did not get to do everything, The Castle lived up to and exceeded all expectations.

We got there early to make sure we could get tickets and even though the gates had no yet opened we found a group of 1590's englishmen and women putting on a show in front of the maingate. As we waited for the gate to open we purchased a souvineer program (only $1 and a VERY nice program) and watched the show.

As the gates open and we entered the village you could see the Castle, however my kids were drawn down the main street towards the maypole. There were gypsies, castle solidiers, entertainers, pesants, and characters all over the street. As we got near the maypole, Peter Pan asked my kids if they wanted to dance around the maypole. Of course they did, it was Peter freakin Pan, so they went and with period style music the took thier ribbons and were taught a dance for the decortating the maypole.

I think what Ipersonally liked most about the festival is that EVERY store was open so you could shop around the massive mid-evil village. The village is broken down into themed areas including Pirates, Pixies, Scottish, Itiallian, and several other areas I can't remember. The kids and I LOVED the Pirate area with a actual pirate ship washed up on land. Inside the pirate ship is a tavern and outside the pirate ship is a stage where Sirens and pirates perform on stage. There is aso a cave (Not a real Cave) that is actually an indoor tavern and stage.

There are more than 15 stages throught the village. Of course that is not including the Tournament Stadium. All I can say is WOW, where else can you go to get actual swordfights, joisting, and even a birds of prey in the off hours.

There are also special quests throughout the viage and castle for kids and adults alike. My kids did the Queens quest where they went through the village finding clues and getting artisans to stamp thier parchment and at the end of the quest they were invited to get knighted by the Queen or the King (Thier Choice) if they were abe to get all thier stamps.

There is SO much going on you can't do it all in a day. Entrance Fee is pricey and there are alot of extras and expereinces that you can pay for including the different kinds of food (All good food though). The only expereince we paid for was for our kids to get inot the fighting ring to swordfight (foam swords) with a squire. It was only $2 per kid and it was HIGHLY entertaining. The characters are great with kids and you really do get your money's worth.

I think there are discount tickets at Walgreens but they were not a better value than they Buy One Get One tickets that we already had. You can also buy online for a $3 off per ticket, however you will have to wait in line at the will call before you enter the maingates to the Castle Village.

All in All, what an AWESOME experince. I don't usually recommend to people to spend the money on an attraction thats not worth it. However this acttraction is well worth it and a must see if you have never been. They are open each weekend in May, rain or shine. However if it a rainey weekend, you may want to pass as the street are just like 1590's England, as they are mostly dirt streets which can quickly turn to mudd.

To see more photos of this adventure, Click Here!