MONA, Juab County — While some may see a renaissance fair as just nerds playing dress up, others find it to be a great way to escape from modern day life, connect with others and learn about history.
The Utah Renaissance Faire is celebrating its 13th year this weekend at the Mt. Nebo Botanical Farm in Mona, 3700 Old Highway 91. As it’s grown and expanded to the largest renaissance fair in the state, the event has become a staple in many peoples’ lives, such as Gayle Dowdle, the fair’s resident Queen Elizabeth.
Dowdle loves costuming and was a cosplayer for several years when she decided to make a Queen Elizabeth gown and attend her first fair. A decade later, Dowdle frequently whips out her intricate dress and becomes royalty at multiple renaissance fairs each year, including Utah’s.
“I started with being a patron, and then I moved on to being a part of the royalty, and now I’m part of the planning committee, and I’m a vendor, too,” she said. “This is my home now.”
While at most renaissance fairs the royalty just sit on a throne as if they’re part of a show, the royalty at the Utah Renaissance Faire interact with fairgoers.
“People come up, and we have conversations with them, we talk about our characters and we have quests to send them on to do tasks for us. When they return, we give them queen’s favors, little portraits of ourselves, because that’s what they would do back in the day,” she said.
The interactivity sets the fair apart and is “really cool,” Dowdle said. With the absence left by Evermore closing, the fair is a way for people to be fully immersed in a fantastical world, she added.
“It’s a chance for people to escape the regular world of work and step into another world where you can interact with queens and knights and fairies and mermaids and have a different experience. You can just step out of the world,” she said.
World champion jouster Charlie Andrews says he loves that the Utah fair has such an interactive queen who comes up with fun things for kids to do. And adults frequently get into it as well, finding joy in being sent off on quests, Dowdle added.
“Because of that interaction, including during shows, you really feel like you are part of the show; you aren’t just watching it. The crowd helps make the calls, and we will pull people out of the crowd. ... People become invested,” Andrews said.
Andrews grew up on a ranch and got roped into helping some people train horses for jousting in renaissance fairs.
“I had never heard of them, didn’t know what it was. So I tried it out with shields ... and first few times, I was smashing the guys, and they were like, ‘I think you were born to do this Charlie. You should come with us,’” he said.
So Andrews brought the horses to the Michigan Renaissance Festival, which boasts thousands of people who attend each week in its two-month run, and he fell in love with the excitement and energy of the jousting crowd.
“I thought this was the greatest thing that ever was. ... Ran into someone from Canada who does full armor, solid lances and really knock each other off, and I’m like, ‘I really want to do that’ ... and the rest is history,” he said.
In the last 25 years, Andrews has become a 15-time world jousting champion who travels the globe for performances and competitions. He has been filmed for several documentaries and TV shows and is the leader of the famous jousting league Knights of Mayhem, who will be doing multiple jousting competitions at the Utah fair.
“I made nerds cool. People come out and see us joust, and if they make fun of us, we just beat them up,” he joked. “We are a premiere full-contact, like real jousting, not knights off of Temu.”
Andrews now has a deep appreciation for “nerds” and those who dress up and reenact history, noting that at the fair, everyone is valued and important.
“In today’s society where everyone hates everyone ... isn’t it nice to have somewhere you can go where none of that exists? You just get to not care about those things and have fun for a day,” Andrews said. “It’s a nice break from all the nonsense that goes on on a daily basis.”
The Utah fair was small when it started, but the “world-class jousting” has aided its growth and attendance, along with having “one of the best courts in all of the fair circuits,” Andrews said.
“The people that do this out of passion and love, you can tell the difference between those doing it just because it’s a paycheck,” Andrews said.
On Friday, there are discounts available for school groups to bring students. Andrews says he loves bringing history to life through jousting for the kids.
The Utah Renaissance Faire also has a great family friendly atmosphere with no alcohol, clean entertainment and enjoyable activities for all ages, allowing for anyone who wishes to be a brave knight or fair maiden to have a good time, Andrews said.
There will be a story time area for the youngest of lads and ladies to join, world-class artisan vendors, nightly concerts, live renaissance music throughout the festival, performances ranging from jugglers to horse vaulters to fully armored combat, a Viking Village and dozens of mythical characters to meet.
“Every year we are trying to push it to be better and better. It’s not to make money, it’s how do we create an experience that people want to come and enjoy and be a part of? .... That focus is helping make us really cool,” Dowdle said.
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