Back in the day
Renaissance festival has economic impact of 19 million farthings, er, dollars, a year
Once he was one of the men charged with courting King Henry VIII's teenage bride, Catherine Howard, and was summarily beheaded. Today, Sir Thomas Culpepper spends his September and October weekends playing the fool for passers-by in Anne Arundel County.
"We entertainers never get respect," he comments to a nearby mime, as both are mocked and scolded by a lord before an audience attired in medieval gowns and jerkins — plus blue jeans and a Baltimore Ravens T-shirt.
Burgtorf is among the colorful cast that annually brings the Maryland Renaissance Festival to life among the open fields of Crownsville, hereby dubbed Revel Grove. His autumn weekend world is one of roaring jousting matches, dripping turkey legs, sword fights over chess matches, Shakespearean allusions and shop wenches eager to snatch unsuspecting maidens who venture too close and strap them into corsets.
"There's a certain nature to it, a time that is lost. It's living in that time, if only for the weekend," Burgtorf said.
Smith is part of the family responsible for re-creating this time of knights and rogues. Others are his father, Julius, and brothers Marc, Justin and Adam. For 32 years, they have opened the medieval village to the public on weekends from the last week of August through October, originally operating out of the Merriweather Post Pavilion location in Columbia. Now, the festival covers almost 170 acres, with 75 acres of parking, and draws almost 300,000 people each year.
"I love the fact that it's a multi-weekend event, since people do plan to come to it," said Margot Amelia, state director of tourism for Maryland. "It's amazing how many people mention the Maryland Renaissance Festival in our travels out of state."
"We're mindful of pricing, although the food and beer are costly for us," Smith said, adding the admission price is among the lowest in the informal Renaissance circuit. "Our motivation isn't solely money. We just like to watch people have fun."
Adult tickets cost $18, compared with $19.95 at festivals belonging to the Mid-America Festival in Michigan, Kansas, Florida and Minnesota. Children get in for $8 in Maryland and $8.50 at the others.
David B. Sicilia, associate history professor and an expert on economic history at the University of Maryland, College Park, said the festival represents cultural tourism, or people's interest in seeing people who look different.
"One can understand the appeal in going back to the past in a time when modern life seems bewildering and overly complex. People can return to a time when roles and identities were well defined," Sicilia said.
But he also emphasized that most people are unaware of the complexities that existed in the Renaissance period as well.
"It's a romanticized version of the past," he said.
A chat with James Rouse
The Smith family began its festival career in the late 1960s, when Julius Smith, now the Maryland festival's president, worked with Henry McKnight on the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, inspired by California's Pleasure Faire. Although Smith originally got involved to help McKnight obtain liquor permits, he decided he wanted to start his own festival after McKnight sold the Minnesota festival in 1977. A fateful chat with James Rouse of The Rouse Co., then in the process of developing the planned community of Columbia, resulted in Rouse suggesting that Smith set up a Maryland festival in the new area.
During its time in Columbia, the festival called upon the services of the Markland Medieval Military Militia, a re-enactment group that started at the University of Maryland, College Park. Jules Smith recalls when eight ambulances had to be called following the group's rendition of the 1066 Battle of Hastings.
Eight years later, the festival had grown from 4,000 attendees to 85,000 and required larger quarters, which Smith discovered in Crownsville. Revel Grove was constructed, setting the scene for players and attendees to relive the days of Henry VIII, with each year telling a different chapter of the history.
From 1996 to 2004, the Smiths also ran the Ontario Renaissance Festival throughout the summer and also hosted a domed summer beach party for Minneapolis in February 1988.
"I personally don't entertain a lot at home," Jules Smith joked, explaining how he can put all his energy into the festival.
As much sales as entertainment
But the festival is just as much about sales as entertainment, and the Smiths set high standards for their craft and specialty vendors, both local and out-of-state.
Applicants used to be reviewed by a festival committee to see whether their wares or services fit into the atmosphere and feature a handmade quality. Four years ago, Jules Smith took over this role by himself. Of the festival's 131 vendors — 110 craftsmen, eight specialty vendors, eight game vendors and five food vendors — about 18 each year are guest vendors testing their products at the festival for the first time. Smith said turnover for permanent vendor shops is low, usually for health reasons, and he may see as many as 90 applications for a couple of open spots. Aside from being juried in, permanent vendors must also invest in their own shops.
Debra Hathaway and Eric Heath of Easton, together known as the Heathaways, have sold their marionette puppets and feathered accessories near the festival entrance for almost 20 years. The couple started out selling pretzels at the festival, and they also show at festivals in Arizona and Texas. Hathaway started her festival career working as an ale wench at the California Pleasure Faire. Although the Heathaways also offer their wares online, they say most of their sales come from the festivals.
"We don't enjoy art shows, since they're so dry. Here, it's like a living stage. You're expected to interact with people in every way," Hathaway said. "It's a wonderful way to make a living as an artist."
Steve Tipton of Odenton, a regular festival-goer who visits with his wife and two children, said people — the ones who are really into it — spend the most at the festival.
"We're supporting the place, buying the expensive costumes and pieces. We're the target market," said Tipton, who was dressed in a medieval tunic and a long-nosed clay mask. "We always dress up. When we don't, it feels weird."
Tipton was introduced to the festival scene by friend Brian Pruett of Jessup, another regular who can often be found sporting an authentic Scottish kilt and hanging out at the Dragon's Lair pub. Pruett, who often brings new people to the festival, said he most appreciates the 11 outdoor bars surrounding the place, emphasizing their friendly ambience.
"I make a point to talk to everyone there," he said.
Some guests, such as Bob Wayt Smith, who sells fantasy artworks as Bob Wayt, have made the transition to participant. The Waldorf resident started at the festival as a guest vendor and has hawked his paintings for 10 years since.
"It's a perfect fit for my style," Bob Smith said of the festival. "You can do fantastic here, as long as the sun's out."
Jules Smith echoes the vendor's warning about the weather, saying that it remains the festival's biggest challenge. He lamented that it was snowed out one year.
Larger space debated for festival
Aside from weather, the festival's major focus is keeping up enthusiasm among everyone involved.
"Everything else is secondary to that," he said. "You have to get the artists and the players to move in the same general direction and keep them all energized each morning."
He said that while the Maryland Renaissance Festival hosts a relatively small collection of vendors — most festivals have about 300 — it still boasts one of the largest attendances on the circuit.
The Minnesota Renaissance Festival, part of the Mid-America Festival group, runs for seven weekends and usually sees 280,000 guests.
"There's so many things you can do for one day of entertainment," said Minnesota festival spokeswoman Deb Chamber.
For some years, there have been mutterings about the Maryland festival leaving its wooded Crownsville home, but Smith said management is still examining opportunities. He said larger space could allow the festival to bring in related business ventures and expand to multi-seasonal operation, but there are no concrete plans to move.
"We very much like our present facility," he said. "I saw people dressed up at a gas station along the way. They weren't even getting a second glance. It's just kind of accepted here."
"When you see a family leave at the end of the day and son with a Robin Hood sword and daughter with a princess hat and Dad's shirt is un-tucked — that kind of atmosphere is relaxing. That's the reward," Smith said. "This first is a business and it does well for the participants. That's our motivation in doing better jobs."
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