Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival |
|
|---|---|
Front gate of the fair
|
|
| Genre | Renaissance fair |
| Dates | August - September |
| Location(s) | West Newton, Pennsylvania |
| Inaugurated | 1994 |
| Area | 20 acres (81,000 m2) |
| Stages | 6 |
The Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival is a fun event held in West Newton, Pennsylvania. It's a special kind of festival called a Renaissance fair. At a Renaissance fair, people pretend to live in the time of the Renaissance. This was a period in European history from about the 14th to the 17th century. The festival started in 1994. It celebrated its 32nd season in 2025. In 2005, about 55,000 people visited the fair. The festival covers a large area of 20 acres, which is about the size of 15 football fields. As of 2008, it has six stages where different shows take place.
The festival is set up like a make-believe village called Morelandshire. This village is imagined to be from the years 1533 to 1536. When you visit, you can feel like you've traveled back in time!
History of the Festival
The Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival first began in 1994. For its first three years, it was held at the Butler County Fairgrounds. During this time, the people organizing the fair looked for a perfect, permanent home.
Finding a Permanent Home
They found a great spot that used to be an old farm. This land had been changed by mining, but it was then fixed up. The organizers chose this place because it was in a good location. It also had the right look and feel for a Renaissance village. The festival first opened at this new location in the summer of 1997.
Changes and Reopening
In 2006, the festival did not happen. This was because there wasn't enough money to run it that year. However, just one year later, a company called Rocky Mountain Festivals bought the fair. They reopened it, and it has been running ever since. The festival was not held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, the 27th season was moved to 2021.
See Also
- Renaissance fair
- List of Renaissance fairs
