Balanced atop a flimsy-looking structure of saw-horses and a rolling cylinder, Moonie the Magnificent whistles and gestures wildly, trying to direct the audience volunteer to throw a knife at his left hand.
The volunteer throws the knife early, misunderstanding the wordless instructions. Moonie dodges it and the audience laughs, confident it was all part of the show.
Moonie’s act is part mime, part acrobatics, part juggling — and all comedy. He’s been performing for over three decades and seats at his shows fill up fast. Moonie’s one of the many performers who make the Ohio Renaissance Festival a seasonal favorite every fall.
It’s not just Ohioans who like the event. The 2026 USA Today Reader’s Choice Award ranked the Ohio Renaissance Festival as best in the country. Around 300,000 people flock to Waynesville in southwest Ohio each year to enjoy the revelry.
Dressing for the festival
The Ohio Renaissance Festival was founded in 1990 and is held every weekend in September and October. The mainstays of the Renaissance reenactment — like the royal court and jousting — stay the same throughout the season, but each weekend has a unique theme like fantasy, pirates, or time travel, with special events based on the theme.
Patrons to the festival are encouraged to wear costumes. Many choose to dress in Renaissance-inspired attire, while others adhere to the themed weekends.
On fantasy weekend in September, there were plenty of people dressed as fairies, witches and mythical creatures. Some, like the Patton family from Cleveland, took it as an opportunity to explore their creativity.
Husband and wife Shawn and Amanda Patton, along with their 13-year-old daughter, took inspiration from their favorite bands’ album art: Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica and Led Zeppelin.
“We came last year for the first time and I was very inspired by all the effort that everyone puts into their costumes and I wanted it to be something creative,” Amanda Patton said. “We love music. We all play music and my daughter wanted to be Lady Justice and so we're like let's just be album covers.”
Chaos at the Festival
With around 300,000 visitors, the Festival gets busy. But everyone stops and steps aside when Royalty parades by.
Actor Connie Pfeiffer presides over the Ohio Renaissance Festival as Queen Elizabeth I, with the company of her Royal Court. She said seeing people of all ages is one of her favorite things about the Festival.
“This is Fantasy Weekend, so I've had very many magical and wondrous [interactions], everything from very small children – 5 months old, 8 months old – to people that are slightly older than me,” Pfeiffer said.
The Festival is held on a sprawling 30 acres of forested grounds. There are multiple areas, each with its own set of vendors, musicians, performance stages and dining options. The 215 shops are filled with artisans selling everything from ceramics and home decor to swords, daggers and corsets – anything a Renaissance enthusiast could want.
It’s massive and full of patrons excited to mingle with performers in a magical medieval world. There is so much going on it’s impossible to do everything in one day, says Moonie the Magnificent..
“I always say you’ve got to come twice,” he said. “Once with the family and once by yourselves, the grown-ups, because there’s two different shows going on and they both co-exist at the same time and that’s what makes it very unique.”
