Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California

The Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

Pleasure Faire of Southern California (RPFS), is the first, original modern Renaissance Fair

Renaissance Fair

A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are...

; it opened in 1962 and has run yearly since that time. Presently owned by Renaissance Entertainment Productions (REP), it is a commercial re-enactment of a 1580s market faire at Port Deptford, an imaginary water front town located in Elizabethan England. The fair is generally open from the first weekend in April through the weekend before Memorial Day.

History

Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

(RPFS) began in tandem with the Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Northern California

Northern California

Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...

(RPFN) in 1962 in the Spring and Fall respectively by Ron Patterson and Phyllis Patterson and the non-profit organization Living History Center (LHC) as the first renaissance faire in America. RPFS was first staged at Agoura, moved to the Glen Helen Regional Park in Devore, California

Devore, California

Devore is a neighborhood in the city of San Bernardino, California. It is located near the northern junction of Interstate 15 and Interstate 215. The area is just outside the boundaries of the San Bernardino National Forest; nearby cities/town centers include Universitytown, Fontana, and Rialto...

, surrounding most of the lake, moved to the opposite shore, and most recently, has been moved to the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area

Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area

The Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area is a county park located in Irwindale, California, USA in the San Gabriel Valley and nestled among the gravel quarries in the area. It is maintained and operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation...

in Irwindale, California

Irwindale, California

Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 1,422 at the 2010 census, down from 1,446 at the 2000 census....

. RPFS has also experienced new ownership starting with LHC(1963), then to Renaissance Entertainment Corp (REC)(1993), a for-profit corporation, and finally to Renaissance Entertainment Productions (REP), also a for-profit corporation. Some believe the faire has, under the new management, become more family oriented.

Attire

RPFS's actors portray the dress found in the Elizabethan Era, or more precisely during the life of Elizabeth I, 1558-1603. All actors' costumes go through a rigorous approval process ensuring authenticity. Generally there are four types: Peasant

Peasant

A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...

Class, Middle Class, Nobility

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

, and Military. There are also other cultures represented such as the Scots, Italians, Germans, Spaniards and various Arab cultures, as well as various other performance groups such as mongers

Peddler

A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a canvasser, cheapjack, monger, or solicitor , is a travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used for travellers hawking goods in the countryside to small towns and villages; they might also be called tinkers or gypsies...

, Puritans

Puritan

The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

, adventurers and inventors. These are organized into guilds

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

. Visitors, commonly known as patrons, are encouraged to dress up as well but Elizabethan "garb" is optional.

History

Attire

See also