Celebrating Self: Ren Fest

Hamilton, OH - She answered the burning question with a staggering number.

Director of Marketing Cheryl Bales said the Ohio Renaissance Festival serves up about 50,000 smoked turkey legs annually over the course of its nine-weekend autumn run.

That was just one big number Bales offered the Fitton Center's Celebrating Self audience September 3. She also said the festival draws more than a quarter-million guests - about 275,000 to be more precise - for the season.

That works out to roughly one drumstick for every five festival attendees. (Of course, those legs are a pound or two each and can easily feed two people.) All of that turkey is sourced from a single Ohio poulterer, by the way, helping back up Bales' statement that the Ren Fest is an important economic driver in the region.

It's an event people love and a location where couples profess their love for one another, with 49 weddings scheduled over the 19 days of the 2025 festival. On the other side of the coin, the 30-acre grounds host three full-armor tournament jousts every day of the festival.

The Ohio Renaissance Festival opened over Labor Day weekend and runs Saturdays and Sundays through October 26.

Next up in the Celebrating Self series, One City One Book Hamilton takes center stage October 1. We’ll delve into some of the 5,000-year-old healing arts described in Lady Tan's Circle of Women with Theresa Mhanna of Red Dragon Oriental Medicine. Meantime, enjoy some photos from the September Ren Fest luncheon in the gallery below.