Ohio Ren Fest hits Hamilton

Hamilton, Ohio – If Cheryl Bales appears a little frazzled at the Fitton Center’s first Celebrating Self luncheon of the season, please extend some grace.

The veteran marketing director for the Ohio Renaissance Festival comes to Hamilton September 3, just two days after the Labor Day weekend opening for the 2025 season. That three-day run includes managing 24 stages and 169 different performances. Each day.

Each! Day!

To say nothing of 112 shops … errr ... shoppes. Plus food, drinks, parking and all the people enjoying 30 acres of ye olde 16^th-century entertainment. All of which needs to be replicated during eight more themed weekends running through October 26.

“Most of our team internally refers to it as a gauntlet,” Bales said. “Once we get through that opening three-day weekend, though, I don’t want to say it runs on autopilot, but it gets a little easier.”

Bales has been part of the Ren Fest family for 24 years – “It sounds surreal when you say it out loud,” she said with a chuckle - starting as an intern from Wilmington College and two years later replacing her mentor, who moved on to another opportunity.

“I’ve always had a love of history and I attended the Ren Festival when I was growing up, as in my high school years,” Bales said. “I also had an interest in putting on events, so that intern opportunity was a wonderful gem for me.”

She’s not alone in her longevity at the Ren Fest.

“Our newest team member joined us last year,” Bales said. “She’s a financial assistant. But from the production side, we’ve all been together for many seasons now. We all have a pretty good idea what we’re doing.”

With an operation that size, continuity is a good thing.

“We have consistency to maintain for longtime fair goers who love certain shows and come back year after year for those,” Bales said. “For the new guests, they maybe don’t know the swordsmen have been performing for 30 years, so where you really see things freshen up from year to year – or maybe every couple of years – is in what we call the lane performers.

“There’s always going to be a joust. There always will be a performance by the swordsmen. There’s always a Mudde Show. But maybe on the smaller stages you have different musicians. Or you put them in a different place on the grounds and mix it up that way.

“There’s a science to it, but it’s not a precise science.”

Bales said guests at the Celebrating Self luncheon can expect some historic information about the Ohio Renaissance Festival and how it’s changed since opening in 1990. She’ll also provide some insider fun facts, including how many turkey legs and ale kegs are consumed, as well the number of jousting lances knights go through in a tournament.

Tickets for the September 3 Celebrating Self luncheon – sponsored by Allan and Dorothy Bailey - are $26 for Fitton Center members, $32 for non-members, and are available online right here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 or in person at the Fitton Center box office. Doors open at 11 a.m., with a buffet lunch by Two Women in a Kitchen served at 11:30 and Bales’ program starting at noon.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

Building Community Excellence through the Arts and Culture