Owners of the annual Thornshire Renaissance Faire prepare to run the event for the second time on their own.
Kobie Atkinson and her husband Robert Atkinson bought the faire from a friend and ran the event for the first time as the soul owners last year and work to incorporate their own flare.
The Atkinsons added is a storyline element to the faire's set up. Guests can follow the faire’s schedule and observe story lines and can join by taking on.
“I like to kind of think of it, almost like a live action video game,” Kobie Atkinson said. “There are certain set scenes that paly out that are in set spaces…then there are also characters you can interact with, and they’ll send you on quests. So, you can go and collect things, or you can go and find things and bring them back to people.”
Robert Atkison said this year’s theme is inspired by elements of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night’s Dream," incorporating elements like fairies. He and Kobie say they plan to hold two fae-themed feasts which are not included in the purchase of an average admission ticket.
“The one is called the Fae Friends Feast, and the other is the Fae King’s Feast,” Robert Atkinson said. “At the Fairy Friends Feast we’ll have a dance that will be led, kind of a circular, old-timey dance and then at the King’s Feast there will be a fire performer.”
In addition to the faire’s story line set up and special feasts, the event will include local and out of state vendors.
“We’ve got vendors from all over the area,” Robert Atkinson said. “They provide different kinds of things that you can purchase and buy from their booth, which include anything from books that they’ve actually written to handmade leathers and soaps. You can get your hair styled, swords and armor and corsets and those kinds of things.”
For more information and ticket purchases, you can visit their website here.
To hear more from the Atkinsons, listen to the full interview on BYU-Idaho Radio’s podcast on Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.