Downtown McGregor will transform into a land of magic and merriment this weekend, when The Left Bank Shop and Gallery hosts the Driftless Realm Renaissance Festival. Activities are planned from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 5 and 6, in the Triangle Park area.
The event builds on a renaissance fair-themed special exhibit The Left Bank organized last year.
“We had such an overwhelming response to it. I was getting asked, ‘Are we going bigger? Are we going outside?’ I said, ‘You know what? I can,’” said Camille Sweet, director at The Left Bank. “It started out as we were just going to do a one-day, Saturday event. But we had so many people who were so interested in it that we had to do a full festival.”
With the closest renaissance festivals several hours away, Sweet feels McGregor is in a prime location to host an event.
“With such a growing festival circuit happening and with so many people interested in ren fests—so many people wanting the costuming, the cosplay aspects, the vendors who are making handmade things—why can’t we be the next big place?” Sweet said. “We have the backdrop. We have the community.”
Driftless Realm will incorporate some of the same local artists and makers as last year’s exhibit, including felt artist Jena Kreul and Kelli Boylen, who uses recycled materials to create capes and ethically sourced bones for jewelry and wind chimes, in addition to beautiful crowns.
Also be on the lookout for gothic-inspired, architectural paintings, along with a magical market, witch’s hat maker and more.
There will even be portrait artists, a psychic medium and a hair braider who will bedazzle your hair with colors and tinsel.
“Each vendor stall should be something completely different than the next one,” Sweet said.
Participate in trinket trading and collect a Driftless Realm Renaissance Festival button
Other Driftless Realm highlights include trivia at noon each day and a Monty Python-style joust, where knights will ride hobby horses.
“They’re not real horses at all, and they have to have a squire behind them making the horse sounds, or else their horse can’t go anywhere. And the lance is a giant pool noodle. So that’s super fun and silly,” Sweet shared. “These are volunteers from our community who were like, ‘Yes, we will dress up and we will play silly games with you.’”
Watch the jousts at 2 p.m. each day and knights trials at 4 p.m. These strong person competitions are open to all.
“We’ll be doing small knights trials for young squires who want to show off how strong they are as well,” Sweet said.
Make your way to the witches area and the fae area. The fairies won’t talk, Sweet noted, but will hand out trinkets and blow bubbles with you.
“We also have a thieves guild that will be going around stealing things from different areas and trying to recruit people into their thieves guild,” she said.
Sweet herself will be “Head of the Realm.”
“I get to walk around with a clipboard and give people citations for not being whimsical enough. I’m excited,” she quipped. “People will be watching our visitors and their whimsy level, the costuming, the character they built. That’s how we’re going to crown our king and queen for the ren fest. We’ll probably do one each day.”
Sweet believes ren fests are a good opportunity to “put your adult brain down for a second and go play.” Driftless Realm won’t have rules like other festivals, and admission is free and open to all.
For those without ren fest experience, the atmosphere may also be less intimidating than larger events in places like Shakopee and Bristol.
“There’s no way you can see everything in one day there,” Sweet said. “We’re a smaller, more intimate, location. You have more time to meander and enjoy everything. It’s a little bit more relaxed.”
Activities will even expand beyond the Driftless Realm grounds. Many McGregor businesses will offer specials or activities centered around the renaissance festival.
“Our whole community is playing with us,” Sweet said. “You’re encouraged to wander and explore what else the whole town has to offer. Then you can always come back to the fairgrounds.”
Driftless Realm complements Labor Day End of Summer Blast activities in Marquette too.
“Gates open at 10 a.m. You can come and walk around, get something to eat, buy some stuff, then go to Marquette for the parade at 1 p.m. Then come back, do some more shopping, grab a turkey leg, whatever. We close down at 7 with a drum circle. Everybody comes together and ends the night harmoniously. Then you can go watch fireworks with your family [in Marquette]. That’s absolutely perfect,” she said.
Sweet hopes the Driftless Realm Renaissance Festival can grow each year. It will draw a different demographic of tourists, making McGregor even more of a destination.
Those visitors will see the magic of McGregor, according to Sweet.
“We already know that our community is magical. We know the river does something special, and we know these hills are magic. We watch them bloom and grow throughout the seasons. Now we get to invite more people to see this,” she reflected. “It makes me so proud to be from McGregor, and to be able to do this kind of thing for our community.”
