This Festival is a full day of entertainment and pageantry as history comes alive with hundreds of costumed characters re-creating a 16th Century European Marketplace. It's a 25-acre outdoor, open air village nestled in the forest and meadows, complete with castles, cottages, kitchens and pubs, filled with activities. You'll find music, comedy and theater, food and drink, fine hand-made arts and crafts, artisan demonstrations, games and rides.

Click to view the listing of performers.

Click to view the 2025 Entertainment Schedule of Events.

Click to view the Craft and Vendor listing for the Artisan Marketplace.

Click to learn about the Festival’s Games & Rides.

The annual Carolina Renaissance Festival returns Saturdays and Sundays, from October 4th through November 23rd, 2025.

The Festival day kicks off with a pre-Opening Gate Show at 9:05 a.m. and gates are open from 9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.

The Festival is open rain or shine unless extreme weather or unsafe conditions beyond the Festival’s control inhibit its ability to park vehicles or operate safely. Scheduled performances on open rain days may be revised or modified for safety.

Most of the 140 vendors inside the Village Artisan Marketplace, including Food & Beverage concessions, are cash only due to limited access to stable internet at the still rural Festival property.

Cash is King! 20 ATM machines are located throughout the village and wait times for the machines can be long. Plan to arrive with cash in hand.

The price of admission includes all the performances on stage and off, including the popular Tournament Jousting, Falconry Presentations, Swimming Mermaids exhibit and Petting Farm.

You may choose to purchase arts and craft items, food and beverages, or rides and games.

And you may choose to show appreciation to performers who are permitted to solicit tips and/or offer their own souvenir merchandise for sale.

Click here for detailed ticket price information.

And click here to learn how to save on the price of admission.

And click here to buy tickets.

Festival tickets are now date specific. Date specific tickets are valid for attendance only on the specific Festival date selected at purchase.

Date specific tickets cannot be exchanged for an alternative date. Date specific tickets are also limited in availability with a finite quantity made available for sale per each Festival date. Advance purchase is encouraged. Dates can “sell out” meaning that no more tickets are available for sale online nor at the onsite ticket office.

Date specific tickets will be made available for sale online at the Festival website, while ticket supplies last for your selected date. If an event day is sold out, only those in possession of tickets will be admitted into the Festival. If a date does not sell out, tickets will continue to be made available for sale on the Festival website and for sale onsite at the Festival’s ticket office, while ticket supplies last.

On sold out dates, tickets will not be released later in the day. On sold out dates, exceptions cannot be made for any reason. We understand that you may have traveled a great distance to attend, or it may be a special occasion, or you may be with a group that has already secured their tickets. Regrettably, exceptions cannot be made. Sold out means there are no more tickets left to sell.

Festival tickets will no longer be offered for sale at retail partner locations such as Harris Teeter stores. Please visit a Harris Teeter store near you starting mid-September for a one time use discount admission coupon, available while supplies last, redeemable online at the Festival website to save $2 on your date specific tickets when purchased online.

Click here to buy tickets.

On some occasions, the Festival will “pause” the sale of tickets for a specific date. This does not mean that the date has sold out of tickets.

A pause typically occurs when the long term weather forecast remains unknown and advanced ticket sales for a specific date have reached the limit for available usable parking if it were to rain.

The Festival is open rain or shine except for extreme weather conditions that sometimes can inhibit the ability to utilize all parking fields or safely operate events. (If the Festival cannot open at all on a specific date, a 100% refund is automatically issued to all purchasers of tickets for that date.)

Tickets are placed on pause to be certain enough usable parking remains available for those who have already purchased tickets.

The sale of tickets will resume, with additional tickets being made available for sale for that specific date, if and when the weather forecast becomes known to be favorable.

Favorable weather conditions will allow for more favorable parking field conditions that can accommodate the additional attendance.

Tickets for a date that which sales have been “paused” can still be reserved in advance, for if later released, by joining a waitlist.

Waitlisted tickets are released in the order of waitlist reservations received. Click here to learn more about the waitlist.

The safety of attendees and participants is our highest importance. The Festival is open rain or shine except on rare occasions when forced to close due to very extreme weather or unsafe site conditions beyond the Festival’s control. If the Festival is unable to open, a full refund including the online ticket service fee, will be automatically issued by the online ticket service provider and you are welcome to purchase another ticket for an available event day if the date is not sold out. Tickets are non-exchangeable and cannot be changed for an alternative date after purchase.

Refunds will not be issued on an inclement weather day where the Festival remains open. The Festival preforming cast and crew does their very best to ensure that a rainy day remains entertaining and fun with some scheduled performances possibly revised or modified for safety, if needed.

The Festival’s online ticket service provider works with a third-party insurance company (independent of the festival) to offer ticket purchasers the option to buy a policy that insures your ticket purchase for a refund, under the policy’s specific terms and conditions. The additional insurance fee is optional and modest, based on a percentage of your total ticket order dollar amount, and presented to you as a selection option during your online ticket purchase. For those that opt to not purchase the third-party provided insurance, tickets remain non-refundable and non-exchangeable for an alternative date after they have been purchased. Ticket insurance, refunds and rescheduling is not available on tickets that have been discounted 100%, such as those awarded to promotional contest winners. Click here to view the insurance policy terms and conditions.

The Festival’s new admission program with date specific tickets is akin to any concert, sporting event, theatre show, etc. Tickets might sell out and therefore advance planning and ticket purchasing is recommended. Tickets will go on sale in the summer. Don’t wait! Save a date!

On dates that have sold out, the Festival will be utilizing changeable message signs along the roadways to inform drivers that the Festival day has sold out with admission allowed for ticket holders only. Additionally, updates will be posted on Festival social media and website.

The decision to change the Festival’s ticketing and discount programs was preceded by months of careful consideration, research, and consult with experts in the industry of large, date specific ticketed events.  

The result is a belief that if event days sell out, it will occur in the days leading up to each event weekend. If this proves to be true, ample tickets will remain available for sale in September when coupons are released. 

If we find that our research proves to be incorrect, we will work to adapt for future seasons.

Click for more information including coupon locations and promotions.

Regrettably, the Festival is unable to assist in facilitating reselling of tickets due to the shear number of scam sellers that try to exploit buyers.

We have no means of knowing / checking if sellers are legitimate and cannot dedicate resources to do so.

If you do transfer ownership of your existing tickets to another person, we encourage you contact support@bigtickets.com with request to have the owner name that appears on the ticket changed to the name of the new person.

Click here for more information about transferring ticket ownership.

The Festival’s third-party online service provider is a ticketing agency called BigTickets. The BigTickets system has internal measures in place to monitor and prevent the mass purchasing of tickets. Suspected abusers are flagged and banned from completing ticket transactions using the BigTickets system. Additionally, the number of tickets available for an individual to purchase is limited to 14 or less per each ticket type. Individuals interested in purchasing 15 or more tickets can do so via our group discount ticket program and can email tickets@renfestinfo.com for further details.

Seniors and Military:

Have a refreshment on us! Seniors (age 65 & over) and Military Personnel are invited to present their I.D. at the Festival’s onsite ticket office to receive a voucher valid for a single complimentary soda, iced tea, or bottled water at the festival kitchens (up to a $3 value).

Group Discounts:

The Festival offers groups of 15 or more people a $2 per ticket discount. A single adult group organizer also receives a single free complimentary admission ticket (not counted towards the 15-person minimum). Group Discounted tickets will be date specific and made available for purchase online at the Festival website, activated via promo code, and while ticket supplies last. Groups interested in this discount opportunity can inquire at tickets@renfestinfo.com to receive a promo code.

The Season Pass program will not be changed and a pass will continue to be valid for admission on all Festival dates. The limit quantity of date specific admission tickets made available for sale per each date has been determined with Season Pass attendance in mind. Individuals interested in season passes can inquire at tickets@renfestinfo.com

Pirates! Superheros! Halloween! In addition to all the great renaissance themed activities and entertainment happening each and every Festival date, the Festival also offers a variety of Special Themed Events and Discount Admission Opportunities.

Click here to learn about Special Event Themed Weekends.

Click here to learn about Discount Admission Opportunities.

Yes. As you exit the front gate or rear exit, you may have your hand stamped in order to re-enter the Festival that same day. You will not be permitted to exit the village with any type drink in hand due to alcohol control rules.

No outside food and drink is permitted through the Festival Main Gate with exception of one factory sealed bottle of water per person. Click here to view the Festival’s Food & Beverage options. Those with concerns pertaining to dietary allergies can request special accommodations by contacting our Food & Beverage Department by clicking here.

We do not allow pets to be brought into the park by visitors because of the great variety of performing animals in the Festival.

Pets are not permitted on the festival grounds; however, service animals are not considered pets by the federal government and are welcome at The Carolina Renaissance Festival.

Under the American Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal is defined as a dog or miniature horse that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.

ADA is also clear that emotional support, therapy, comfort, or companion animals are not considered service animals and, therefore, are not permitted in the festival.

Please understand that your service animal may be excluded, and you may be asked to leave the premises if the service animal is disruptive, the handler is unable to take effective control of the service animal, the service animal is not housebroken and not cleaned up after, or causes the animals in performances at our event to behave aggressively or become agitated.

We want all our guests to have a safe and enjoyable experience at the festival.

The Festival is an outdoor event. We suggest you dress for the day’s weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. We reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone dressed in a manner that may be deemed by Festival management as offensive. No clothing with written obscenities, violent or sexual images, excessively revealing or transparent fabrics, and offensive symbols. Shirts and shoes are required.

You are welcome to come dressed in costume and costumes are available for rental just outside the Festival gates. Adult sizes range in price from $18 - $65 (average $39) and Child sizes range in price from $8 to $25 (average $14). Costume rental booth is operated by Belrose Costume Rentals.

The Festival hosts a variety of performers that include those trained and insured to use specialty props while maintaining awareness of safety for themselves and their audience.

And as a performance venue with paid admission, all musicians are provided strict music copyright laws to adhere to.

Additionally, select performers and all musicians are permitted to solicit and accept tips from the audience in addition to compensation provided by the Festival, as a supplemental means of earning a living.

It is for all these reasons and more that patrons are very welcome to attend, interact, play, and have fun, with the following considerations:

Patrons are to take care to not interrupt or disrupt a performance in action by joining it without invitation.

Patrons are not welcome to play with props, enter with nor play musical instruments, walk in stilts, nor accept or solicit tips.

Costumed patrons can gift / trade “trinkets” (small themed gifts) under the following guidelines:

1) Only small items are permitted for trading.

2) Please refrain from using items that are of similar design as items made available in the village by vendors and/or performers.

3) Trinkets may only be used for the purpose of trading for other trinkets.

4) You may not sell nor accept any monetary payment for your trinkets. 

Furthermore, patrons soliciting and/or accepting tips by other patrons is not permitted.  Only select performers are permitted to solicit and accept tips from patrons in addition to compensation provided by the Festival, as a supplemental means of earning a living.  Please refrain from tipping performers in trinkets.

5) Do not attempt to barter your trinkets for any merchandise with a vendor.

6) Do not trade any trinkets with children to prevent any possibility of choking hazards. Trinkets intended for children must be provided to the attentive adults accompanying the child. 

7) Please be considerate of those who do not wish to participate in trinket trading.

Management and safety services will request that patrons stop participating in this activity if violation of these guidelines are seen or reported.

Your understanding is greatly appreciated.

Costume blades of any type (swords, daggers, axes, spear heads and arrow heads) must be blunted, properly sheathed, and peace tied with red twine or ribbon at all times. Arrows are to remain tied together and tied inside the quiver.

Prop and/or replica firearms having any capability of launching projectiles and/or making sounds of gunfire are not permitted.

Prop crossbows having any capability of launching projectiles are not permitted.

All prop weapons must be presented to Safety Services Personnel at the Festival Main Gate.

The Festival is hosted on private property. Signs are posted on the property notifying all visitors that open carry and concealed carry firearms of any type are prohibited.

The Festival is held in a natural, outdoor wooded setting. Wheelchairs and other accessibility devices are encouraged. There is a mild grade and firmly packed ground. Since we are an outdoor event, Festival pathways vary from grass, dirt and some graveled lanes. We have accessible parking and ADA compliant portable restrooms.

Strollers, wheelchairs, electric mobility scooters, and wagons are available to rent on a first-come, first serve basis at the Belrose Costume Rental shop located just outside the Festival gates. Weather permitting.

Prices are:

Wagons $25.00

Strollers $20.00

Wheelchairs $30.00

Scooters $65 for the day or $12 per hour with a 4 hour minimum and a 325 lb weight limit.

* Prices include tax.

The Festival has ample onsite parking and it is FREE courtesy of Harris Teeter. Click for MUST KNOW information about your commute to the Festival.

The Festival greatly appreciates the school students and chaperones that have time traveled to the Carolina Renaissance Festival to enjoy a field trip experience like no other. Unfortunately, due to too many reasons to detail, the Carolina Renaissance Festival is unable to offer the Student Day Program until further notice.