Michigan Renaissance Festival — Local services in Groveland Township

I fail to understand how this place is still receiving positive reviews. It has gone so far downhill over the years, it might as well be incorporated into Mt. Holly next door.

The Good: At times, cool atmosphere. When you find the right little slice of the place at just the right time, it's very cool.

The Bad: Pretty much everything else. Let's go point by point, shall we?

The Parking. Expect to wait in line on Dixie Highway for up to, maybe over an hour, crawling along slower than walking pace (seriously, people will park far away and walk the entire distance, and get in ahead of you). The parking lot is a grass field, and along with that comes every potential problem of parking on a grass field - ruts, divots, tall grass full of bugs, mud, etc. Parking is now $15 on top of event tickets and there's no guarantee you'll be allowed in by the time you get there - if the lot is full, you'll simply be turned away without warning. Hope you didn't spend an hour in line, because it was for nothing!

The next attraction between the parking lot and the festival proper, is a row of unkempt Portable Toilets. I understand that they can't be IN the park because there's no way for a truck to get to them to load/unload them, but they're so far away from the park gates, you'd better pray you doing have a toilet emergency. Frankly, you'd better pray you don't need to use the toilet AT ALL, due to how absolutely unmaintained they are. They aren't cleaned, they aren't stocked, they're frequently out of toilet paper, the portable hand-washing stations run out of water and soap... and this can happen by late morning. And should fate frown upon you so badly that you DO need to use one, expect to wait in line for no less than 15 minutes.

Wait in another line to gain entry to the park. Whether the line moves fast or slow seems to be a flip of a coin.

There does not seem to be ANY effort to control crowd sizes. Sell as many tickets as possible, no cap on admission. This results in crowds so dense that you have to fight your way to the back corridors of the park just to have breathing room. Lines for concessions are RIDICULOUS, like 30 to 60 minutes or longer. Get in cash only line? Sorry about your luck, go to the back of the Card line. No, we won't install signs that people can read BEFORE they get in line, that would be ridiculous...

The kid attractions usually aren't very busy. Did that sound like a Positive? It is, until you know the reason why - it's because people aren't bringing their kids as much anymore, because this is no longer a kid-friendly experience. Vulgar language used by performers, sexually provocative outfits worn by guests, the entire park enveloped by a cloud of pot smoke at any given moment, very little shade, crowds that overwhelm small children... Absolutely FORGET IT if you intend to bring children who require a stroller, moving around is a complete nightmare. Having to jog half a mile back out of the park to get to the toilets with a kid who is having a toilet emergency is a deal breaker - I'm amazed that they don't have at least a few porta toilets JUST FOR FAMILY usage in secured areas or something.

Continuing the point about vulgarity... at some point, it seems that the Ren Fest has become a playground for people to come and "express themselves". Some people wear great period-appropriate costumes that they spend a lot of time crafting, and it's great. Others show up in what is best described as "fetishistic" apparel that has been reigned in just enough to dodge public indecency charges. I don't know what is "renaissance" about Furries, but somehow they pass dress code. It just seems that instead of everyone adhering to the medieval theme and at least making a half-attempt at period-correct attire, more and more people are conflating whatever niche fetish culture they're into with "renaissance" and polluting the entire event. If those people want to go to an event for that stuff, hey that's great, no hate from me... but do you really have to bring it HERE?

Not worth the...

We have been coming here for multiple years and generally always have a good time. However, there are issues we've gotten used to that should be addressed as many of the negative reviews point out.

Parking/Waiting to Park/Exiting - This has been an issue as long as I can remember. Lines for food but most importantly, water - There should be more small booths that only sell water or simply make water for sale at every food/drink booth. Seeing multiple people over the course of the day rushed to first aid is not a good look.

It's time to try some new things and since this festival runs over multiple weeks there is an opportunity to do so and tweak as needed based on what worked and didn't work. Maybe it's time to try only selling a limited number of tickets and see how that affects the parking and lines situation. Figure out the number of people the event can actually handle.

2023 Update: MI RenFest charges for parking now but it did seem to be smoother. Still needs improvement. Was expecting the mud walkway to the fairgrounds to be a lot worse than it was. It was still muddy but did seem like they at least added some woodchips. Still needs improvement. Trash was under control early in the day but as it got later and busier it got worse and worse. Needs to be better, it was pretty disgusting. Food/drink lines, still awful. Either need to lessen attendance, increase the number of options, or improve processes. Some places were out of food items and not covering the sign for the item that was out. Others were repeatedly running out of items. Doesn't seem like many booths prep before opening hours so if you're hungry early, good luck. Wine/Beer tasting. Years ago this used to be really good, lots of vendors and options, decent pours. This is getting smaller and sadder. It's to the point where it's like why bother even having it if you're going to put 4 tables in a small tent with tiny pours. Theme weekends. Hardly any effort put into these at all. Sweet endings had a couple booths and a couple food trucks with sweet treats. If there wasn't a small sign for sweet endings before the area you'd never have known that was the theme of this weekend. Those booths could have been there every weekend for all I knew with how little theming there was. Incredibly lazy. Maybe spread the theme weekend stuff to other parts of the grounds or get performers and other stores involved somehow instead of shoving it all in one section of the grounds that...

Been to the festival every year since 1995. Every year since 2017 I become more black pilled on going. I thought when we started paying $10 for parking last year, with a quarter of a million guests every year that we would start seeing better maintenance of the grounds at a minimum, but no. I understand perfectly well that they have to pay a company to park us in a field and that all makes sense, but even if there were 4 guests per vehicle (a generous conservative metric) that still net them over half a million at last years rate. Does a parking company cost half a million dollars for 8-9 weekends of work? somehow I'm skeptical. So the 50% hike in parking for this year felt incredibly bold considering that last years money hasn't gone back into improving the experience. It breaks my heart that the rose tinted glasses seem to slip further each year as benches and tables rot to disrepair, the castle walls crumble away exposing the steel mesh, the quality of the food has declined while prices increase rather than at least maintain quality. I've watched families abandon their strollers as they're taken by the swamp path they are forced to traverse. The same path that had full sheets of particle board laid down in the mud, causing many to slip and fall, injuring themselves when trying to make their way in or out. The "Privy" being out of water or hand sanitizer by 2pm whilst the human waste breaches the surface in every stall in every location on the grounds. Finally, the trash has plagued the fair like no other problem the last 3 years like I've never seen before and is entirely unacceptable for the amount being solicited from each patron. It's a base $45 to get in the gate with parking now and I cannot find an answer as to what that goes towards aside from the cast, which seems to be the only redeeming quality now. The people who work in character do a fantastic job and are severely underappreciated for what they bring, they ARE the fair now. If you do manage to get a solid seat for a show, remember that they survive on the guests generosity, not the festivals. Your ticket only covers your option to stiff the performers. The people watching is all I have left aside from bringing the kids once a year. I grieve a once cherished experience and am losing hope with each passing season. I wish it didn't have to be this way, I wish it didn't have to...