For the past month, Tampa has been hosting the Bay Area Renaissance Festival at The Museum of Science and Industry, which will continue until March 20th. According to the Renaissance Festival website, this event has been going strong for 38 years and continues to attract huge crowds. Those who attend the festival are taken out of the 21st century and immersed in a 16th century atmosphere complete with merchants, jousting and live entertainment including mermaids, acrobatics, and comedy shows. The festival also has themed events each weekend. This upcoming weekend, March 5th and 6th, will be “Shamrocks and Shenanigans”. It will feature Irish dancers, a Celtic village, and a kilt contest.

Osceola junior Marilyn Harrington attended the Renaissance Festival this past weekend. “I’ve gone every year since the seventh grade,” Harrington said. “I just love it. It has a happy atmosphere.”

According to Harrington, a particular pull factor of the festival is the goods sold there. The Renaissance Festival offers a number of items for purchase including Celtic symbol necklaces, toy swords, and Renaissance garb. Her favorite part of the festival, though, was “The Splatter Time Players Mud Show.”

“It was a skit with two men arguing about who should run the Mud Show,” Harrington continued. “They told stories about love and losing love, and they jumped into a mud pit at the end.”

Ticket prices at the gates for adults are $20.95, children 5 to 12 are $12.95, and seniors 62 and older are $16.95. Other prices for events and season passes can be found on the festival’s official website.