History

32nd Annual Iowa Renaissance Festival
May 25-26-27 & June 1-2 / Oct 12-13, 2024 • 10 am – 6 pm
Middle Amana Community Park (“Medici Grove”) – Amana Colonies, Iowa

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2020 marks the 29th anniversary of the Iowa Renaissance Festival. Here is a brief timeline:

  • 1992 — Festival International of Clear Lake, Iowa, is founded and the first Iowa Renaissance Festival is held at the North Iowa Fairgrounds in Mason City.
  • 1993 — Iowa Renaissance Festival became a two weekend event, with the first weekend in Mason City, and the second weekend at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.
  • 1993-1999 – The festival operated as a two weekend Fall event at the Iowa State Faireground in Des Moines.
  • 2000 — Iowa Renaissance Festival moves to Middle Amana Park in the heart of Iowa County.
  • 2006 — Iowa Renaissance Festival moves from its traditional Labor Day Weekend to new Spring dates. (The original dates were now being used by the Des Moines Renaissance Faire, also produced by Festivals International.)
  • 2016 — Iowa Renaissance Faire will celebrate 25 years of family fun as it transitions to new ownership for the next 25 years (and beyond!).
  • 2017 – The festival returns to being a two weekend event! It was originally two weekends during its years in Des Moines.
  • 2019 – Our sister event, the Des Moines Renaissance Faire, resumes operation at its new location near Saylorville, Iowa. (It is no longer at Sleepy Hollow Sports Park.)
  • 2020 — The Covid-19 pandemic causes the Spring event to be rescheduled to October 10 and 11, 2020. This is the first time IRF has been a Fall event since 2005.

Check back for more updates to this page, including photos from past events.

See Also

Be sure to check out some of these other Festivals International and Midwest Festivals events:

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Co-produced by Mike Amos/Midwest Festivals and Gregory Schmidt/Festivals International.