Age of Chivalry festival returns to Sunset Park Oct. 9-11

Once a year, wizards, knights, knaves, wenches, pirates, elves and walking trees get together and prove that anyone can get along if you have enough mead, merriment and malarkey.

The Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival returns Oct. 9-11 to Sunset Park, 2601 E. Sunset Road. It is set to feature live entertainment with music, jugglers, stage combat, specialty acts and more and a large vendor area. There are also several historical re-enactment groups, games of skill and other attractions, including camel rides. Most of the long-time attractions will be returning with a few tweaks and additions.

The Chiver Me Timbers Pirate Raft Ride is set to take advantage of the park's pond to provide entertainment on a scaled-down version of the high seas (it's spelled Chiver as a play on Chivalry).

The raft ride is the brainchild of Gary Slaten, who is set to operate both a pirate cruise around the pond's island for $5 and a water taxi from the vendor's area to the boat launch ramp on the southwest corner of the pond for $1.

"We did it last year, and it was a lot of fun," Slaten said. "This year, we added a big walk-through building before you get to the boats. It's kind of a mini 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' "

After a one-year hiatus, "Gladius" is returning to the festival. The long-running, Roman gladiatorial arena show is set to return to its roots with staged battles, including the emperor entering the arena for combat.

"It's a group of fun people with a lot of talent who enjoy rising to the challenge," said organizer Steven Dietrich. "Over the year, when a new person would come in with a new talent, we found a way to incorporate it into the show. It got to the point where we needed to pull back and re-evaluate and bring back a stripped-down show and not have everything spread too thin."

One of the aspects Dietrich enjoys about the festival is the wide variety of groups and guilds involved in it.

"Age of Chivalry is unique in that it isn't as focused on the sales aspects of it," Dietrich said. "The county has done a really good job of bringing together all these groups and letting them exist and interact with one another."

While some fairs get bogged down in remaining true to a specific period, the Las Vegas festival has always been open to a wide range of historical re-enactors from different time periods and even fantasy characters. It isn't unusual to see the puff-and-slash sleeves on a painstakingly recreated 13th century German mercenary's outfit being admired by someone dressed in a costume from a "Dungeons & Dragons" book.

"One thing we've done to mix it up a little this year is organizing the groups and guilds into villages," said Brian Saliba, special events administrator/supervisor for Clark County Parks and Recreation. "You'll walk through an English village into a Roman village and so on. It's going to add to the fun."

The popular dinner theater event is set to return this year with several changes. The former organizers and their bawdy show aren't set to return this year. Instead, a new group is to bring "Camp Sam-A-Lot" to the festival.

"The dinner theater is benefiting Camp Sam, our 501(c)(3) charity that takes handicapped adults to summer camp," said Tina Christoffersen, who organizes the charity and the dinner theater with her husband, John. "There are a lot of charities for mentally handicapped kids, but once they turn 18, they are sort of forgotten."

The charity is getting an assist from Cirque du Soleil, with performers providing the entertainment during the buffet dinner. The meal is set to be $49, and beer and wine will be available for purchase.

For customers with deeper pockets, a VIP table is planned, with finer dining and wait staff. Details are available at campsamusa.org.

The Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 9 and 10 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 11. Tickets are $13 for adults and $8 for seniors and children in advance and $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and children at the gate. Three-day tickets are available for $30 for adults and $20 for seniors and children and are available at the gate Friday only and in advance at tinyurl.com/aoc2015. Parking is free at Sunset Park. Overflow parking (with free shuttle service) will be available at Del Sol High School, 3100 E. Patrick Lane, beginning after 5 p.m. Oct. 9, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Oct. 10 and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct 11. For more information, visit lvrenfair.com.

— To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.