Annual Las Vegas Renaissance festival forced to relocate

Thousands of locals and tourists strap on a tunic, clothing you can stick magnets to, several cows worth of leather or squeeze size-15 bosoms into a size-3 corset to attend the Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival.

For most of its 18 years, the festival has circled the lake at Sunset Park, 2601 E. Sunset Road. This year the event will make a temporary move to Silver Bowl Park, 6800 E. Russell Road.

Sunset Park is in the middle of a multi-stage renovation. The first phase wrapped up and was dedicated in mid-December. That phase included 140 acres of some of the under-used portions of the park. The second phase, currently under way, includes renovations of the lake and its surrounding areas .

The first Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival, a one-day event launched in Paradise Park at 4775 S. McLeod Drive, drew just a few hundred visitors. The festival has since grown to a three-day and -night affair packed with internationally known bands, vendors from across the country and multiple stages and combat arenas.

Initially, Clark County officials announced the festival would relocate to Desert Breeze Park, 8275 W. Spring Mountain Road, but the setting was soon shifted to Silver Bowl Park, on the east side of the valley near Sam Boyd Stadium.

The announcement caused a bit of a stir on the Age of Chivalry-Renaissance Festival Facebook page, with visitors complaining about the lack of shade and the non-central valley location. Others pointed out some of the positive aspects of the new site.

"The parking's better," said Tony Decker with the Greenwood Revelers, a Ren Faire guild focused on fantasy. "I was out there awhile ago and it's got enough space."

It was clear from the posts that there also was some confusion caused by the name of the park. Sam Boyd Stadium was for a time named the Silver Bowl and then Sam Boyd Silver Bowl. There are some in the valley who still call it by that name. A Google map search for "Silver Bowl Las Vegas" directs visitors to the stadium and Old Silver Bowl Park, east of the stadium, although it labels the park "Silver Bowl Park."

Old Silver Bowl Park consists of two baseball fields on the edge of the Clark County Wetlands Park, and it is considerably smaller than the area the festival occupied at Sunset Park. Silver Bowl Park is a large complex of sports fields west of Sam Boyd Stadium that is larger than the Sunset Park space.

Silver Bowl Park does lack trees, a lake and rolling terrain, but the move is temporary. The park is less than a mile from the Russell Road exit off U.S. Highway 95.

"There is plenty of parking at Sam Boyd Stadium, which has no events that weekend," said event organizer Brian Saliba. "There was no way to do it at Sunset Park this year, but the event is so popular that we needed to do something."

Many of the details, including the band line up and layout of the space, haven't been finalized. But plans for the festival still include the usual historical re-enactment groups, medieval vendors, jousting, pomp, circumstance and the ever-popular giant turkey legs and beer.

One thing that may be missing is the large wooden castle the Greenwood Revelers erect most years.

"A lot of the group are stagehands," Decker said. "There just happens to be a lot of events going on that week, so our guys might not have time to put it up."

The work on Sunset Park is expected to continue through late 2012, so the festival isn't likely to return to the park until October 2013. Decker said he understands the temporary change of venue.

"There's nothing we can do about it," he said. "It's that or not have the festival this year. I'd rather have the festival."

The festival is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 7 and 8 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 9 at Silver Bowl Park. Admission is $10 per day for adults and $5 per day for seniors and children 5 to 12. Tickets will be available through ticketmaster.com. For more information, visit lvrenfair.com.

Contact Sunrise and Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 380-4532.