In just a few short months, Neosho will see a new festival.
The two-day event will be held on Saturday, July 24, and Sunday, July 25, in Morse Park. Hours are from 10 a.m. to dusk July 24, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 25.
For the last two years, the festival was in the Joplin area. The organizers decided to move it to Neosho.
“I really am excited to come to Neosho. I like Neosho, I like the feel, it has a very welcoming approach,” said Kittye Williams owner / general manager and entertainment director with Missouri Renaissance Festival. “I like the people.”
The performers, from the Kansas City metro area, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas, will be dressed in period costume.
“The setting is going to be in Drogheda on the Boyne, County Louth, Ireland, in the year 1510,” Williams said. “King Henry the 8th or Henry the Tudor, is on the throne. He has married his brother’s widow, Katherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, so that all ties in with Columbus going to America. We are an English garrison town, in that we live in the pale, which is the English plantation of eastern Ireland, we are north of Dublin. We are also a major port, we sit on the River Boyne, which empties into the Irish Sea. So we have got a lot of reasons to have pirates running amok, mercenaries, because we are a merchant port.”
Williams anticipates that between the performers to volunteers, there will be 100 to 200 people.
But, she anticipates that between 300 to 10,000 spectators will attend this unique event.
“Everybody who works the festival will be in costume,” Williams said. “Costume and clothing style changed very slowly back then so you might have somebody that is wearing a medieval tunic that looks very worn and threadbare, or you might have someone that is in the height of fashion, which (includes) big huge skirts. It will be a range from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich, and it can span several years.”
They plan on a live steel combat group and an all-female jousting troupe. There will be no alcohol or profanity involved.
“Every actor lives by three tenants to educate the patron, to make the patron feel good about themselves, and to make them smile,” she said.
Tickets prices are 5 and younger are free, children 6-12 are $3, 13 to 59 are $5, elderly 60 plus are $3 and military are $3.
