Historical Tourist: Red Lodge Festival Before the Flood

The Montana Renaissance Festival (not to be confused with the new Montana Renaissance Faire) occurs annually out of Red Lodge, Montana. The town is most well-known for its location at the foot of the Beartooth Highway. More established than its northern counterpart event, the Montana Renaissance Festival takes place the first weekend in June, and just this year narrowly missed--by two weeks--the excessive flooding that affected the town and surrounding area.

Equipped with an extensive marketplace, long list of performers, and this year, the arena grounds for space, the Montana Ren Fest saw a lot of foot traffic for an out-of-the-way small town in Montana. The crowd very easily got clogged up heading through the gate when the joust had to be moved from the very muddy arena. The lines for food were long and often took upwards of 20 to 30 minutes to get through. While this could be considered a downside, the sheer popularity and amicability of the crowds made the experience worth-while. Many of the vendors and performers were cleared out relatively early on the second day, having taken on quite a bit of business the previous day and/or having completed their performances for the weekend.

The highlights--as has been the case in the fairs and festivals I've been to so far--were the stalls, particularly those where the vendors have clearly spent a long time at their craft. Leather workers and wood workers were particularly high on that list this year. One stall even had wheeled pull-toys in the shape of brightly colored dragons. There were a few apparel stalls that heralded a good variety of basic medieval garments, some in simple tunics, others in flamboyant, more Renaissance-like fare. Practically every other stall had some assortment of outfit accessory available. From bags to add to your outfit on a belt to hair and regular jewelry, a diverse variety of styles and items could be found in Red Lodge.

Performers were of amicable cheer, and included a ventriloquist (pirate dummy included!), various musicians (all on period-accurate instruments), and a very thoroughly-rehearsed troupe of acrobats. While the morning parade on the day of opening was more of a procession of variously-garbed performers and vendors, the enthusiasm of those involved greatly eclipsed what little overall glitz could have been added. The hosts were cordial and sociable, and the high spirits made what could have been a long weekend of nothing but shop-browsing (were you inclined to skip the performances) an absolute treat. The only thing that may have been revised to add some kind of assistance to the tourists would have been the stage locations and scheduled performances listing; the system for this isn't immediately apparent.

Outside of the Festival itself, Red Lodge offered a fine variety of mostly-local food establishments. There are many very nice eateries along the main drive, and quite a few are pizza and grill places. However, there are quite a few other options for those seeking something different. Being a largely tourism-oriented town, it was saddening to hear of the flooding affecting southern Montana in the month of June. Red Lodge was one of those towns affected, and seeing the waters rushing down the main street that I had been driving along only weeks prior was startling. While disaster funds have been allocated to the area, I still hope that the tourism industry on which the town thrives will come to its aid to help sustain and revitalize the town in its time of need. And next summer, it would be wonderful to go back and lend support to the community by again playing patron to the many establishments of the town and its wonderful Renaissance Festival.

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Bibliography (for further reading):

Montana Renaissance Festival. https://montanarenfest.com/

Red Lodge, Montana. https://www.redlodge.com/