Renaissance Festival   August 2026



About

The Sterling Renaissance Festival and Upstate New York

What do you do when your friend mentions he has been running this Renaissance Fair in New York for a long time and this is their 50th year? Obviously time for a trip!

So off we went to the Sterling Renaissance Festival near Oswego New York. Since we were going to upstate NY anyway we decided to add a few scenic stops before and turn it into a full trip. Watkins Glenn, Fillmore Glen, Buttermilk and Taughannock Falls all on the list.




Renaissance Festival

The Short, we had a great time and closed them down both days.

Sidenote: Somehow it seems that I've not been to a Renaissance Fair since I was in middle school. On a closer look it seems that Raleigh simply does not have one and the closest is 2.5 hours away. A strange omission for an area with this many nerds, but the Carolina Renaissance Festival near Charolette seems to be so large it overwhelms everything else.


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Watkins Glenn State Park

Beautiful, but death by crowds. We visited on a Thursday in mid-August and there were Grand Canyon levels of crowds with occasional "conga line" sections. According to the Park Ranges this was "not that bad".

My suggestion would be to visit after Labor Day during the week. This will not only get you out of the summer rush, but the shuttle does not run during the week after Labor Day which should vastly reduce the number of people.


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All the Rest

Fillmore Glen, Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls, and the Thirsty Owl.


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