The Regathering
The Richmond Ren Faire tells the story of The Regathering where artisans, makers, and dreamers rise up to reclaim the spirit of creation in order to reconnect with the practices that remind us of our humanity. At the heart of this gathering flows a river, not just of water, but of memory. Its currents carry the stories of generations past, binding communities through skills and shared purpose. But for too long, creation was claimed by rulers, corporations, and machines. This forgetting was called The Withering.
Through it all, the river remembered, and it called to the dreamers. From every corner, they gathered to forge the guilds: communities of knowledge, arts, and stories that uphold the balance between humans and the earth. United, they rise, reclaiming what was lost, proving that the power to create, connect, and transform still flows through us all.
The Regathering is a joyful celebration of the people, shaping a new kind of Renaissance born from an age of disconnection and rediscovery. Step into the current and answer the call.
The Guilds of the Richmond Ren Faire
In a land without kings or courts, it is the guilds and the people behind them, who shape the world. Their callings are ancient yet evolving, forged from hands, hearts, and histories. Together, they form a raw and interwoven society where craft, story, ritual, and rebellion converge.
No guild exists in isolation. They trade, clash, and collaborate, from iron-shapers to fire-dancers, weavers to keepers of the hunt, spinning a constantly evolving world where every visitor can belong. Materials are exchanged, performances shared, and stories carried across lines. Their connections keep the current alive, turning every encounter into part of a larger, ever-growing tale.
This is not a static spectacle. This is a gathering in motion. And like any true culture, it is not finished; it is yours to shape. Here are the founding guilds of this gathering, and the world they weave together.
Illuminators & Scribes Guild
The Illuminators & Scribes Guild gathers calligraphers, bookbinders, and lore keepers who serve as the living memory of the Faire. As chroniclers of The Regathering and its unfolding mythos, they record, interpret, and occasionally rewrite the story as it happens. In their care, rumors sparked by agitators, folk legends carried through the crowds, and epics woven into Weavers’ designs are set to page. Scrolls fill with ink and intention, chaos is shaped into continuity, and no tale, whether subversive, playful, or hard-won, is ever allowed to fade.
Throughout the day, the Guild’s scriptorium remains open as a working archive and creative haven. Guests are invited to illuminate their own manuscripts, explore historical calligraphy, pigment-making, and bookbinding traditions, and contribute to the ever-growing Richmond Ren Faire Tome. Guided by the hands and minds of Cheryn Rapp and Cael Sinclair, and featuring artworks by Máral Taheritari, this is a space where stories are preserved, embellished, and given new life, one page at a time.
Participants:
Cheryn Rapp
Cael Sinclair
Demonstrations:
11:15 - Cael Sinclair: Historical Pigment Making
12:00 - Cheryn Rapp: Historical Calligraphy Workshop
1:00 - Cael Sinclair: Bookbinding
3:15 - Cael Sinclair: Historical Pigment Making
4:30 - Cael Sinclair: Bookbinding
All Day Scriptorium
Illuminate your own manuscript
Contribute to the Richmond Ren Faire Tome
Combat Guild
The Combat Guild brings together fighters, guards, and martial artists who treat combat as a disciplined art form rather than an act of war. Their sparring is ritualized and intentional, an expression of focus, discipline, and embodied skill. Through training, demonstration, and mentorship, they inspire the brave, engage the curious, and show younger generations that strength is shaped through practice, patience, and care.
Throughout the Faire, live combat demonstrations take place in The Alley, the guild’s dedicated arena, where mastery is measured in timing, endurance, and honor.
The Combat Guild is proudly represented by Virago Alley, who is organizing HEMA demonstrations featuring practitioners from local and regional groups. Together, they bring historical and martial traditions to life, showing that honor, resilience, and discipline are forged through practice and dedication.
Participating Organizations:
Virago Alley
VCU Hema
Richmond MFFG
Scuffletown Federfechters
Ludus Ferocia
Richmond KDF
SCA / Barony of Caer Mear
JSARVA / Japanese Sword Arts Study
”The Alley” Combat Demonstrations:
10:15AM - Virago Alley: Dueling Demonstrations
11:00AM - Virago Alley: HEMA Block (6 organizations represented)
12:00PM - Japanese Sword Arts Study
12:30PM - Virago Alley: Montante Demo
1:30PM - SCA
2:30PM - Japanese Sword Arts Study
3:00PM - Virago Alley: Persian European Demonstration
3:30PM - SCA
4:00PM - Virago Alley: HEMA Block (6 organizations represented)
Fire Guild
The Fire Guild is a gathering of fire dancers, flow arts, and elemental performers who bring the raw, transformative power of flame to life. Keepers of the sacred fire, their performances are more than spectacle, they are a meditation on creation, destruction, and rebirth. The Fire Guild’s artistry is both dangerous and awe-inspiring, a visceral reminder of our connection to elemental power and the magic that flickers in the spaces between light and shadow.
Spearheaded by the Party Liberation Foundation (PLF), the Fire Guild thrives under their vision of fire as both art and transformative energy. PLF provides the space, guidance, and support for performances of fire, flow, and aerial artistry, where every spark and movement becomes a story, inviting spectators to witness, reflect, and be inspired by the elemental force that has captivated humanity for millennia.
Participating Organizations:
Party Liberation Foundation
Demonstrations:
Flow & Aerial
Fire Performances
More coming soon..
Riverfolk Guild
The Riverfolk Guild is a gathering place for foragers, wildcrafters, wise folk, and memory keepers. It's for those who listen closely to the land and carry its stories forward. As keepers of earthbound knowledge, the Riverfolk provide food, medicine, and natural lore, rooted in deep relationship with soil, water, and season. They know which berries bloom first, which streams hide old secrets, and which plants answer when a ceremony calls. Quietly and attentively, they guide growth, literal and metaphorical, grounding the Faire in reverence for the living world.
This guild is a collaborative offering from Earthfolk, Fonticello Food Forest, and the Richmond Springs Collective, united by a shared commitment to earth-based education, wellness, sustainability, and multigenerational community care. Together, they celebrate and protect historic natural resources while inviting people of all ages to reconnect with ancestral skills and ecological wisdom. Through story, craft, and hands-on learning, the Riverfolk create a space where tradition meets playful curiosity and care for the land becomes a shared practice.
Visitors to the Riverfolk Guild can wander through immersive displays of botanical art, living plants, and local natural history, or settle into a cozy, carpeted gathering space alive with workshops and demonstrations. From flower crowns and basket weaving to children’s crafts, storytelling, and explorations of plant and fungal lore, the guild offers moments of wonder & learning. Whether you come to watch, to make, or simply to listen, the Riverfolk welcome you into a slower rhythm, one where the land is honored, knowledge is shared, and community grows naturally.
Participating Organizations:
Earthfolk Collective
Silly Hearts
RVA Naturals
Decriminalize Nature Virginia
Demonstrations & Workshops:
11:00AM- Earthfolk Presents: Make your own Flower Crowns (Watch, or participate hands on for $10 material fee)
11:45AM - Silly Hearts Presents: Children's Storytime
12:15PM - Earthfolk Presents: Basket Weaving Workshop (Watch, or participate hands on for $10 material fee)
1:15PM - RVA Naturals Presents: Children’s Crafts- Potion making workshop
2:45PM - Silly Hearts Presents: Children's Storytime
3:30PM - Decriminalize Nature Virginia Presents: Mushrooms: Lore, Cultivation, and Medicine
Spinners & Weavers Guild
The Spinners & Weavers Guild brings together fiber artists, spinners, and dyers who tell stories in thread. Banners, cloaks, and ritual garments carry the histories and identities of the Guilds, encoding memory through color, texture, and pattern. Dyed with Riverfolk plants and shaped by many hands, each stitch connects one Faire-goer to the next. These textiles are portable stories, moving narratives meant to be worn, displayed, and lived, binding the Faire together through craft, care, and continuity.
This guild proudly features Clotho’s Handspinners and the Richmond Weavers Guild, two organizations deeply rooted in the preservation and evolution of fiber arts. Clotho’s Handspinners draw inspiration from the ancient figure of Clotho, spinner of the thread of life, carrying forward an ancestral craft through education, demonstration, and decades of shared knowledge in Central Virginia. The Richmond Weavers Guild fosters fellowship and learning through handweaving, cultivating both skill and community while expanding appreciation for fiber arts across the Richmond region. Together, these groups transform raw fleece into finished cloth, revealing the full journey from fiber to fabric and reminding us that what we wear can also be a record of who we are.
Participating Organizations:
Clotho’s Handspinners
Richmond Weavers Guild
Demonstrations:
Fleece to Shawl
Spinning and Weaving
Iron & Steel Guild
Fierce and steadfast, the Iron & Steel Guild forges the bones of the Faire. Blacksmiths, armorers, and weapons makers shape tools, armor, and blades for both work and ceremony, grounding every ritual fire in strength and intention. Within the ring of the forge, sparks fly over debates about balance, durability, and form, and every strike carries generations of knowledge. Without Iron & Steel, the Faire would have no spine; with them, it stands unbroken.
This guild proudly features Join or Die Knives, Jack Bauer Swords, and metalsmith Ted Banning, each bringing deep craft knowledge and a commitment to community-driven making. Visitors can witness forging in real time as Join or Die Knives and Jack Bauer Swords continue the story of Virago, the Richmond Renaissance Faire sword forged from fire, steel, and collective will. First shaped before a live audience during the 2025 fundraising launch, Virago now stands complete: a blade named for the unyielding spirit it represents the will to defy the odds and break down barriers. Virago is currently offered as a raffle piece, with all proceeds supporting the Faire’s Artist Fund.
Alongside blade work, Ted Banning brings decades of experience to the anvil, forging medieval-style armor and demonstrating the breadth of metalwork shaped by curiosity and precision. From battle-ready swords to functional tools, this guild reflects the independent craftsman movement, owning fewer, better-made objects, and knowing the hands that forged them. Shaped by community. Bound by defiance. The Iron & Steel Guild reminds us that craft is not just about strength, but about care, solidarity, and purpose when the hammer falls.
Participants:
Join or Die Knives
Jack Bauer Swords
Theodore Banning
Demonstrations:
Sword, Knife, and Armor Making.
Dragon Bones Guild
Messengers, marshals, mounted performers, and engineers unite in the Dragon Bones Guild, embodied by the unstoppable Rag & Bones bike crew. Swift, fearless, and endlessly inventive, these modern-day equestrian messengers travel across the Faire delivering news, proclamations, and ideas straight from the front lines.
Visitors can witness Bike Jousting demonstrations, take part in interactive Fix-a-Flat challenges, and enjoy hands-on games like bike tosses and bike scrap crafting in the guild’s arena, where speed, skill, and rebellion collide.
Rag & Bones, in partnership with Recess, will also organize a morning group ride along the Capital Trail, beginning at Great Shiplock Park and continuing on a 10-mile adventure to Dorey Park. The ride begins at 9:00AM each day. To encourage sustainable travel, the Faire will provide on-site bike parking, making it easy for cyclists to participate.
The guild will also serve as marshals of the Richmond Ren Faire parade led by All the Saints Theater Company, helping attendees raise their fists and celebrate our renaissance, honoring the preservation of land, history, and community.
Part performance, part procession, and all adventure, the Dragon Bones Guild celebrates courage, skill, and imagination, proving that those who ride at the front lines are defined by both daring and defiance.
Participating Organizations:
Rag & Bones
Demos
11:00AM- Fix a Flat Demo
12:00PM - Bike Jousting
3:00PM - Fix a Flat Demo
4:00PM - Bike Jousting
All Day Activities:
Bike Toss
Bike Scrap Crafting
Offerings:
9:00AM - Capital Trail Bike Ride: Meeting at Great Shiplock Park / 2803 Dock St
2:00PM -Richmond Ren Faire Parade: w/ Rag & Bones and Richmond Recess
Herbalist & Healers Guild
Step into a sanctuary where science meets sorcery and care is crafted by hand. The Herbalists & Healers Guild gathers apothecaries, midwives, and potion-makers devoted to the ancient and ever-evolving art of plant medicine. Within their tents, the air is rich with the scent of drying herbs and simmering brews, and conversations unfold in hushed tones, part lesson, part remembrance.
Here, teas, tinctures, balms, and botanical remedies are made with intention. Apprentices learn by watching skilled hands at work. Recipes are shared quietly, heart to heart. Every preparation carries a story, of resilience, ancestral knowledge, and deep listening to the land. Whether you arrive curious, weary, or seeking restoration, this is a place to be nourished.
This guild offers hands-on herbal medicine making: including teas, infusions, tinctures, oxymels, hydrosols, and essential oils, alongside guided plant walks, sensory tastings, and explorations of ancestral medicine traditions and holistic plant profiles, with space for one-on-one guidance, meaningful conversation, and the sharing of deep botanical wisdom.
Participating Herbalists & Organizations:
Petal Palate
Windblown Sister Botanicals
True Grit Well
Wild Origins
Vivify Gardens
Demonstrations:
11:30AM - Petal Palate and True Grit Life: Teas and Infusions
1:00PM - Wild Origins and Petal Palate: Distillation / Hydrosols and Essential Oils
3:00PM - Windblown Sister Botanicals and Vivify Gardens: Oxymels and Tinctures
Thespian Guild
The Thespian Guild brings stories to life with character, wit, and provocation. These storytellers and actors move, inspire, and awaken, turning the Faire itself into a stage where narrative becomes power. From immersive performances of guild lore and historical figures to roaming improv comedy that engages audiences on the spot, the Thespian Guild reminds everyone that every story carries weight and every character has a voice.
All the Saints Theater Company leads the midday parade, creating spectacle and story in motion. Visitors can join in puppet-making workshops and experience cantastoria performances, a centuries-old storytelling tradition using painted scrolls, narration, and music to recount the lore of the Richmond Ren Faire, including The Withering, The Regathering, and the significance of The River as a metaphor for remembering the past and the stories that carry us forward. Large-scale puppetry and dramatic storytelling evoke reflection, laughter, and even rebellion, inspired by the political and anti-war spirit of Bread and Puppet Theater.
Across the Faire, Coalition Theater roams with improv comedy, turning everyday moments into spontaneous, interactive performances full of audience participation and wit. Meanwhile, the Richmond Ren Faire Character Actors bring stories to life, highlight historical figures who represent artists, makers, and inventors of the past, and provide the immersive backdrop and interactive environment that make the Richmond Ren Faire truly unforgettable.
Participating Organizations:
All the Saints Theater Company
Coalition Theater
Faewild Guild
The Faewild Guild emerges from river mists and shadowed groves, a gathering of spirits, tricksters, and liminal beings who exist just beyond certainty. They are the living embodiment of magic and mischief, here one moment, gone the next, through the Faire to rearrange rituals, plant riddles, and gently unravel the ordinary. Faewild spark wonder, disruption, and delight, leaving guests to question what is real, what is imagined, and what might be both.
At the heart of the Faewild is the Richmond Faerie Federation, a collective devoted to joy, play, and creative invention. United by a love of the Otherworld, the Federation celebrates connection through myth, live character performance, and collaborative world-building. Their work invites guests of all ages to step beyond the mundane and into a shared fantasy where imagination becomes a living, participatory experience.
For the First Annual Richmond Ren Faire, the Faerie Federation unveils a fully immersive Faerie Trading Post, grown seemingly straight from the earth itself. Within this enchanted space, guests may entrust their wishes to a meticulous fae archivist, test their luck in a game of enchanted chance, trade trinkets imbued with hidden stories, or capture a memory within a magically adorned photo nook. Every interaction is an invitation: to play, to wonder, and to believe.
The Faewild Guild does not simply entertain, it blurs boundaries. It beckons the curious, rewards the playful, and welcomes all who carry a spark of belief. Those who enter may leave with a token, a story, or a lingering sense that the world is stranger and more magical than it first appeared.
Participating Organizations:
Richmond Faerie Federation
All Day Activities:
Wish Collection with Stax, the Fae Archivist: Meet Stax, a meticulous Elf and keeper of dreams who collects wishes the way librarians collect books. Guests may entrust their wishes to Stax for preservation within the fae archives!
Fae Fortune Roll with Azurafae: Feeling lucky? Roll a D20 and let fate decide which enchanted treasures you receive in this faerie game of chance!
Fae Trinket Trade with Lilith: Bring a small trinket and trade for another touched by fae magic. Every object carries a story, what tales will you take home?
Enchanted Faerie Photo Booth: Capture the perfect Renaissance Faire memory with friends in our magically themed photo space, perfect for group selfies and Faire keepsakes.
Feast & Ferment Guild
Farmers, culinary artists, bakers, brewers, and distillers come together in the Feast & Ferment Guild, the heart of hospitality at the Faire. They transform the bounty of the land and river into shared experiences, crafting meals and drinks that celebrate craft and community. Local food vendors serve artisanal breads, honey, jams, and cheese, while Gwar Bar offers legendary turkey legs and Waveland Oysters shucks fresh oysters on site. Breweries, meaderies, and cider houses, including Väsen Brewing Co., Stone Brewing, Black Heath Meadery, Funktastic Meads, Blue Bee Cider, and Gramophone Winery, along with Ninja Kombucha and gourmet coffee makers, pour beverages that delight and inspire.
At the heart of it all is The Pump House, named after a Richmond landmark, serving as the festival’s tavern and feast house, a shared space to dine, feast, taste, and connect with friends old and new.
Flint & Fur Guild
Trackers, archers, trappers, beast-speakers, and artisans of hide, flint, and fur come together in the Flint & Fur Guild, where the rhythms of forest and river guide every craft. Represented by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) alongside vendors specializing in leather, primitive weapons, fur, taxidermy, and more, this guild celebrates the skills of trackers, bowyers, arrow-makers, flintknappers, tanners, and leatherworkers.
Silent, patient, and attuned to the land, their presence reminds all that freedom and responsibility walk hand in hand, and that every life has a role in the interconnected web of the Faire.
Participating Organizations:
Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Demonstrations & Activities:
Coming Soon