Are you going to Scarborough Fair? We’ve got tips, discount information and more to make the most of your trip to North Texas’ most popular Renaissance-ish experience just outside of Waxahachie, Texas.
Now in its 44th year, Scarborough Renaissance Festival near Waxahachie, Texas is an annual Renaissance-themed event that every year draws more than 150,000 fair goers from throughout the state and beyond to its shows, crafts and food booths — and to the spectacle of its always-in-character staff.
The festival is open for only eight weekends each year, so to help you get the most out of your trip, Waxahachie 360 offers its Waxahachie Insider’s Guide to Scarborough Renaissance Festival, updated for the 2025 season.
2025 Dates, Time and Location
Scarborough Renaissance Festival is open from 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from April 5 – May 25, 2025. The final day of the festival is Memorial Day, the one Monday that it’s open, on May 27, 2024.
S.R.F. is located at 2511 FM 66, Waxahachie, TX 75167.
Tickets, Discounts and Payment Options
Tickets purchased at the gate for Scarborough Renaissance Festival are $38.00 for adults, $18.00 for children 5 – 12 years old, and free for children under 5 years of age. Starting in 2025, Single Day tickets are date specific — you must choose the date of your visit.
Discounted tickets are available from North Texas locations of Albertsons and Tom Thumb, which offer $3.00 off for adult tickets and $1.00 off for children’s tickets.
Additionally, S.R.F. is offering specials for 2025:
Waxahachie Resident Day: April 13, 2025
On April 13, 2025, show your I.D. to get $3.00 off Single Day Adult tickets at the gate.
College Student Day: April 20, 2025
Present a current college I.D. to get $3.00 off Single Day Adult tickets at the gate.
Community Hero Day: April 27, 2025
Police, fire department, E.M.T. and teachers may show their valid work I.D. get $3.00 off Single Day Adult tickets at the gate.
Military Discount:
Active duty and veterans with military identification with up to four family members may receive $3.00 off adult tickets at the gate.
Senior Discounts:
Seniors 65 years od and older with valid identification may receive $2.00 off adult tickets at the gate. Additionally, on the opening weekend only, April 5 and April 6, 2024. the senior discount is $10.00 off adult ticket at the gate with valid identification.
Payment Options:
Although Scarborough Renaissance Festival features a low- to no-tech premises, credit cards are now accepted at most food and drink locations nd at the Scarborough souvenir shops, the ticket office, and most artisan shops. All games and rides still accept only cash.
The Park
Set in the rural area just 30 minutes south of Dallas, between Waxahachie and Maypearl, the festival grounds consist of more than 35 acres of castles, shops, eateries, stages and sights to be seen, with more than 225 permanent structures designed to replicate the feel of a 16th Century English village.
“Having said that, it is a very easy site to navigate because of your setup like a figure eight. So it is very easy to get from one end of the festival and back again, because of the way it’s laid out,” says Scarborough Renaissance Festival’s Director of Marketing & Communications, Helaine Thompson.
The Daily Schedule
Full Combat Jousting
ALL NEW Joust Troupe – Hanlon-Lees Action Theater Joust Company
11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. each day
Children’s Knighting Ceremony
3:30 p.m. each day at the Royal Marquee
Children of all ages are invited to be presented to the Royal Court to be recognized for acts of courage and
deeds of meritorious service. Each participant receives a seal that names them a Protector of the Realm.
Included with general admission.
Grande Parade
1:00 p.m. each day
A spectacle of villagers, entertainers, and Courts on the march each day throughout the entire Village of
Scarborough
Wine Tasting Events (must be 21 or older to attend)
o 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. every day behind the Cat & Fiddle Tavern
o An intimate one-hour wine tasting, and educational experience conducted by Scarborough’s Certified
Sommelier.
o Includes specially paired fruit and cheese plate and souvenir wine glass
o $40 per person (in addition to Festival admission). Discount tickets available at SRFestival.com.
o Limited seating available – advance ticket purchase recommended
Beer Tasting Events (must be 21or older to attend)
o 12:00 noon and 3:00 p.m. every day at the Village Green
o An intimate one-hour beer tasting, and educational experience conducted by Scarborough’s Certified
Cicerone®. Includes specially paired fruit & cheese plate and souvenir glass
o $40 per person (in addition to Festival admission). Discount tickets available at SRFestival.com.
o Limited seating available – advance ticket purchase recommended
The Entertainment
As you work your way around the park, you’ll see plenty of jugglers, belly dancers, vaudeville-esque comedians, sword fighters, bagpipe players, acrobats, and courtly dancers performing on various stages and at times walking within the crowds. What you won’t see are loudspeakers, electronics or anything else that distracts from the suspension-of-disbelief of this modern fantasy loosely based on the time of King Henry VIII.
“The thing that makes us unique from an entertainment side, we actually have two different types of entertainment that go on at the festival. One is our stage and lane entertainers. And these are primarily very specific shows that take place throughout the festival — we have 20 different stages that all this takes place on. The other part of that is we have a 95-member performing company that is a part of Scarborough and they’re the ones who make up the villagers and our royal court,” Helaine says.
On more than 20 stages throughout the festival, around 200 performances take place each day. Perhaps the most popular of the performances is the thrice daily full combat jousting sessions.
Among the must-see attractions at Scarborough Renaissance Festival is the Birds of Prey exhibit conducted by Last Chance Forever Birds of Prey Conservancy. During the show, the fair’s royal falconer interacts with a variety of birds of prey and presents a conservation message about the need to protect hawks, owls, vultures and eagles from loss of habitat and other threats.
For 2025, the festival’s main theatrical theme is the visitation of King Henry the Eighth and Catherine Parr to Scarborough Village. Parr was the British Monarch’s sixth wife.
“The Village of Scarborough is throwing a festival in honor of a visit from King Henry and Queen Catherine,” Helaine says.
The festival combines 16th Century historical allusions with modern fantasy as magical creatures, mermaids and anachronistic characters entertain the crowds.
New Entertainment for 2025
Each year, S.R.N. adds new performances to it established line up. New for 2025 are:
- The Washing Well Wenches
- Evan Danforth the Hammered Dulcimer Player (TikTok:@evan.plays.dulcimer)
- The Foxy Bard (4/19-4/27 only)
- Paolo Garbanzo (4/26-27 only)
- Sir Marcus – Professor of Wooing
- Sir Real’s Garden Variety Show
- The Toasted Clover Show (4/19 – 4/27 only)
- Joust Troupe – Hanlon-Lees Action Theater Joust Company
- New jousting routine: 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. each day
Scarborough Academy of Performing Arts Shows
- Banned to the Pungeon
- Life of a Sailor
- Madrigals
- Sea Shanty Sing-Along
- Tales of African Traditions
- William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Almost all the entertainers interact heavily with the crowds, and some ask audience members to join them on stage, Helaine says. “All of our entertainers are always accessible and interactive with our audience, and that does make it very, very different.”
Food and Drink
For many festival goers, the whole attraction is the chance to walk around for a day eating a turkey leg or some other edible item skewered on a stick. Most of the food offerings keep with the mood of the Renaissance, though some fair favorites have worked their way in.
“We have a huge variety of food and the vast majority of it is not fair food,” Helaine says. “So, you’re not going to find your traditional burgers and hot dogs. We do have funnel cake — that is one of the things that we you will find. But outside of that, we have our signature giant roasted turkey legs. We sell over two tons of turkey legs every festival season. But in addition to that, we have really unique items such as our Scottish egg, which is a traditional European favorite, and it is a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage and then coated in batter, and then it’s deep fried. And it’s a really hearty meal.
“We also have our own bakery, and they’re all handmade items. They start at four o’clock every morning making these items every festival day. So, they’re fresh, homemade recipes that our bakery produces every day.
“We also have a pasta shop that has different pasta specials every day of the festival. So again, it’s a very different type of food than you normally encounter at a festival or an outdoor event like we are.”
Festival goers can also stop in at more than a dozen different pubs and taverns to slake their thirst.
“For those that are wanting a more in-depth experience, we actually offer twice daily beer tastings that are conducted by a certified cicerone.,” Helaine says. “The gentleman who conducts our beer tasting has been certified and he just does an excellent one-hour tasting event. In addition to that we also offer twice daily wine tastings as well. These are just outstanding ways to get a little bit more in-depth and have a really unique experience.”
To register for special beer and wine tasting and other food events, visit the Scarborough Renaissance Festival Ticket Information web page.
New Food and Pub Options for 2025
- New Pub – Gems & Stems
- Seamus’ Choice Weekly Specialty Beer Selections
- Scarborough’s very own Certified Cicerone
- Exciting New selection of Craft Beer
- New Mead offerings
- Selection of non-alcoholic beer
- Peach Cobbler
- S’mores on-a-stick
- Pickle Pops
- Italian Icebergs (Snapple + Italian Ice)
- Salad in-a-cup
- Jumbo corn dogs
- Mexican street tacos
- Smash Burgers
- Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage on-a-stick
- Wonton Cheese Sticks
- Frozen drinks: Dr Pepper, Big Red, Hawaiian Punch
Arts and Crafts
Throughout the Scarborough grounds, hundreds of shops offer handmade, period-specific or offbeat items that range from clothing and jewelry to home decor and even musical instruments. S.R.F. boasts being one of the largest outdoor juried craft shows in the country, with as many as 20 artisan craft demonstrations each day.
“One of the things that people need to understand when they come out to the festival, this is an artisan marketplace,” Helaine says. “We do not have imported goods at the festival — 99% of what you will find at our festival is handmade and most of the artisans are in the shops; they can tell you how their crafts are made, how they came about making them — they’re also going to be very unique. These are not crafts you’re going to see at any other event in the in the North Texas region.
“We’ve got over 200 shops throughout the festival. So, it definitely is extensive on what people can find and explore. You can come into the festival and do nothing but explore our shops. The other part of it is we have over a dozen artisans that demonstrate their craft every day, and that includes our glass blowers, our glass sculptors, our stone sculptors, metal work, our forge, our jewelers — they will actually make those all throughout the day at the festival. And you can watch them create these one-of-a-kind pieces.”
Scarborough Renaissance Festival is one the largest outdoor juried craft shows in the country and is the place to go to discover the most unique artwork and handmade crafts in North Texas. The Festival’s Artisan Marketplace has over 200 Shoppes featuring exquisite one-of-a-kind treasures for every taste and budget. Over twenty artisans also demonstrate their crafts throughout the days of the Festival and/or are on hand to talk about the outstanding workmanship and unusual techniques that go into creating every piece.
“We’ve got quite a few new artisans and shops coming into the festival this year that we’re very, very excited about,” Helaine adds.
New Artisans for 2025
S.R.N. will have 30 new artisans for 2025, including:
- All-New Viking Village and Artisans
- Sculpted fantasy creatures,
- Viking themed jewelry
- Clay sculpted jewelry, acid etched belly dancing belts, acid
etched armor - Viking accessories, wooden chairs, fantasy soft fiber sculptures, anime caricature artist, masks,
- Viking clothing, swords, antler and bone sculptures, wire wrapped jewelry & wands
- All-New R.P.G. Quest
Rides and Games
Scarborough Renaissance festival has just under a dozen human-powered rides, from the popular Crow’s Nest and jousting ride to a carousel and barrel ride. For game seekers, there’s a knife, axe or star throwing game, along with darts, archery, longbow and crossbow sports among the 21 total games of chance and tests of strength and skill.
“The games and rides are additional fee, but they’re very minimal. They range from $2 to $5. So it’s not a terribly expensive price. I will also tell you that most of the games and rides are cash only. So people need to be aware of that. We do have six A.T.M.s onsite if they need cash, but we highly recommend that you bring cash with you,” Helaine says.
Taking It All In
The festival begins each day at 10:00 a.m., and to take in all that Scarborough Renaissance Festival has to offer, you’ll want to arrive early. Get there by 9:45 a.m. for a pre-opening show that occurs at the gates.
Helaine says that many people grab a schedule and try to create an itinerary for their stay. She says a better approach may me to just arrive with an open mind and take in the flow of the day.
“Scarborough can be a different experience based on who you come with,” she says. “If you have children, you’re going to experience things very differently than if you come with a group of adults or as a couple, because kids want to do things like our knighting ceremony each day. They love the games of skill and the Renaissance rides. We have a petting zoo, we have a walk through aviary — the kids tend to really gravitate toward those things where the adults might want to do a beer or a wine tasting. They will enjoy the shopping in a very different way than kids will. We do have some shops that are geared toward children and we have toys — we have costumes and things like that. But, the shops that adults will enjoy tend to be a little different than that. So again, there’s a little something for everyone. So, regardless what your ages, you can have a very fun experience just in different ways based on who you’re here with.
“One of the things that first-timers make the mistake of doing they come in and they get a schedule, because our programs are available at the gate as well as in our souvenir shops. People try to say, okay, I want to see this, this, this and this. And they spend their day running from one end of the festival to the other in one shot, and they miss a lot of what’s in between. I think the best way to experience Scarborough is to just wander because what happens is you kind of just come upon certain entertainment, you come upon different crafts, or an artisan demonstration. And that’s when you get the full experience of Scarborough — when you just discover things naturally as you go through the festival site. And that’s one thing that I think a lot of people miss.”
Themed Weekends
April 5 & 6 Step Back in Time
Kids Free – Up to 3 kids 12 & Under free with each paid adult. First 1,000 kids receive a free crown
Senior’s Discount Weekend – Seniors 65+ get $10 off their ticket at the gate
April 12 & 13 Artisan’s Showcase Weekend
Shop & Win! Promotion. Get (2) complimentary tickets to Scarborough Renaissance Festival® 2025 with each $350
worth of purchases (purchased made 4/12 & 4/13 only) from Festival shoppes. Some exclusions apply.
Artisan’s Best in Show Contest. Vote for your favorite artisan/shoppe and have the chance to win an Artisan Prize
Pack.
NEW- Sunday Only–Waxahachie Resident Day ($3 off adult single day ticket for Waxahachie residents at the gate
with ID)
April 19 & 20 Celtic Weekend/Easter
Children’s Highland Games, Scotch Egg Eating Contest. Special Celtic Entertainment – Celtic Dancing, Fencing, etc.
Easter Egg Stroll
Renaissance Easter Service – Sunday Only
NEW – Sunday Only – College Student Day ($3 off adult single day ticket for College students at the gate with ID)
April 26 & 27 Viking & Barbarian Weekend
Viking & Barbarian Costume contests for children & adults. Stein Holding & Tug O’War Competitions
NEW – Beard Contest
Deaf Awareness Day: Saturday, April 26 Only
NEW – Sunday Only – Community Hero Day ($3 off adult single day ticket for Community Heroes at the gate with
ID) – Police, Firefighters, EMT, & Educators
May 3 & 4 Live the Fantasy / Spring Celebration
Fantasy Costume contests for children & adults. Fairy Initiation Ceremony. Fandom Trivia.
Spring Celebration
May 10 & 11 Chivalry Weekend / Mother’s Day
Kid’s Free On Mother’s Day (SUNDAY ONLY) – Up to 3 kids 12 & Under free with each paid adult.
Vow Renewal Ceremony and Romance & Chivalry Lessons
May 17 & 18 Legends of the Seas
Pirate, Mermaid & Sea Creature Costume contests for children & adults
Pirate Games for children & adults. Kids Scavenger Hunt throughout the Festival site.
May 24, 25 & 26 The Last Huzzah!
Sat & Sun: Stein Holding Competition
Sun: Topsy-Turvy Day (Beggars become Royalty, Royalty become villagers)
Mon: Memorial Day Veterans Parade & Fall Heroes Tribute Ceremony Monday, May 26th Only.
All active and retired military members are invited to receive a yellow sash to commemorate their service (at the
Village Armory) and are invited to march in the parade. At the conclusion of the parade, there will be a presentation
of colors and a special Fall Heroes tribute.