Over 12,300 visitors mingled and interacted with jousting knights, medieval buskers, artisans, falconers, swordsmen, Vikings, dancers, minstrels and more, during Upper Canada Village’s second annual Medieval Festival this past Thursday through Sunday, June 11 to 14. Under clear blue skies, guests to the event this year enjoyed the excitement of a Medieval fair and were also able to get acquainted with 19th-century life at the award-winning Upper Canada Village, as both historic attractions were included in a ‘new’ one-price regular admission fee.

“Having the Medieval Festival on the eastern outskirts of the Village proved to be a great success,” says Pat Macdonald, general manager of the St. Lawrence Parks Commission that runs Upper Canada Village. “Our guests had the opportunity to go through Upper Canada Village to get to the grounds of the Medieval encampment, and staff heard a lot of positive visitor feedback about this arrangement.” Many said what excellent value and a great opportunity it was to tour around the Village as part of the day’s activities. “This is exactly what hosting an event like the Medieval Festival is meant to do: draw new visitors to our attractions and offer new reasons for our guests to return more often. We were also delighted to hear other guests who had never been to Upper Canada Village and although drawn to the site for the Medieval Festival, were greatly impressed by the experiences offered at Upper Canada Village itself.”

Upper Village staff were excited to play a part in this year’s festival. “I was happy to be able to demonstrate the trebuchet we built at the Village again at this year’s festival,” says Pat Taylor, historical interpreter at Upper Canada Village. “It obviously generates lots of visitor appeal. We attracted five competitors to our new trebuchet building contest introduced this year. I can’t wait to see what inventiveness comes out of next year’s event!”

The Medieval Festival went from a three-day event in 2008 to a four-day event this year, in order to better accommodate the huge numbers of school children who attend during the week.

“While overall visitation declined approximately 2,700 over 2008, on the weekend, our attendance was on par with last year’s combined attendance to both the Medieval Festival and Upper Canada Village. Overall, combined revenue increased by 6 percent compared to 2008 and the individual guest spending increased by 30 percent this year.

“Over the weekend independent guest research was conducted which we will be evaluating over the coming weeks,” said Pat Macdonald. Preliminary research indicates that a good portion of guests attending were from outside of the area with visitors from Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston and from as far away as the GTA.