Jackson County Alabama Renaissance Festival

On a Saturday in early November, King Caldwell Park in Scottsboro fills with armored knights, Celtic music and visitors in costume, as the county seat of Jackson County hosts one of the youngest renaissance events in Alabama. The festival covered in this article is the event the county’s own newspaper and its organisers call the Scottsboro Renaissance Faire. The title above uses the broader wording carried on the festival listings sheet, while the event itself has always been billed as a faire, a difference in wording worth stating openly at the start.

Only two editions of this faire are documented so far. The first took place on Saturday, November 9, 2024, and a second annual edition followed on Saturday, November 8, 2025. Both were held at 1004 South Broad Street in Scottsboro, the address of King Caldwell Park. No third annual edition, and no date in 2026, could be verified in the sources checked for this article, so everything below rests on the two editions that local reporting actually recorded.

About the Festival

The Scottsboro Renaissance Faire is a one-day celebration of medieval and renaissance pageantry held each November in Scottsboro, the Jackson County seat in the northeastern corner of Alabama. The county newspaper identified Courtney Harding as the event’s coordinator in its coverage of the first edition. From the beginning the faire was built around spectacle rather than scale: fully armored knights fighting in genuine medieval armored combat, a costume contest open to visitors, live Celtic music and a lantern lighting ceremony as the afternoon drew toward evening.

Admission at the inaugural edition was set at five dollars per person, with children aged ten and under admitted free. The 2025 listing for the second annual edition again recorded free entry for children aged ten and under. At the first faire, the admission ticket carried a second purpose, because each ticket also served as an entry into a raffle, a small touch that turned the gate itself into part of the entertainment. Vendor participation formed part of the first edition’s structure as well. The registration form for the 2024 faire priced a vendor space at forty dollars, rising to forty-five dollars for a space with electric hookup. Those figures were fees charged to sellers, and they should never be mistaken for the price paid by visitors at the gate.

Quick Facts

Item	Details
Event’s own name	Scottsboro Renaissance Faire
Host town	Scottsboro, the Jackson County seat
Venue	King Caldwell Park, 1004 South Broad Street, Scottsboro, Alabama
Coordinator	Courtney Harding
First edition	Saturday, November 9, 2024
Second edition	Saturday, November 8, 2025
Hours recorded in 2024	9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Admission recorded in 2024	Five dollars per person, children aged ten and under free
Third edition	No 2026 date verified in the sources checked

History

The history of this faire is short enough to tell in full, because the event simply did not exist before the autumn of 2024. Scottsboro had no long-running renaissance gathering of its own, and the new faire arrived as a deliberate creation rather than the revival of some older tradition. Reporting in the county newspaper and in a regional newspaper, both publishing accounts dated November 13, 2024, described the gathering of Saturday, November 9, 2024 as the opening edition, staged in King Caldwell Park between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

For a useful comparison, see the Houston County Alabama Wiregrass Heritage Festival for another county festival.

That first programme already contained the elements that would define the event. Knights in full armor fought under the banner of Armored Combat Worldwide, presenting medieval armored combat as a genuine competitive spectacle rather than a choreographed show. Visitors were invited to compete in a costume contest, the Celtic band Solstice supplied live music according to the regional newspaper’s account, and a Lantern Lighting Ceremony was scheduled for 4 p.m., giving the day a gentle closing ritual as the light faded. The regional newspaper also named the sponsors behind the debut, a list that included Unclaimed Baggage, the well-known Scottsboro retailer.

The strongest evidence that the debut succeeded came a year later. A second annual edition was held on Saturday, November 8, 2025, at the same South Broad Street location, with free entry once more for children aged ten and under. An event that returns for a second year has crossed the hardest threshold any new festival faces, the step from experiment to fixture. Beyond those two editions, the record stops: no 2026 date was announced in any source examined for this article. The honest history of the Scottsboro Renaissance Faire is therefore a brief one: conceived locally, launched in November 2024, repeated in November 2025, and awaiting word of what comes next.

What to Expect

Visitors to the documented editions could expect a compact park festival built around a handful of strong attractions rather than a sprawling programme. The centerpiece was the armored combat. Fighters enclosed in full medieval armor demonstrated their sport through Armored Combat Worldwide, and the demonstrations carried an unusual wrinkle in the reporting: the county newspaper credited the combat demonstrations to a group it called the Scottsboro Iron Swans, while the regional newspaper named the participants as Iron Swan Armored Combat. Both name forms are recorded here exactly as each paper printed them, unmerged, because the sources themselves never reconciled the difference.

Music gave the day its atmosphere. The regional newspaper reported live Celtic music from the band Solstice at the first edition, a sound well suited to a gathering built on medieval imagery. The costume contest invited visitors to become part of the display, rewarding those who arrived in period dress. Late in the afternoon, the Lantern Lighting Ceremony at 4 p.m. shifted the mood from competition to ceremony, and the 2024 schedule ran on until 6 p.m. Vendors traded around the edges of the park, having paid forty dollars for a space at the first edition, or forty-five dollars with electric. Families benefited most visibly from the pricing: at five dollars a head, with every child aged ten or younger carried free, the faire positioned itself as an inexpensive day out rather than a premium ticket.

Planning Your Visit

Because no edition beyond November 2025 has been verified, the first planning step for any future visit is confirmation. Watch for announcements from the event’s organisers and in the county newspaper before arranging travel, since a third annual date cannot be treated as settled. The two documented editions suggest where to look: both fell on a Saturday in early November, both used the King Caldwell Park grounds at 1004 South Broad Street, and the first ran from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., so an early-November Saturday is the pattern any announcement would most likely follow.

November weather in the Tennessee Valley foothills can swing between mild afternoons and genuinely cold mornings, so layered clothing is a sensible choice, and anyone entering the costume contest will want garb that tolerates a chill by the time the lanterns are lit at 4 p.m. Families should note the documented admission structure before assuming current prices: five dollars per person was the recorded 2024 figure, with children aged ten and under free at both editions, although a future edition could set its own terms. Prospective vendors can use the 2024 registration figures, forty dollars for a space and forty-five dollars with electric, as a rough guide to the scale of fees involved, while understanding that new editions may publish new forms. Arriving near the opening hour leaves the full day available, from the first combat demonstrations through the closing ceremony.

A Sample Day at the Faire

A visitor following the shape of the documented 2024 edition might begin at the gates when the faire opens at 9 a.m., taking in the park as the vendors finish arranging their stalls. The morning suits a slow circuit of the grounds, watching the armored fighters prepare and catching the first sets of Celtic music while the crowd is still thin. Midday is the natural moment to study the costumes on display, since the costume contest draws entrants into the open where their work can be admired properly. By mid-afternoon the combat demonstrations command the center of attention, the clash of armored fighters providing the day’s loudest spectacle. At 4 p.m. the Lantern Lighting Ceremony gathers everyone for the faire’s quietest and most atmospheric moment. The final two hours, until the 6 p.m. close, belong to last purchases, final photographs and a last walk around the park before the November dusk settles over Scottsboro.

How the Scottsboro Faire Compares

Alabama supports several renaissance events, and the Scottsboro gathering is easily the junior member of the family. The state’s senior event is the Alabama Renaissance Faire in Florence, in Lauderdale County, which has been held since 1987 and carries the standing of the state’s official renaissance faire. Against that depth of history, Scottsboro’s two documented editions make it a newcomer still writing its opening chapters. Dallas County has its own distinct gathering in the Selma Renaissance Faire, and Marshall County hosts the smaller event known as the Arab Mini Ren. Each of these is a separate production in a separate county, with its own organisers, grounds and traditions, and none of them should be confused with the Scottsboro event despite the shared medieval theme. What distinguishes Scottsboro’s version is its combination of youth, intimacy and price: a single November day in a municipal park, genuine armored combat as the headline act, and admission recorded at five dollars, where some longer-established faires run larger sites across full weekends.

Planning Checklist

• Confirm that a new edition has actually been announced before travelling, since no 2026 date is verified.
• Note the documented venue, King Caldwell Park at 1004 South Broad Street in Scottsboro.
• Bring five dollars per person for admission if the 2024 pricing still applies, and check for any updated figure.
• Remember that children aged ten and under entered free at both documented editions.
• Dress in layers for November weather, especially if staying for the 4 p.m. lantern ceremony.
• Consider entering the costume contest, and allow time to view the other entrants.
• Plan to watch at least one armored combat demonstration during the day.
• Sellers should enquire early about vendor spaces, which cost forty dollars in 2024, or forty-five dollars with electric.

Beyond King Caldwell Park

Scottsboro rewards a little extra time beyond the faire grounds. As the Jackson County seat, the town carries the civic weight of the county, and its courthouse square anchors a traditional small-city center a short distance from the park. The Tennessee River and Lake Guntersville shape the country around the town, giving visitors the mountain and water scenery that defines this corner of northeastern Alabama. Shoppers know Scottsboro for Unclaimed Baggage, the retailer famous for selling the contents of lost luggage, which the regional newspaper listed among the first faire’s sponsors. A faire day therefore pairs naturally with a wander through town, a meal in a local restaurant and a drive toward the river bluffs before the journey home.

Why This Young Faire Matters

A festival does not need decades behind it to matter to its community. For Jackson County, the Scottsboro Renaissance Faire added something the local calendar lacked: a themed, family-priced autumn event built around genuine armored sport and live music, coordinated locally and staged in a public park. The five-dollar gate, with young children carried free, kept the day within reach of nearly every household in the county, and the raffle entry folded into each ticket gave even the admission price a playful return. The return of a second annual edition in 2025 showed that the first year’s crowds and effort had justified the attempt. Whether the faire grows into a permanent fixture now depends on announcements yet to come, but its first two editions already demonstrated how quickly a small city can create a tradition when the idea is right and the price is fair.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the festival in this title the same event as the Scottsboro Renaissance Faire?

Yes, they are one and the same gathering. The listings sheet carries the longer county title used at the head of this article, while the event itself, its coordinator and the newspapers that covered it all use the shorter name Scottsboro Renaissance Faire. Nothing separates the two names beyond wording.

What did a ticket cost at the very first faire?

The county newspaper and the regional newspaper both recorded admission at the inaugural edition on November 9, 2024 as five dollars per person. Children aged ten and under were admitted free, and the ticket carried extra value because it also doubled as an entry into a raffle.

Why do reports give the combat group two different names?

The two newspapers that covered the first edition simply printed different forms. The county newspaper wrote that the Scottsboro Iron Swans provide combat demonstrations, whereas the regional newspaper credited Iron Swan Armored Combat. This article records both versions as published rather than choosing between them, since the underlying sources never settled the wording.

Which similar Alabama events should not be mistaken for this one?

Three gatherings are most often mentioned in the same breath. Florence hosts the Alabama Renaissance Faire, running since 1987 in Lauderdale County. Selma has its own renaissance faire in Dallas County, and Arab is home to the smaller Mini Ren in Marshall County. All are independent events, unrelated to the Scottsboro faire.

What to Expect From the Next Jackson County Alabama Renaissance Festival

How often is Jackson County Alabama Renaissance Festival held?

The event has presented itself as an annual occasion, with its two documented editions arriving almost exactly a year apart. The debut took place on November 9, 2024, and the follow-up was explicitly billed as a second annual edition on November 8, 2025. That yearly rhythm is a fair description of the faire’s intention, although only those two editions are confirmed in the record.

When is the next Jackson County Alabama Renaissance Festival?

No date for a third edition has been verified. The sources checked for this article contained no announcement of a 2026 gathering, so any future date remains unconfirmed. Readers hoping to attend should watch the county newspaper and the organisers’ announcements, since the established pattern would point toward a Saturday in early November if the faire continues.

Will the dates change?

The calendar slot has already shifted slightly between editions, moving from November 9 in 2024 to November 8 in 2025 while holding to the same early-November Saturday pattern. A future edition could just as easily land on a neighbouring Saturday, and until organisers publish a date, the exact day should be treated as open rather than fixed.

The Scottsboro Renaissance Faire began as a local experiment in November 2024 and earned its second annual edition a year later, proof that armored knights and lantern light can draw a crowd even in a small county seat. Its story is still being written, and the next chapter depends on an announcement that, for now, remains to be made.