Popular MN Renaissance Festival Entertainers Not Performing In MN

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival just kicked off last weekend, and by some accounts, attendance seemed down, but many blamed the heat Saturday for the lack of people for opening weekend. Sadly I just found out that a long-time staple of Minnesota's Renaissance Festival won't be returning to Minnesota to perform anytime soon. The Riddle Masters of Hollow Hill made the announcement late last week on social media.

After 20 seasons of confounding your senses and boggling your brains, the Riddle Masters of Hollow Hill will no longer be performing at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. We developed a unique show that went well beyond just telling riddles and entertaining the audience. We strove to educate and elevate our fans, and share the joy we have for clever language and cleverer minds. But change is as inevitable as the seasons themselves, and it is time to move on. We have decided to take our show in a different direction and are excited to spend our energy on those new endeavors.

Willona the Wise has left our troop to spend more time with her family and increased work schedule and is no longer performing with us. Nester the Cruel and Tinka have joined a new performing troop and are no longer Riddle Masters. We wish them and the others in that group the best of luck.

Bertrum and I, and the remaining Riddle Masters will be performing at various other festivals as we re-work our show and prepare for an exciting, new adventure! We will keep you posted on our scheduled appearances at other festivals and hope to see some familiar faces in the audience. “A new adventure? What iiiiissss it?”, you ask? Silly mortal, I don’t tell the answers. But I will let you know when the Adventure is about to begin…

The Riddle Masters did say they were going to be performing still, just at other venues as members of their troupe have left for other endeavors or joined another group.

Reaction to the news was mixed with some sadness but also thankfulness as the Riddle Masters tried to stump people for 2 decades.

Image Credit: Paul Shea/TSM

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival runs weekends through October 1st, you can find more information on the festival, including the new parking rules on the festival's website, here.