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Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Hoggetowne Medieval Faire goes on amid location search

The annual event took place at Depot Park for the second year since leaving the Alachua County Fairgrounds

<p>Lady Ettie waves to onlookers while walking in a parade around the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023.</p>

Lady Ettie waves to onlookers while walking in a parade around the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023.

Between stalls selling prosthetic elf ears and wood-carved staffs decorated with crystals, 37-year-old Brandon Breedlove encouraged Faire-goers to fight. He and 33-year-old Ashley Shelhon joked it was the “only free thing” at Hoggetowne Medieval Faire.

Breedlove and Shelhon represent a live-action roleplaying, or LARPing, group where participants learn medieval combat and weapon-handling techniques before meeting for battles. The pair has tabled at Hoggetowne for years. Behind their booth, people swung swords and clubs at one another while others waited their turn in line. 

For 36 of its 38 years, Hoggetown took place at the Alachua County Fairgrounds and ran for three weekends. Following a change in the Fairgrounds’ ownership, the Faire changed locations to Depot Park, which is around 70 acres smaller than the fairgrounds, and can only run for one weekend. 

“I'm not super happy with it, actually,” Breedlove said about the location change. “But we're happy that they're just able to have it anywhere.” 

Due to the location change, Hoogetowne downsized in both vendors and entertainers. Activities like jousting can no longer take place at Depot Park. The Faire’s organizers ruled out a variety of venues like the West End Golf Course and Gainesville Raceway, as well as other locations listed on their website, due to budget issues and other ownership issues.

Lili Tzou, the event coordinator for the City of Gainesville and assistant director of Hoggetowne Medieval Faire, said it’s challenging to find a suitable location within the city. However, Tzou said they’re determined to keep the Faire in Gainesville in order to continue the local staple. 

“It's definitely an annual tradition, but it's more than a tradition,” Tzou said. “I feel like, to a lot of people, it's more like a homecoming — something that's really a staple in people's lives.”

While the event was previously funded through ticket sales, visitors are no longer charged for admission since the move to Depot Park. Now, the Faire relies on merchant fees and money saved from past years. Tzou said Hoggetowne costs around $100,000 to put on. 

Although the loss of ticket prices impacted revenue, many vendors, like 54-year-old Roy Kinzler, found free admission has introduced many new people to the Faire. Kinzler runs Coats and Crests, an organization that traces the history of last names.

“We have a whole pile of people in here that are just here because it's a free event versus people that spend money and want to be in that environment,” Kinzler said. “So, you’re seeing a little bit of everything out here.”

And it’s true. For every person wearing a cloak or corset, there was someone wearing jeans and a T-shirt. In line for food, someone wearing a suit of armor might stand behind someone wearing a Gators sweatshirt. 

Twenty-five-year-old Cheyanne Horvath attracted attention as she towered above the crowds on stilts, donning a mask resembling an animal skull and a fur corset top. Faire attendees, both in and out of costume, stopped to take pictures with Horvath, who started working on her costume two years ago after having a mysterious dream.

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“All I remember is that I was going for a woodland guardian of the forest,” she said about the dream.

While the appeal of the Faire lies in the aesthetics for some, it’s the history that draws others in. Christopher Preston, a 23-year-old UF history major, is the founder of the Gainesville chapter of the Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) club and has represented the group at Hoggetowne for the past five years. 

HEMA studies original documentations of martial arts in Europe and offers combat lessons. Preston specializes in the longsword, a medieval weapon used by knights, and he invites those who visit his booth to lift the weapon.

“I am a simple guy,” Preston said. “I like swords.” 

The Faire is a tradition for him and his family, Preston said, and he has been coming here his entire life — or at least for as long as he could safely interact with medieval weapons. Although Preston said the location change has created a challenge for him and other vendors, he said he believes the Faire will be able to continue.

Hoggetowne serves as a tradition for many others, including Jim and Joyce Lillquist. The couple has played international folk music together at the event for the past 16 years. With 73-year-old Jim Lillquist on the hammered dulcimer, a combination of the harp and xylophone that is played with spoon-shaped mallets, and 71-year-old Joyce Lillquist on the chorded zither, they filled Hoggetowne with light, whimsical music. 

The Lillquist’s have been married for 50 years and sell CDs and cassette tapes of their music at the Faire each year. 

“It's just a great party,” Jim Lillquist said. “There's a lot of high quality entertainment and artisans here.”

Twenty-seven-year-old Bree Ward and 32-year-old Mark Solters came to the Faire together for the first time in 2023 and have worn matching medieval outfits every year since. They met through a shared love of music, specifically celtic instruments. Solters, who plays the bagpipes, said he views the festival as a cultural touchstone in Gainesville and an important way of performing older live music. 

“It's kind of like a bastion of diversity that we see being eroded,” he said. “That's why I think it's really important that we find some land for this to happen next year, and email your local representatives.”

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Juliana DeFilippo

Juliana DeFilippo is a freshman journalism major and General Assignment reporter for The Avenue. In her free time, she loves to read and work on crossword puzzles.


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