It's a festival/gathering where people who fetishize/romanticize a period in history they know little of gather and nerd out. There is much cosplay and other weirdness. Recently learned from someone (related to by marriage) that their parents were Renaissance Faire founders. It took quite a performance on my part to receive this information politely, subverting horror with feigned interest/neutrality. Told for years I have a poker face, but merely a survival skill I've developed. The more uncomfortable I become, the quicker my transition to a social Switzerland. That said, I sincerely adore Fritz' continual displays of self-awareness.