Great Plains Renaissance Festival
- Dates
- Sep 26 to 27, 2026
- Status
- Confirmed
- Venue
- Sedgwick County Park
- Price
- $14 to $18
- Camping
- None on site
- Last checked
- Aug 24, 2026
The experience
What's special
The Great Plains Renaissance Festival has kept the Renaissance in Wichita for more than 25 years, and it comes around twice annually - a spring and a fall weekend at Sedgwick County Park. It is really two festivals in one ticket: a renaissance faire with a Royal Joust Arena, an SCA combat dell running HEMA and armored bouts, OKC Armored Combat matches, a siege engine arena with competitions and build-your-own-catapult sessions, pirate comedy, fairy courts, a mermaid show, a Musketeer encampment, and a Viking village - plus the Wichita Highland Games, with caber toss, hammer throw, and sheaf toss competitions open to public entry, a Parade of Scottish Clans, and massed pipe bands. A Kansas Authors Pavilion adds a bookish local wrinkle, advance tickets stay cheap with a free kids pass per adult ticket, and each edition runs a community food drive.
What people love
Families are the festival's sweet spot: kids love the jousting, the raptor rescue birds of prey, and the turkey legs, and parents call it a fun afternoon with great people-watching. The armored combat has become a standout - attendees name the OKC Armored Combat bouts as their favorite part and say the festival keeps improving - and the local-winery mead stand has its own following. The costume scene is relaxed and welcoming, from period garb to fantasy cosplay. Tempered expectations are the common refrain, though: regulars describe a modest open-park event that is smaller and simpler than the Kansas City or Texas festivals, with repeat acts across editions, lines at the popular food stalls, extra costs for many activities, unpredictable Kansas weather, and cash strongly preferred since vendors and gates do not take credit cards.
Last time around
The spring 2026 edition - the 21st Annual Spring Great Plains Renaissance and Scottish Festival - ran April 18-19, 2026 at Sedgwick County Park, promising jests and jousts, aerial acrobatics, falconry and fire-breathing daredevils, bagpipes and belly dancers, singing pirates, the Wichita Highland Games, Celtic music, Vikings, fairies, and a Kansas Authors Pavilion.
On the lanes & stages
Set in the Renaissance period. Event style: faire.
Lineup
Costumes & what to wear
Do I need a costume?
Dressing up is common but entirely optional, and the costume culture is loose and welcoming, attendees turn up in everything from period garb to fantasy and general cosplay, and regulars say history has nothing to do with it for most visitors. Kansas weather is the practical consideration: the festival runs rain or shine on an open park site, so sunscreen and a hat come recommended by returning attendees
Weapons policy
Swords may be brought provided they are peace-tied, with the blade properly bound so it cannot be drawn by anyone else. Blades and medieval replica weapons may not be drawn at the festival; exposed blades and weaponry are expressly forbidden, and violators must return them to their vehicle or are expelled without refund
Joining in
Admission includes the Wichita Highland Games, with men's and women's caber toss, hammer throw, weight over bar, sheaf toss, stone throw, and weight for distance, and a public entry form for competitors. Attendees can join Scottish clan signups and the Parade of Scottish Clans and Massed Bands, watch or study HEMA, cut-and-thrust, and armored combat at the SCA Dell, enter siege engine competitions, build small-scale catapults with MakeICT, and take part in royal court audiences, the Queen's Tea, fairy story times, and Viking village games. Volunteers get in free
Getting there
Nearest airport ICT.
How do I get to Great Plains Renaissance Festival?
By bus 1
Greyhound and FlixBus both serve Wichita, stopping at the downtown Wichita Transit Center, with direct runs from Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Dallas. From the Transit Center the park is a Route 11 bus ride on Saturday or a ~9-mile rideshare any day
Book / info →Public transit 1
Wichita Transit's Route 11 runs from the downtown Transit Center out to the Zoo Boulevard area beside Sedgwick County Park, the festival's own doorstep. One honest weekend caveat: buses run weekdays and Saturdays (Saturday service about 6:00 AM, 6:30 PM), but there is no Sunday service, so the festival's Sunday needs a rideshare instead. No route connects the airport directly to the park, ride into the downtown Transit Center first or take a rideshare
Book / info →Taxi & rideshare 1
Sedgwick County Park is only about 8 miles from ICT, a 15-minute ride. Standard rideshare pickup at the terminal, with several local taxi companies also operating
Book / info →By train
No direct passenger rail to the venue was found. Use the airport transfers or shuttle options above.
🅿 Parking
On site parking available. Cost No parking charge published by the festival; the county park has free public lots. Prepay via None, Sedgwick County Park has standard public-park lots, no prepay system. The festival's own pages don't publish a parking price or reserved-lot system, it uses the county park's general lots. Note the festival gate itself is cash, personal check, or money order only (no credit cards), with an ATM outside the main gate
🚙 Car hire
Compare car hire at ICT
Convenient rather than essential: the park is a 15-minute drive from ICT's on-airport rental counters, and a car covers the Sunday transit gap plus west-Wichita hotel runs in one go
Search car hire →Live price search coming soon.
Where
Venue
Sedgwick County Park
Camping & Accommodation
Where can I stay near Great Plains Renaissance Festival?
No on site camping. Here is where to stay nearby.
Budget stays 1
West Wichita, about 1.2 miles from the Sedgwick County Zoo/park area
≈ $79-100 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →Mid-range hotels 2
Northwest Wichita off K-96, about 10 minutes from the park
Book direct →Downtown Wichita's Old Town district, about 15 minutes east of the park
≈ $110-160 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →Airbnb & private camping
West Wichita rentals near the park are plentiful and modestly priced by big-city standards; this is a one-weekend community festival rather than a demand event that spikes citywide rates, so normal booking windows are fine
Search Airbnb →For campers, Hipcamp lists private-land stays across the Wichita area and south-central Kansas, and Cheney State Park's lakeside campgrounds are about 30 minutes west, the festival itself is a day event in a county park with no overnight camping
Search Hipcamp →Pricing
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