It recreates the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to the English port city of Bristol in 1574.

The reigning monarch became Queen Elizabeth I rather than the fictional "King Richard", and the year was set at 1574.

At that time, the fair played seven weekends and drew over 200,000 visitors annually,[1] thus placing it among the highest attended in the world.

[3] Renaissance faire staples such as jousting tournaments, historical reenactments, and stage shows continue.

[8] Journalist Neil Steinberg said of the Bristol Renaissance Faire: "If theme parks, with their pasteboard main streets, reek of a bland, safe, homogenized, whitebread America, the Renaissance Faire is at the other end of the social spectrum, with a whiff of the occult, a flash of danger, and a hint of the erotic.