In a crowded program of exciting local events and festivals planned for 2022, the Orange Medieval Faire certainly stands out as one of the most unique in the central west!

On 19-20 March, the Orange Showground will be transformed into a medieval European village, with visitors set to witness viking battles, archery displays and the clashing of lances and thunder of horse’s hooves as knights in full armour meet in the lists.

Orange Medieval Faire organiser and international jouster, Andrew McKinnon, said he is excited to bring this world class event to the region and to showcase the sport he loves.

“There will definitely be no shortage of things to do for everybody,” said Andrew of the two-day event. 

“We have a Viking battle — a mass battle where literally a whole bunch of Vikings with swords will just go at it! It’s pretty exciting! And then there’s the ‘birds of prey’ show, which is really cool. They’ve got lots of really interesting birds and talk about how falcony was done in the middle ages. They actually have an owl that flies against a remote control rabbit, which is really spectacular!”

Other highlights of the program include a display of ancient horsemanship, a ‘Knight School’ where children can learn the basics of medieval combat, the reenactors’ encampment, a tavern and even a trebuchet. 

“A trebuchet is a giant medieval catapult, which will hurl watermelons about 150 metres. There are limits to being able to destroy houses with stones these days, but watermelons are a great substitute — they explode quite spectacularly!” said Andrew.

The feature event of the Faire will be an eight-competitor jousting tournament, which will take place in four sessions over the weekend. The sport of jousting dates back to the middle ages in Europe, where armoured knights would test their martial prowess by attempting to strike their opponent with a lance on horseback.

There has been a modern revival of the sport in recent years, with Australia producing some of the world’s best jousters. Current world champion, Victorian Philip Leitch, will be at the Orange Medieval Faire looking to defend his title, which should make for some spectacular competition.

In the jousting style to be showcased in Orange, the lances are fitted with tips designed to shatter when struck against the opponent’s shield. 

“They call it ‘frangible tip’ or ‘balsa jousting’ which is where you use a replaceable tip that goes into a socket of a lance. You still hit pretty hard, especially when you break the balsa and drive the socket into someone!  That certainly rings people’s bells!” said Andrew, who began training for the sport in 2007.

“It took about three years with the riding and collecting armour and trying to convince my wife not to divorce me! But ultimately it’s one of those challenges that one poses for oneself and if you really want to do it, you just get it done. So three years and I’m competing, then a couple years after that, I was actually competing overseas.”

Besides the time commitment, jousting is not a cheap sport to get into. A good suit of armor can cost upward of $20,000 or even $30,000. Then there’s buying and keeping a specially-trained horse to consider as well.

“It’s been described as a sport where two people will don full suits of armour, get onto their horses at either end of what we call the jousting list and basically, throw money at each other!” laughed Andrew.

“Certainly you try and make it pay in some way or another like you try to make it some sort of a business to help — basically just to cover some costs —  but you never made your fortune doing it, that’s for sure! They call it the ‘Sport of Kings’ for a reason!”

The inaugural Orange Medieval Faire has been kickstarted thanks to a $200,000 grant from the NSW Government’s Regional Events Acceleration Fund. Orange City Council has also contributed $10,000 to the event.

“It’d be great if we can get a couple under our belts and see the event become sort of self-sustaining, but I don’t see why it can’t become a permanent fixture out there,” said Andrew, who was also instrumental in establishing the St Ives Medieval Faire in Sydney’s Upper North Shore.

“When we started, I think the council were expecting maybe a couple of thousand people to turn up but we got 8,000 over the weekend and they freaked out and had to throw more resources at it! We’re probably now getting up around 17-18,000 per weekend.”

The Orange Medieval Faire will take place on 19-20 March at the Orange Showground. For tickets and more information visit www.orangemedievalfaire.com.au