foreign
if there was a place you could travel to
that would teleport you into your
favorite fantasy movie
sure you could go to the Renaissance
Festival but you might still see
Spectators in modern clothing and then
you'd remember that you're in the 21st
century not a fairy tale
I actually discovered a place where
movies come to life like this and you
might be surprised to hear that it's not
a Hollywood set or an amusement park
it's an underground event hosted on
farmlands in the middle of Minnesota
this underground Renaissance Festival
wasn't created to turn a profit either
these people simply get together for the
fun of dressing up
this is William Swift a
minneapolis-based costume collector and
stylist and The Mastermind Behind these
events
using his collection of over 2 000
costumes he envisioned planned and
executed this magical spectacle
I had to see this with my own eyes so I
got on a plane and headed to Minneapolis
Minnesota to learn more about how this
whole thing came together
[Music]
once I got to Minneapolis William
invited me to his home which he has
transformed into a costume rental shop
and when I walked through the front
doors I was shocked to find out that
it's also somewhat of a museum where
some people might have a kitchen table
or a couch William instead has real
movie props and costumes that he's
accumulated over the years
does it make like eating dinner
difficult no and that's the thing that's
what I was getting into is you know so
we had a table in here and no one would
ever eat down here oh yeah then William
took me to the basement where he stores
his costume rentals so I have around
2500 individual pieces wow
like how did this happen how did you
decide that you were gonna fill your
basement with 2500 costs uh that's a
good question
um well so I was working retail for a
very long time and I just wasn't happy
you know I'm a very creative person you
know and I think you know working like a
corporate job was really hard I don't
know like I I ended up going to the
Renaissance vessel for the first time
it's completely blown away by the fact
that there's this whole
like essentially this whole town full of
just random you know people who dress in
these amazing outfits and I go almost
every weekend and and I would go with
friends and stuff and you know I you
know had eventually gotten enough stuff
for myself to kind of you know do a
character for myself and but the issue
was that I started looking so good and
then I would I would have my friends
with me and they would just be in my
jeans and a t-shirt right yeah and
that's no fun right they're like no you
you got to be an author you got to be an
Entourage right So eventually I started
collecting pieces not for me and then it
grew and it just kind of grew and became
this huge Juggernaut of a thing during a
tour of his costume filled home Williams
shared a story about growing up in the
foster care system and how it inspired
his Visionary imagination my life wasn't
easy growing up and you know the way
that I kind of dealt with that was
watching films and reading books and
escaping into all these different
fantasy worlds so so when I was like 14
or 15 I kind of you know decided like if
I ever do get out of this if I ever
survived this I really want to you know
pay homage to these worlds and these
characters and these creators and
artists
who helped me kind of become me and also
help me kind of
stay me and kind of survive and whatnot
today people all around the world like
to role play as historical and fantasy
characters many attend events like
Renaissance Fairs historical
reenactments and live action
role-playing games AKA LARPing I asked
William if he would compare his events
to LARPing and he said no in LARPing
people still dress up and role play as
fantasy characters but LARPing typically
involves a gaming framework that
includes rules goals and story lines
that players compete and play through
together it's closer to a sport or a
tabletop game like Dungeons and Dragons
Renaissance festivals are also common
across the world these outdoor
Gatherings are typically set during
medieval times and include actors and
attendees dressed in character
William says his Festival is different
because it's not a business it's just a
group of friends that like to dress up I
think for me there wasn't enough
costume events that people could go to
you know you have the Run fair you have
Halloween and I've always kind of been
curious about what something would be
like if everyone was in costume you know
like if
you know if everyone that you saw around
you was in costume what would that feel
like what would that be like
this whole journey started in 2019 after
attending the Renaissance Festival for
years will had the idea of creating a
fantasy photo shoot of his own do you
remember who the first person you told
the idea to I think it was magenta Bloom
she kind of encouraged me to do them how
did you describe it to her I kind of
just you know expressed interest like
hey like I want to go and get people
dressed up and I want to go and do like
a photo shoot
then in 2020 the Minnesota Renaissance
Festival closed its doors due to the
coronavirus pandemic this left many
people in the community without a place
to escape into fantasy so when the
Gathering restrictions started to ease
up in 2021 will thought he could expand
his photo shoot into more of a large
event it just got better from there
and just got bigger and bigger and
bigger and bigger went from 20 people to
250 people
I really wasn't sure what we were doing
yeah I just knew there were a lot of
people in fabulous outfits and
photographers and people posing left and
right and and I'm just like okay
so you had five Farms we had five
tamarine Farms yeah food trucks food
trucks you know when people hear about
it they think it's just like a photo
shoot you don't get that it's it's way
more than that it's it's a whole
experience
because you know you have the music you
have all the costumes you have the
animals you have all of these extra
layers to it than just that and I you
know it's almost like you're not just
making a movie it's like you're being in
the movie yeah it is yeah
sometimes it's hard to believe that
these events aren't big Hollywood
Productions especially when you see
dozens of people on Horseback and
authentic costumes charging down a field
will says that's thanks to Robin and
Faith when the two of them heard of
Will's events they agreed to bring their
horses and even train others on how to
ride we actually went to three riding
schools so that we were familiar with
the horses they knew that we were could
ride and how well or not well we could
ride
will has a true talent for styling
people in fantasy dress it's a huge part
of what elevates these events to feel
like big budget movie sets it's like for
me going to a fashion show but it's just
on mass and it's outside yeah well would
you style me in something sure
what's this this is a little pirate sash
sometimes it's all about adding all
these just random things to an outfit to
make it really kind of stand out where
do you get a sword belt
I think I got this from Goodwill of all
places no way yeah I get my things from
all over the place
I love the accessories yeah
do you like dressing up yourself more or
dressing up other people other people I
think because it pushes my you know
create creativity to its Max right you
know
on my last day in town the group got
together for a mini event and I went to
Will's house to hang out with everyone
while they got dressed up for the day
we're gonna cover this it's fine is
anyone in here no you want to look in
the mirror and see what do you think ask
the mirror on the wall meet Chris
Western a regular run Fest attendee that
got into cosplay as an adult and is
famous for his Recreation of The Witcher
I will does such a great job as the
event Commander you know yeah what is he
really doing it's it's it's a chance
just to
you know step away from who you are in
real life and just you know
dress up pretend to be a princess a
warrior a knight
for a day
how does will get all these people to
just do this for the fun of it yeah
I don't know Charisma you know I never
really ever consider the idea of playing
dress-up you know for a day or whatever
that and and if you had asked me uh you
know five years ago hey do you want to
go play dress-up with this guy will I
mean like
I think I'm gonna pass and it's really a
testament to the fact that he has spun
this spider web of friendships and
relationships and and this support group
that for him has become
um huge the community surrounding Will's
events has been growing
but because the events take so much time
and effort Will's not sure how many more
events he wants to put on it it feels
almost like I didn't do them just
because like they were so Grand and
skilled it's hard to believe that like I
pulled all of that off
the people that I spoke to hope that
Will's events keep going into the future
many have told me that they just don't
want to see the magic end
[Music]
history lovers I want to tell you about
a new series by PBS called the bigger
picture hosted by Professor Vincent
Brown it examines famous photographs and
explores the historical context around
them in doing so we reveal what these
photos can tell us about our history but
also how we view ourselves check out the
link in the description and don't forget
to tell them that subculture sent you