City of Gainesville and Alachua County commissioners during a joint meeting on June 17 discussed ideas for a permanent home for the annual Hoggetowne Medieval Faire.
Officials first heard a presentation by city staff on the history, community impact and challenges faced while looking for a new location for the event.
Marking almost 40 years as a Gainesville tradition, the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire was originally held at the Thomas Center for five years. In 1991, the festival moved to the Alachua County Fairgrounds, its home for nearly three decades before the property at 3100 NE 39th Ave. was leased to the U.S. Army Reserve for 50 years beginning in September 2020.
The festival then briefly moved to the former YMCA sports complex along Archer Road before finding its most recent home for the past two years at Depot Park.
The new site would need 50 to 60 acres of mostly clear and flat dry land that’s within the city limits, flushing toilets, campgrounds and have vehicle and ADA accessibility.
Some of the locations offered by officials included the Alachua County Agriculture and Equestrian Center (current fairgrounds), the new West End Community Park, the MLK Center/Citizens Field complex and, possible the leading candidate, Gainesville Raceway.
Holding the medieval faire in the 11-acre space at Depot Park — its home again in 2026 — has caused the annual event to be reduced from its traditional three weekends to only one, limited the number of vendors from 150 to 90, scaled back 11 stages of entertainment to six, and prevented usual activities such as jousting and the birds of prey exhibit from being held.
Despite the cuts, however, the 2025 event saw the highest recorded attendance within the past several years with 49,565 attendees. Attendance has been buoyed in recent years thanks to it having been transitioned into a free event due to the limited activities.
County Commissioner Ken Cornell said the event should held in Gainesville and that he feels the fairgrounds on the west side of the county is just too far away.
County Commissioner Anna Prizzia, however, disagreed and said the event was designed to be held at the fairgrounds.
“I also don’t understand that if you could do it at Depot Park, you can do it at the fairgrounds,” Prizzia said. “The fairgrounds are way bigger than Depot Park and we have a 2,000-seat arena, we have stalls for horses, we have stalls for other animals under cover, we have 52 RV hookups, we have a ticket office, we have all of the things set up there for that event to be successful.”
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward said Newberry is a long way for Gainesville residents and staff to travel and that the fair is a Gainesville event.
“If it’s a county event, that’s a whole different story, but we write the check,” Ward said. “Y’all are county commissioners, and I understand why that makes sense to you but y’all aren’t going to put an event in Marion County that’s in Alachua County.”
Prizza then clarified that it would be a temporary solution as it provides amenities that Depot Park doesn’t have.
With Gainesville Raceway as a possible leading candidate to host the event in 2027, City Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut and Prizzia motioned the city to refer its staff to work with county staff to jointly design a plan to look at alternative sites.
City Commissioner Eastman suggested sending a joint city-county letter to Gainesville Raceway to “open their eyes” about holding the event there, which was added to the final motion.
The motion passed unanimously with County Commissioners Mary Alford and Charles Chestnut IV absent.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville, Alachua County continue search for permanent home for Hoggetowne Medieval Faire
Reporting by Elliot Tritto, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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