Murray State University Housing hosts inaugural Racer Renaissance Faire
By Anya Kenney | Nov 12, 2026
MURRAY, Ky. — Murray State University Housing is proud to announce the inaugural Racer Renaissance Faire that, with the help of many student organizations, will offer an immersive renaissance festival experience right outside students’ front doors. The Racer Renaissance Faire will be held on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Elizabeth and Hart College parking lot. The event is free and open to the public.
The Racer Renaissance Faire is a new student organization event launched with the goal not to create booths at which attendees exchange money, but instead to exchange experiences with each other through Renaissance-themed games, activities and displays. The Racer Ren Faire has been actively recruiting student organizations to host their own booths and activities through its Racer Ren Faire Herald’s emails.
Grace Leone, resident director of Hart Hall and “herald” (communications chair) of the Racer Ren Faire, said that as someone walks through the Ren Faire, “They are going to smell the yummy aromas of food and drink for sale, hear the conversations of students enjoying a good time, see performances and demonstrations of all kinds and so much more. Students should also expect to see their peers dressed up in Renaissance themed clothing and are encouraged to do the same.”
For its booth, the Hart Residential College Council (RCC) will have a Wheel of Misfortune where people can spin for their fate and get a matching button to wear showing everyone their untimely demise. Hart RCC will also have a Seamstress Corner and a Crown Toss game.
The idea for the event started with a conversation among resident advisors working over the summer. From there, Residential College Councils got involved including Hart, Franklin, Regents and Elizabeth. Even though this event began with members of the housing office, in Leone’s words, it “snowballed” into a cross-campus collaborative mission. Student organizations such as Clay Club, TV Club, the Organization of Murray Art Students and many others are participating, as well as university departments offices, including the Department of Art & Design, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the Study Abroad Office, the Department of Global Languages and Theatre Arts and Waterfield Library.
The organizers are hopeful for a great turnout and excited about the potential longevity of the event.
“We hope that Racer Ren Faire will generate enough attendance and overall success that this grows not only to be a campus tradition,” stated Leone, “but something on par with Tent City or All Campus Sing.”
For more information, contact Grace Leone, Ren Faire herald, at gleone@murraystate.edu, or Glenna Crisp, the president of Racer Ren Faire at gcrisp1@murraystate.edu. Anyone interested in volunteering to join the Racer Ren Faire Club can fill out the Google Form at bit.ly/RacerRenFaire.