Hilltown Families 
TICKET GIVEAWAY: Medieval Faire at Ventfort Hall
Medieval Faire & Armored Tournament
Ventfort Hall in Lenox, MA
Sunday, October 9 from 10am-5pm
3rd Annual Medieval Faire with displays of armored combat; equestrian demonstrations; medieval arts, crafts, and clothing; strolling troubadours; and lectures on feudalism and medieval society. (Courtesy Photo, Kevin Sprague)
Medieval chivalry comes alive in the Berkshires at the Ventfort Hall 3rd Annual Medieval Faire & Armored Tournament in Lenox, MA on Sunday, October 9th from 10am-5pm … and Hilltown Families has a family 4-pack of tickets to giveaway to one lucky family!
The Medieval Faire & Armored Tournament is an excellent way to learn about medieval society through demonstrations and enactments. There will be strolling troubadours, lectures, people dressed in period costumes, medieval arts, armored combat demonstrations and much more!
Enter to win a family 4-pack of tickets. Deadline to enter to win is Wednesday, 09/28/11 @ 7pm (EST). Details below.
ABOUT The Medieval Faire & Armored Tournament
Medieval chivalry and armored tournaments are not dead, but alive and thriving. Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum will host the 3rd annual Medieval Faire at the historic Jacobean-Revival mansion in Lenox on Sunday, October 9 from 10am to 5pm. The series of events will include exciting displays of armored combat every hour, equestrian demonstrations, medieval arts, crafts and clothing, strolling troubadours and musicians, and lectures on feudalism and medieval society. Men in armor and women in period costumes will take part in the action.
Heading the program is Jeffrey Mann, a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, one of the world’s largest medieval living history organizations, for nearly 30 years. Mann’s specialty is the study of the evolution of armor through the Middle Ages, how it is made and tournament combat. For over 20 years, Mann, his squire and retainers have taken their interest and knowledge of medieval life to schools, nursing homes and scouting organizations, bringing the Middle Ages alive.
Mann states, “Our lively presentation helps sort fact from fiction and explain how many of our modern customs evolved from then till now.”
ABOUT VENTFORT HALL
Ventfort Hall is an imposing Jacobean Revival-style mansion built in 1893 for Sarah Morgan, the sister of J. P. Morgan. Designed by the architects Rotch & Tilden, it is located in Lenox, Massachusetts. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and declared an official project of “Save America’s Treasures,” a Millennium program of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Ventfort Hall is the home of The Museum of the Gilded Age.
Ventfort Hall was one of the approximately seventy-five so-called “Cottages” built in Lenox in the last century when the village became a popular Gilded Age resort. Through lectures, exhibits, theatrical performances and other events, The Museum of the Gilded Age interprets the great changes that occurred in American life, industry, and society during the Nineteenth Century, a fascinating period of American history. For more information visit www.gildedage.org.
HOW TO WIN
Your chance to win a family 4-pack of free tickets to the 3rd Annual Medieval Faire & Armored Tournament at the Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum on Sunday, October 9 from 10am-5pm in Lenox, MA is as easy as 1-2-3 (4, 5)!
To enter to win simply:
- CONSIDER SHARING ON FACEBOOK by selecting the Facebook icon below.
- TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND AN AUTUMN DAY IN THE BERKSHIRES WITH YOUR KIDS below (one entry per household), and be sure to tell us your
- FULL NAME and where you
- LIVE (TOWN/STATE). Must include your town to be eligible.
- ACCURATE EMAIL IN THE EMAIL FIELD BELOW (we never share your email address).
IT’S THAT SIMPLE! We’ll randomly draw a winner and will share the results below.— Deadline is Wednesday, 09/28/11 @ 7pm (EST)
COST/ADMISSION
Admission is $22 for adults, $12 for children ages 4-17 and includes the Faire and self-guided tours of the first floor of the mansion including Les Petites Dames de Mode. The Medieval Faire is a fundraising event that benefits the continued restoration and daily upkeep of Ventfort Hall. For further information, call 413-637-3206. Ventfort Hall is located at 104 Walker Street. Lenox, MA.
Jennifer has won a family 4-pack of free tickets to the 3rd Annual Medieval Faire & Armored Tournament at the Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum on Sunday, October 9 from 10am-5pm in Lenox, MA – and should contact us at hilltownfamilies@gmail.com for directions on how to claim tickets.
Thank you for everyone who participated and share their favorite way to spend an Autumn Day in the Berkshires! Many great suggestions, including:
Other opportunities to win tickets:
A long hike on a sunny afternoon, then pick some apples and take them home to make apple crisp served warm with vanilla ice cream!
Apple picking at Hilltop Orchards in Richmond is the best. They have a hay ride up through the orchard, hiking trails, awesome cider donuts for the kiddies, plus they sell their Johnny Mash hard cider on the premises. Stick one in your back pocket before heading up to pick!
Finding a new trail to hike to explore the diversity of Western MA.
Anna Grettenberg
Northampton, MA
Hiking and apple picking!
A favorite way to spend a fall day with kids is roaming the woods!
Helene Leue
Ashfield, Ma.
Before my family became bigger my daughter and I would travel out to the Berkshire’s for hiking and apples – she was quite the hiker, those were great memories… we now take the younger ones much closer to home when hiking, but thank you for reminding me, this year seems like a good time to drive out there and share the beauty with the younger ones…. Ashfield, Glenda Spurling
Our family enjoys a nice ride – Rt. 2 to 112 to 9 – maybe a stop at The Creamery, then a little shopping at the outlets in Lee, then a little wander around the Tanglewood grounds… : )
Jessica Day, Greenfield, MA
We love to go for bike rides on the Manhan Rail Trail!
Easthapmton, MA
Apple picking
We love to go hiking and enjoy the beautiful colors of the changing leaves. We live in Shutesbury.
Raking, walking in the woods, and drinking local cider!
Lissie Fein
Easthampton
We like to go hiking and geocaching, rain or shine!
Easthampton, MA
Enjoying the Clark and seeing the beautiful colored leaves along the way!
South Hadley, MA
Hiking (especially Mt Greylock), if its raining: Mass Moca or Berkshire Museum. Visiting historic burial grounds…..there are all sorts of wonderful options!
Karin P
We have a fall tradition on Yom Kippur to go for a hike and build fairy and gnome houses along the way.
Paula Yolles
Florence, MA
We have a fall tradition on Yom Kippur to go for a hike and build fairy and gnome houses along the way.
My family and I like to hike on Greylock Mt. We also go to the Apple Squeeze every year in Lenox!!!!
Jen Filkins
Pittsfield, MA
We like to camp, hike and try to find at least new one waterfall a year, and what is fall without visiting a harvest festival or two… especially the one at the Hancock Shaker Village.
KaLea Anne Thoits
Contoocook, NH
Cider doughnuts at a local farm. Northampton, MA
Pizza at Baba Louie’s and a “hike” through Pleasant Valley sanctuary. Perfect. <3. -Pauline Delton, West Springfield
Apple picking and running through the leaves. Cummington, MA
We love to pick apples at the orchard and then bring them to our neighbor who has a cider press and we turn and turn the press and then drink the amazing crisp sweetness of our apples!
We live on Haydenville.
Apple picking or taking a hike on Mt. Tom
A day to Mass MOCA and a picnic at nearby Natural Bridge State Park!
Heather Polson / Northampton
We love to ride our bikes on any one of Northampton’s numerous bike trails
Our girls love going to Sturbridge Village in the fall, or up to Shelburne Falls
Rachel Thomposn
Belchertown, MA
I like to take my nieces to look park! They lover the freedom to run around!
Christina Coursey
Northampton, MA
Typically, I like to take the kids hiking and apple picking, but a SCA event might be my son’s new favorite activity…
Diane Kelly, Deerfield, MA