When you spend your weekdays in the world of marketing and content strategy, you start to see storytelling everywhere. Campaigns, copy, visuals—they’re all just different ways of crafting a narrative that pulls people in. But every once in a while, I get to step away from digital screens and enter a different kind of storytelling space—one rooted in history, art, and fantasy.
This past weekend, that space was the Utah Renaissance Faire at Mt. Nebo Botanical Farm, where I hosted a booth teaching fair-goers the art of illuminated manuscripts and poetry.
A Faire in Full Color
If you’ve never been to a Renaissance faire, imagine stepping into a parallel world. The parking lot fades behind you, and suddenly you’re surrounded by costumed knights, troubadours, jesters, and merchants peddling everything from hand-forged blades to dragon-shaped mugs. It’s a carnival of history and imagination. Think medieval authenticity meets fantasy flair.
Utah’s faire was no exception. Beneath the bright desert sun, banners whipped in the wind, minstrels played lutes, and the smell of turkey legs drifted across the festival grounds. I came not just as a visitor, but as a creator, in a booth tucked among artisans and craftspeople.
Illuminated Manuscripts: Medieval Marketing Meets Teaching
Our craft station was sponsored by my favorite indie press, Collective Tales Publishing. We created intricate, decorated letters and illustrations in the style that monks and artists painstakingly created during the Renaissance. Hosting this activity felt like the perfect collision of my identities:
- Marketing professional: I spend my career helping brands stand out visually and emotionally. Medieval manuscripts were essentially branding for the divine. They were crafted to capture attention, inspire reverence, and communicate meaning through beauty.
- Visual artist: Guiding children, teens, and adults through the process of gilding and lettering reminded me of the joy of teaching workshops with Bad Dog Arts. I love meeting people where they are, celebrating their creativity, and offering small sparks of art knowledge that they could carry forward.
- Dark fantasy author: Illuminated letters were often adorned with dragons, beasts, and surreal imagery. Watching visitors sketch twisting vines, lurking monsters, and celestial symbols onto their letters felt like stepping into one of my own fictional worlds.
What I loved most was how accessible the craft became. Some visitors traced medieval alphabet templates, others freestyled entire Celtic beasts. Parents and kids worked side by side. Strangers complimented each other’s designs and rhyming schemes. In a world where so much of our creativity gets swallowed by screens, there was something grounding about sitting with paper, ink, and color.
The Alchemy of Shared Creativity
The faire itself was alive with performance, but what struck me most about participating in this booth was the quiet magic it created amid the noise. People stepped in from the bustle of jousts and jesters, sat at a table, and gave themselves permission to slow down.
Some stayed for only ten minutes, others lingered for nearly an hour. I watched kids beam with pride as they showed their parents a letter “A” coiled with vines. I watched teenagers discover that coming up with a clever poem is harder than it looks (and laugh about it). I watched adults rediscover that art isn’t about perfection, but about play.
For me, this was the faire’s greatest gift: not just a spectacle to watch, but a moment of participation. A chance for people to explore history and fantasy with their own hands.
Why It Matters to Me
Whether I’m building a marketing campaign, teaching a class, or weaving a dark romance story, it all comes down to the same impulse:
To take an idea, a spark, and give it form. To create experiences that pull people into a story. To make something beautiful, strange, and unforgettable.
The Renaissance faire, with its swirl of history and imagination, is the perfect stage for that kind of work. The glowing letters and perfectly crafted prose that bring stories to life felt like the perfect activity to share.
As I packed up my inks and papers at the end of the day, I realized this wasn’t just a booth at a festival. It was an extension of my studio practice, my teaching, my writing, and my marketing. It was a reminder that the ways we tell stories may shift across mediums, but the human need to illuminate them never changes.
Let’s share your story.
xoxo,
Michaela Rae
V. Studio 