Renaissance in Larkspur.

• Author: PETERSON, ERIC

JIM PARADISE BRINGS ENLIGHTENMENT-ERA MANAGEMENT TO POST-MEDIEVAL ENTERTAINMENT

From its bohemian beginnings circa 1976, the Colorado Renaissance Festival has matured from a countercultural carnival into one of the state's family-friendliest attractions. The festival moved to its current 336-acre site in Larkspur in 1979 after two years at Skunk Hollow in Morrison and a yearlong stint a stone's throw off I-25 in Castle Rock. Attendance has boomed since, increasing nearly every year this decade to 210,000 in '99.

And, while the Larkspur-based festival is the state's only renaissance fest, it's not exactly the only game in town -- not when you count the Louisville-based Renaissance Entertainment Corp. Renaissance Entertainment is the only publicly traded renaissance festival company (See sidebar.)

Meanwhile, back in Larkspur, Jim Paradise, festival owner-president since 1987, takes a more businesslike approach to creating a fantasy world than his predecessors, pumping profits back into the festival site.

"He's one of the straightest guys to deal with," said Mark Sieve, a.k.a. Puke of Puke & Snot, a pair of "insane Shakespearean" clowns who have appeared at the festival every summer since 1981. "Some of these owners are pretty sleazy guys -- they're kind of like carny operators. When Jim bought it, he paid back vendors, he ran it well, and he put a sign up that said, 'Welcome Participants.'"

The result? Entertainers and artisans are now "happy to be there," Sieve said. "You don't have a good show if people are unhappy -- Disney doesn't put on a good show if the guy in the Mickey Mouse suit is pissed off."

For eight weekends each June and July, Paradise oversees a kingdom populated by 250 artisan-vendors, 300 entertainers and 500 other employees. "You're basically running a theme park like a Six Flags -- but only for 16 days," said Paradise, whose Minn.-based Rocky Mountain Festivals Inc. also owns a similar fair in Pennsylvania. "I would say the advertising is by far the biggest job. The rest of it's fun."

After eight weekends, the public's appetite for renaissance entertainment has been filled, Paradise said. With such a slender window, the factor most critical to the festival's success is out of Paradise's hands. "I guess I'm gambling on weather," he said.

Construction and maintenance of the festival's shops are the financial responsibilities of the vendor; the festival leases its property to tenants for an annual fee based on the size of...