If you’ve never stepped foot on the Renaissance Park grounds, prepare to enter a universe of the imagination. The outdoor event center is home to five different entities — Celtic Fest, Yuletide Village, 1572 Roadhouse Bar-B-Q, Brimstone Haunt and the main attraction, the Ohio Renaissance Festival (ORF). Cosplay fanatics, dressed as knights, elves, fairies, pirates and more, flock the village streets to watch live theatrical and musical performances, devour turkey legs and visit artisan vendors. Open on weekends (each with a different theme) from Labor Day until end of October, the festival is one of the largest in the United States.

ORF partnered with Vehr Communications to amplify organic Facebook and Instagram engagement with their loyal fans to deepen relationships, encourage social sharing across their networks and ultimately, drive repeat ticket sales.

Vehr began interacting daily with fans through reactions and comments. Using prior social engagement metrics as a guide, we developed a content calendar that started in June to generate pre-season momentum that would carry and build throughout the year. We then experimented with new forms of content, including:

• User-Generated Content (UGC) — ORF has an extremely passionate fan base — in fact, they even have their own affinity groups on Facebook. Each weekend, ORF would be tagged in hundreds of photos by super fans wearing elaborate costumes. Many even created Reels and TikToks, which expressed Renaissance culture even more fully. To supplement ORF-generated content, Vehr shared UGC to stories or asked permission to use on our channels in weekend recaps or themed posts.
• Video — With movement, sound, and storytelling elements, videos engage the senses and result in extended viewing times and higher interaction rates. We worked with the ORF team to regularly capture and edit video clips and to create videos from still photography, thus connecting with the audience on a deeper level.
• Trends — Vehr bridged the ways of old to modern times by jumping on social media trends such as sounds and catch phrases. For the first weekend recap, we tied the “demure” trend to trying to gracefully eat a turkey leg. This post generated 2,771 likes on Instagram, making it one of ORF’s top-liked posts of all time!
• Giveaways — Giveaways are an amazing way to generate engagement and strengthen fan loyalty. We utilized giveaways before, during and after the season to provide a chance for followers to win date-specific tickets, season passes and coveted merchandise. Playing off “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” our Gifts of Power two-day sweepstakes garnered nearly 800 entries across Facebook and Instagram.
• Using Fans as Informal Focus Groups — ORF fans have a lot of opinions — and great ideas for merchandise, entertainment and food options. We often asked our fans to comment about their favorite performances, festival cuisine and weekend themes — and they were happy to share their feedback. We gained valuable insider knowledge about what keeps visitors coming back year after year and used these insights to inform content.

The WIN
Through content changes and fan interaction, social metrics improved dramatically from 2023 to June – December 2024, including:

• Instagram reach increased 43%, page visits increased 34% and content interactions increased 100%.
• Facebook follows increased 16%, page visits increased 41% and content interactions increased 20%.

Faced with numerous weather-related issues (including a rare park closure due storm damage), the Ohio Renaissance Festival credited Vehr’s social efforts for keeping fans informed and engaged as well as keeping ticket sales steady through an atypical event season.