Medieval magic, noble knights and jubilant jesters will take over Gainesville this weekend as the Hoggetowne Goes Downtown for the first time its 37-year history.
This year’s event will be held Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Depot Park, 874 SE Fourth St., and feature more than 50 merchants, six stages of entertainment, food vendors and the living chess match.
Sunny Andrei, the event’s producer and assistant manager for Gainesville’s cultural affairs department, said organizers were forced to find a city-owned property for the fair due to time constraints after their primary and backup locations fell through within a week of each other.
“Depot Park had already established itself as supporting some larger attended events, like Sparks in the Park, The Bash last fall had a lot of attendees, so we decided that would be the best location for having Hoggetowne,” she said.
Having it at the park, however, will limit the festival to just one weekend instead of it usual three.
“It’s a big public park and we couldn’t take it over three weeks and have our usual run.” Andrei said.