Things to Do in Portage

Each year at the onset of summer, the costumed bards, knights, and royalty at Mayfaire Renaissance Festival welcome visitors to enjoy rollicking entertainment and peruse handcrafted wares throughout the wooded festival grounds. Attendees step into a world of jousters and jesters, replete with Renaissance-era songs and dances and smartphones fashioned from mutton. All-ages-appropriate comedians regale families with zany antics, and visitors can ask mystical tarot-card readers questions about the future.

The Bounce Castle’s sprawling floor hosts a fleet of inflatable obstacle courses, ball pits, and a slide that plunges from the ceiling to the ground. As little ones jump, climb, and play, their parents can supervise from a comfy lounge with free wireless internet, magazines, and a TV that automatically shuts down when a cartoon program comes on. The Bounce Castle’s kid-friendly inflatables accommodate open play seven days a week, as well as birthday parties.

Featured on the WZZM13 news, Wine-a-Palooza combines international wines with music from local bands during a three-day, outdoor festival. On Friday, vintner Mike Laing from Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan will be onsite to discuss the winemaking process as audience members taste sparkling wines from his vineyards. Later that evening, guests can attend the After Grape Party with music by DJ Stoz and a cash bar. On Saturday, guests can sample 48 wines from around the world, as well as purchase full bottles from an exclusive Wine-a-Palooza label to bolster home collections or christen backyard ocean liners.

Five local musical acts—The Electrixx Band, Kelly Carey, Nick Ayoub, Scott Patrick Bell, and Jane DeYoung—will be on hand to supply the soundtrack to Saturday’s tastings. The concert runs from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. The wine festivities conclude with a Sunday brunch buffet, which benefits the Center for Women in Transition.