By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
The Magpie Foundation will present The Big Sky Renaissance Faire in Town Center on Memorial Day Weekend, offering a dragon-themed event with regional vendors.
The event will take place at the crossroads of Aspen Leaf Drive and Huntley Drive, offering a “historically-inspired medieval fantasy marketplace of artisans, craftspeople and dreamers,” according to the event website. Tickets are available online with free admission for seniors over 65 years old and children 10 and under. Natasha Bivens, CEO of the Magpie Foundation, said Big Sky offers both accessibility and natural beauty in a “stunning location,” and hopes the event serves as a showcase for similar events in the future.
The Magpie Foundation is a nonprofit based in Three Forks that specializes in helping honorably discharged veterans obtain infrastructure such as running water, septic systems and solar energy, among other support services and youth scholarships provided. The foundation has held an annual Renaissance faire fundraiser since 2023.
“The Magpie Foundation’s mission is two-fold: to improve the everyday lives of veterans with infrastructure projects, and provide an opportunity for military service members and vets to interact with their community,” Bivens stated in an email to EBS. “Our Renaissance Faires achieve both of these objectives. Event proceeds directly fund the infrastructure projects, and attending the event provides a fun, welcoming environment for everyone.”
The foundation will donate 2026 proceeds to a veterans memorial project in Big Sky led by Patrick Griffith, a former Marine who served in the Iraq War and now owns Blue Moon Bakery. Lone Mountain Land Company donated a small parcel of land, and the Big Sky Community Organization and Post 99 of the American Legion agreed to provide ongoing stewardship for the memorial, which will be located in the planned South Fork Park along Ousel Falls Road near Firelight Meadows.
Griffith was inspired by his travels around the state, where nearly every community had some sort of veterans memorial. “And Big Sky just doesn’t have anything like that,” Griffith told EBS. “… “It just kind of seemed like a no-brainer that we should have something to honor these people and welcome them to the community.”
He said LMLC, BSCO and the Legion have been huge supporters and the community response has been overwhelmingly positive and rewarding.
Griffith is setting up a 501(c)3 nonprofit to begin collecting donations, and the Renaissance faire will likely be the first fundraiser. He hopes the memorial will be constructed in the next two to three years alongside the new park.
The event encourages potential vendors, merchants and volunteers to submit an online application. As of mid-March, involved vendors include performative fighters Sunz of Odin, acrobats and mermaids with Fairy Sisters, kilts by Thistle Mountain Traders, barbecue and turkey legs by The Filthy Pig, and mead by Valhalla Meadery. For activities, Bivens invites guests to test their skills in the battle arena, lock their friends in the pillory and taunt them with tomatoes, and take photos upon “the famous Throne of Destiny.”
LMLC initially brought the event to Big Sky, and will provide the space for the event as well as its role in connecting Magpie Foundation with the veterans memorial project.
“Lone Mountain Land Company is excited to be a part of the first of what we hope will be annual productions of the Renaissance Faire in Big Sky, bringing Medieval to the Mountains,” Jonathan Gans, LMLC community engagement liaison, stated in an email to EBS. “… This looks to be a really fun and exciting event accessible to and enjoyable by all of the Big Sky community.”
