The smell of fried food and brined snacks drifted through Depot Park on Jan. 24 and 25 as crowds in cloaks and corsets lined up for turkey legs, fish and chips, and oversized pickles at the 39th annual Hoggetowne Medieval Faire.
The feast is as much a tradition as the jousts — but this year, rising food costs are adding new pressure behind the booths.
Food has long been one of the biggest draws of the fair, said Lily Tzou, the fair’s 27-year-old assistant director, and it plays a major role in whether visitors feel they’ve had the full medieval experience.
But behind the scenes, organizers are working with tighter logistical limits than in years past. WIth limited space and electricity at Depot Park, the fair hosted about 10 food vendors this year, compared to about 20 in previous years.
Tzou said vendors are facing higher costs to buy ingredients, and she has seen some raise their prices as a result. She emphasized food remains fundamental to the fair’s identity and overall success, making those rising costs especially significant.
“The food sales are everything,” Tzou said. “People love food.”
For 39-year-old Dustin Cawood, known at the fair as “the pickle man,” the economic shift is visible in the supplies he orders before each festival. He said the wholesale price of pickles has risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing from about $30 per bucket to more than $40.
Those higher supply costs, he said, affect how he prices his pickles at events like Hoggetowne. Before the pandemic, he charged $1 per pickle; now he sells them for $4 each.
Cawood said spending rose sharply when festivals first returned after the pandemic, as people were eager to get out of the house. But that surge has since cooled even as supply costs remain elevated.
“There was a very beautiful surge of money coming in,” Cawood said. “We’ve kind of just now come back to a balance of other pre-COVID numbers.”
Visitors, too, are navigating higher everyday expenses while trying to keep up traditions.
Zee Zick, a 20-year-old Florida Gateway College student, said he plans ahead so he can still enjoy the food that’s part of the experience. He keeps a dedicated fund for the fair and said he typically saves about $600 on travel, lodging and spending money.
Zick, a Lake City resident, said he has attended the fair every year of his life. Over two days this year, he estimated spending about $50 on meals and snacks, from fish and chips to a pickle he bought for novelty as much as taste.
“They’ve definitely climbed up a little bit over the past few years, but not as bad as some other places,” Zick said about the food vendors’ prices.
He said the fair’s free admission makes it easier for some people to attend, but those visitors may spend less once inside.
Even as vendors adjust to the higher supply costs, steady crowds at food booths show visitors are still eager for a bite of the fair — regardless of a few extra dollars.
Contact Aaliyah Evertz at aevertz@alligator.org. Follow her on X @aaliyahevertz1.
Aaliyah is a second-year journalism student in her second semester at the Alligator. She is the Avenue's spring 2026 entertainment reporter. In her free time, she enjoys reading and baking.
