A small Texas town that hosts America’s largest Renaissance festival has been thrust into the spotlight after a new series charted the wild power struggle between its sex-obsessed ‘king’ and his rivals.
About half a million festival-goers flock to this theme park-like event in the town of Todd Mission over eight weekends from November to January each year.
Located 50 miles from Houston, about 130 residents who work at the festival live there year-round and are governed by founder George Coulam, better known to thousands as ‘King George’.
But as the new hit HBO series ‘Ren Faire’ delights, the king, 86, now wants to retire so he can concentrate on art, gardening and ‘chasing p****’, leading to a ferocious battle for the crown he has worn. for 50 years.
George Coulam, known to thousands of people as King George, has reigned over the Texas Renaissance Festival for fifty years.
His Kingdom, the Todd City Mission in central Texas, is seen here and has been home to the annual two-month event for 50 years.
“(Coulam) functionally… he’s actually a king,” series creator Lance Oppenheim recently said. Variety. “He has created a real-life fiefdom.”
Coulam began pushing for the addition of the strip of forested land about 42 years ago after founding the Texas Renaissance Festival in 1974.
In 1982 he achieved it, expanding the fair and its influence on the process.
He was elected mayor that same year.And it employs its own police force.
Today, his mansion, Stargate Manor, sits on 200 acres of land in the center of town, while his creation continues to attract around half a million people each year to eat turkey legs and set up camp.
It bills itself as the country’s largest Renaissance event and more, with a town full of shows, food and themed exhibits.
Now, Oppenheim’s three-part drama continues his quest to profit from the medieval monopoly.
His tyrannical reign and ensuing battle for the crown has led many to compare the series to ‘Succession’, Game of Thrones and even Willy Wonka, as Coulam examines a few quirky employees selected to take charge of the fantastical festival.
Among them was the show’s general manager, Jeffery Baldwin, or the self-proclaimed ‘director Oompa Loompa’ of Coulman’s Wonka.
Red Bull-drinking Louie Migliaccio was also considered the festival’s so-called “Corn Lord” after years of serving hot and fresh boiled corn to the attendees.
The HBO show captures the King Lear-style dynamic between Coulam and his candidates, who included fair general manager Jeffery Baldwin (left) and ‘Corn Lord’ Louie Migliaccio.
Coulam began pushing for the addition of the strip of wooded land about 42 years ago, after founding the Texas Renaissance Festival in 1974.
His tyrannical reign and ensuing battle for the crown have led many to compare the series to ‘Succession’, Game of Thrones and even Willy Wonka, as Coulam vets a select few flamboyant employees to take charge of the fantastical festival.
The group, however, failed to convince Coulam about the program’s conclusion, and the saga continues to this day.
oppenheim said in X that his two biggest inspirations for Ren Faire were Vanderpump Rules and There Will Be Blood, and then he remembered how difficult it could be to film the king in his castle.
“The challenge of filming with him was: how do we match the ferocity of how he moves?” he said vanity fair this week.
“Especially when my cinematographer, Nate Hurtsellers, is handling a 60-pound camera in hundred-degree weather.”
The millionaire king’s love life also features prominently throughout the show, as he searches for a “mate.”
One of his workers has even created a spreadsheet to keep tabs on potential love interests after signing up for up to 15 dating sites, including those reserved for Sugar Daddies.
Throughout the program he also speaks. in detail about the amount of testosterone and Viagra he takes and his desire to die with an erection – or better yet, “die broken.”
These scenes have led some viewers to call the king “creepy” and “disgusting.”
Coulam has said that his search for companionship is looking for a specific type: “a nice slim lady between 30 and 50 years old.”
Oppenheim recalled to Variety: “The first thing he said to me was, ‘I used to play a king, but now I’m a horny old man.’ I want to find someone who can take care of the festival.” These were the things that just came out of it.
“Maybe he was looking for a way out, someone he had no control over,” the director continued.
“He doesn’t have any friends he doesn’t hire.”
His creation continues to attract about half a million people each year to eat turkey legs and set up camp.
It bills itself as the country’s largest Renaissance event and more, with a town full of shows, food and themed exhibits.
The scenes have led some viewers to dub the king “creepy” and “disgusting”, due to the desire to procreate. He is seen outside his mansion in 2019, which he plans to turn into a museum.
Some of the king’s considered successors spoke to Vanity Fair this week, including general manager Darla Smith, a former elephant trainer.
“Most fairs are a little crazy,” he told the magazine of the fair’s growth into a de facto fiefdom over the years.
“But honestly, George has the biggest fair and the craziest.”
On the show, she talks about how Coulam “molded her to be the assistant he needed,” to the point that he will always be by her side.
She held the position of assistant director from 2014 to 2022, before being promoted to deputy general manager.
Meanwhile, general manager Baldwin had performed at the historic event for the past 17 years and entertainment director for the past quarter century, he said on the show.
Migaliaccio, however, has aspirations for change: he proposes the incorporation of electronic music festivals, a university and new, immersive technology to “raise the (fair’s) game.”
“It seems like capitalism has a negative connotation nowadays,” he said of the notion of more laissez faire, well, faire. “But I don’t see the negativity in it, I see the beauty in it.”
For now Coulam continues to preside over his unconventional kingdom. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
But for now Coulam continues to preside over his unconventional kingdom.
And despite predicting that he will die at 95, there is no doubt that he will live until then. hEavy is the head that wears the crown.