Pandemics and the Renaissance. The Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in 2019, seeming to replay the actual plague of the historical Renaissance in the mid-fourteenth to mid-sixteenth centuries. The Maryland Renaissance Festival was closed for the entire 2020 season, reopening with great caution in 2021 and with public safeguards in place, such as masks and social distancing. The precautions carried through to the 2022 season. Nevertheless, the merriment the festival provided cheered tens of thousands of visitors. Ye Olde Gamery, shown above, is seen just before the gates opened to the public. Enter, m'lords and ladies!