Bringing History and Imagination to Life Since 1963
Join us at our events or let us help you create yours – we delight in bringing theme concepts to vibrant life. Let us bring our time machine to your next celebration! Creativity, professionalism, guest services and safety will guide every step of the planning and production process. Here is a sampling of our past and present productions.
The Great Dickens Christmas Fair is the only event of its kind ~ a holiday adventure into Victorian London, with hundreds of costumed players in theatrically-lit music halls, pubs, dance parties and hand-craft shops along winding lanes. Enter the London of Charles Dickens' imagination ~ a city filled with lively and colorful characters from literature and history.
Join us in a Victorian Christmas card come to life!
Red Barn Productions builds “London in San Francisco,” at the Historic Cow Palace each year in Daly City, California. In exactly 21 days, each November, our experienced production crew, along with hundreds of talented artisans, food purveyors, performers, and history enthusiasts, gather to assemble this 150,000 square foot, whimsical, magical, theatrical, …living history environment!
Corporate Parties
The Red Barn Productions team brings decades of experience in the design, creation, and presentation of events and celebrations of all sizes. We have produced over 100 events averaging 10,000 attendees per day, and hundreds of smaller events over the years.
Have your corporate or private party at The Great Dickens Christmas Fair!
Weeknights during the Fair, “Dickens London” is available for gatherings of 500 – 5,000. All private parties are designed to the specific entertainment, décor, and catering requirements of each client.
Living History Events
From the Renaissance to the Gold Rush, like the myth of Brigadoon, Red Barn Productions can magically bring your vision to life!
In partnership with the not-for-profit Living History Centre, we can also organize educational programs for young and old, and online or live appearances of delightful and inspiring characters from both history and literature.
The below client list represents just a few of the hundreds of companies, government agencies, wineries, and individuals who have hired us to design and produce their unique celebrations over the last 20 years:
- Union Pacific 150th Anniversary Celebration, Old Town Sacramento – 5,000 attendees (black-tie Gala for 300).
- Walt Disney Special Events Group: Shakespeare in Love event, Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles
- California Secretary of State: Grand Opening Street Festival for the Golden State Museum, Sacramento
- California State Railroad Museum Foundation: Railfair ~ 150 years of California History, Old Town Sacramento – 100,000 attendees
- Humanities West: Gloriana: Art and Intrigue in the Court of Elizabeth I, Herbst Theatre, San Francisco
- Festival of the Sea: San Francisco Gold Rush, gold panning exhibition, photo booth, Hyde Street Pier San Francisco
- RMS Distillery: Early California entertainment for Lighting of the Casks, Napa
- Gold Country Fair: Created and populated the entire Gold Rush town of Prosperity, Auburn
- Castillo di Amorosa: Renaissance entertainments for celebrity wedding, Napa Valley, 300 guests.
- Castle Hollywood: Celebrity Renaissance Wedding and Elizabethan Feast, Hollywood
- The Shakespeare Oxford Society: Court of Elizabeth and festivities for 22nd Annual Conference, San Francisco
- La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Gourmet Club: Medieval-theme for 750th Anniversary Dinner, The DeYoung family’s Rose Manor, Hillsborough
- City of San Francisco and Catholic Archdiocese: Reopening of the Saint Francis of Assisi Shrine, San Francisco
- Genentech, Inc.: Dickens' four ghosts and entertainments for Christmas party, San Francisco
Faire History Projects
Archives Red Barn Productions maintains the Patterson Events Archives in Novato, California. This 2,000 square foot facility contains over 40,000 photos and 63 years of original art and printed materials from hundreds of events and programs as well as the Living History Centre library with over 3,000-catalogued volumes, plus a museum of hand-crafts honoring the many hundreds of talented artists presenting their wares at our events from 1963 to present.
These archived materials are in use for ongoing book publishing and documentary projects. The space is also utilized for workshops, research, and design meetings throughout the year.
Museum In 2017 Red Barn produced an immersive museum exhibit celebrating the first Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Marin County and the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. This 1,500 - 2,500 square foot exhibit is now available for museum and exhibit spaces throughout California, and will be scheduled for display in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area concurrent with the release of our Renaissance Pleasure Faire book and video documentary. Look for announcements in the Spring of 2025.
Faire History The Faire History website provides the resources of the Archives online. It is also where we honor some of the colorful characters who founded and playfully evolved our Faires and events. For more about Faire origins and history, click here.
