I should be able to drag Brice along to Sidekicks, unless he's working or something.

Stronghold was an actual castle, based on some designs in Germany and California-- the California ones were based on German, English, and French designs. The Strong family lived there, then donated the castle and land to the Presbyterian church, which uses it for confirmation outings, team building exercises, and renaissance faires.

I also mentioned to paul31415926536 that there's a castle in his hometown of Muskogee, OK. He'd never heard of it, but they put on a huge faire in May, a Halloween thing in October, a big feast in November, and a Christmas thing in December.

There's also some ren faire people building a castle in northern Illinois somewhere, the details were kinda through word of mouth, but they did imply future ren faires.

We also saw an ad in Renaissance magazine a few months ago, somebody on the East coast has the land and money and supplies, just needs help building a castle. Everyone who helps will get living space, a deed to their own apartment inside, and some title in the "kingdom". That sounds pretty cool!

Then there's Castle Loma in Toronto. Been there, had the tour. My friend marahsk was married there. X-Men was filmed there (Professor Xavier's mansion/ school), among other movies. I understand they have a VERY small ren faire there, but their big draw is the horseback riding through the gardens, and their wedding stuff.