Preserving the past is an excellent way to prepare for the future, which explains the enduring popularity of Renaissance Faires, taxidermy, and Betty White. Go medieval with today's Groupon: for $14, you get two adult admissions to the Louisiana Renaissance Festival in Hammond (a $28 value). The festival runs on weekends, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., November 6–December 12 and Friday, November 26, come rain or shine.

The Louisiana Renaissance Festival allows visitors to escape to the Renaissance-era European village of Albright, a 10-acre tract packed with the period’s most appealing entertainment, edibles, and customs. Turn your legs into torso-toting time machines to witness more than 50 centuries-old spectacles a day, such as wandering minstrels, sword fighting, and fire juggling. The festival’s Renaissance-style jousting tournaments end with hand-to-hand combat and demonstrations of falconry show onlookers why historians consider birds of prey to have been the flying nuclear submarines of the sixteenth century. Puppet shows and storytelling bewitch the eyeballs and eardrums of young guests, who can also opt to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth I. The Shakespearean stylings of Willy’s Wily Wenches help adults understand that King Lear was really about import tariffs and tax policy, or learn to dance the royal jig with villagers and nobles during the Dancing on the Green Demo. Check the schedule for dates for all shows and displays.

With more than 100 merchants, the Louisiana Renaissance Festival also provides a plethora of shopping opportunities, from a glass-blowing specialist producing delicate objects d’art to Kee's Longbows, which provides handmade archery equipment. Time-warp-weary wanderers can find appetite-assuaging festival fuel-ups at eateries such as the Painted Badger Pub or the Queen’s Coffee Shop, and valiant palate paladins can rescue mouth maidens from thirst dragons at one of two Pipers Pub root-beer bars.

Must present valid ID with your Groupon at the gate.