George Coulam, the founder of the popular Texas Renaissance Festival, has died. He was 87.
The colorful “King George” was the subject of the HBO documentary series, Ren Faire, which aired on the service last year.
According to Grimes County Sheriff Donald Sowell, police received a 911 call early Wednesday from Coulam’s housekeeper, who found the festival pioneer dead in his bed. There’s no cause of death determination as of yet.
Coulam founded the festival in 1974. The event is held for six weekends each fall in Todd Mission, Texas.
The festival put out the following statement on Facebook following his death: “To our Texas Renaissance family and friends: We are deeply saddened by the loss of George Coulam, founder of the Texas Renaissance Festival. For more than 50 years, he built a community that has become a cherished tradition for generations of performers, staff, and guests. At this time, we ask for respect and privacy for Mr. Coulam’s family and the extended Texas Renaissance Festival family as they grieve. As this is a deeply personal matter, we are not offering additional comments at this time.”
The HBO documentary chronicled Coulam’s struggle to hold onto his leadership position of the festival while considering prospective buyers.
According to Houston station KHOU, a Grimes County judge recently ruled against Coulam in an ownership dispute over the festival. A group of buyers claimed Coulam backed out of a $60 million agreement to sell the festival and surrounding properties after accepting a down payment and closing costs. The judge had ordered Coulam to continue forward with the sale.
The station also had a statement from Meril Rivard, president of Texas RF, Inc.: “We are shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the death of George Coulam. Our thoughts go out to his loved ones. Like everyone else who loves the Texas Renaissance Festival, we remain committed to ensuring that the festival lives on, and we are working steadfastly to make that happen.”
In Ren Faire documentary, Coulam would strongly consider selling the fair and then change his mind. He also expressed that his goal was to live to be 95. In a Hollywood Reporter interview with director Lance Oppenheim, the director (correctly, as it turned out) predicted Coulam would continue to cycle between playing with selling the festival — and then changing his mind and deciding to hold onto it.
“I only became aware that George moves in these cyclical ways halfway through filming,” he said. And it was only towards the very end that I realized that everything we had captured was basically a Mobius strip or one big cycle. Ultimately, that cycle will continue long after we’re done. It’s been going on for decades. Hopefully [viewers] will realize everything that happened was inevitable, and it will keep happening forever until George is no longer alive.”