STERLING - Translated from its French roots, renaissance literally means re-birth.

This summer marked a re-birth or as Gary Izzo, creative director of the Sterling Renaissance Festival put it, a “renaissance of the Renaissance Festival.”

Sunday marked the closing day of the 32nd annual festival, which had a great number of changes and improvements this summer.

First, the festival changed hands, coming into new ownership under Doug Waterbury.

This alone was a significant change and a move in the right direction, according to Izzo.

“It has been a fabulous year for us,” Izzo said. “We have a new owner, who has a whole new and expanded vision of what the festival is and what it can be and that has really made a huge difference.”

Izzo said the previous owners had become burned out after nearly 30 years, but Waterbury has come in with a fresh perspective on the possibilities the festival has to offer.

Perhaps the most significant and immediately noticeable change has been Waterbury's willingness to invest.

“We had a lot more money to work with this year,” Izzo said. “That really made a big difference and I think it has shown and I think people have noticed and that it really has made a huge difference in what we have had this year.”

This extra money allowed for greater advertising than in recent years and paid dividends in, manifesting in a higher-quality production this summer than in recent years.

Izzo said this year, two new stages were erected, allowing for more performances, from 60 shows last year to 140 this summer.

This summer, there were more than a dozen new acts, ranging from the acrobatics of the Aerial Angels to the music of Celtic Spirits to the Isaac Fawlkes comedy show.

“We've had more here than we've had in years,” Izzo said. “I think it has added a real quality to the whole event this summer.”

The number of period performers from the Bless the Mark Players, those people who wander around in costume, portraying characters of Queen Elizabeth's Court and the villagers of Warwick, were greatly increased this year.

“Last year, we only had 13 performers,” Izzo said. “This year we had 50. I think that really paid off. That is really what we are known for, those serendipitous meetings of characters just walking around and interacting with people. And I think it really showed this year with the bigger cast of performers.”

This was impressive by the short amount of time in which everything came together this year. Izzo said by the time the purchase by Waterbury was finalized, the entire season's show was put together in just four months, a process he said generally takes as many as 10 months under normal circumstances.

During Sunday' final day, all of this extra effort went over well with visitors, many of whom traveled from all over New York and much of the northeast. Blending in with the performers many such as , Jeanne Nelson, from the Sodus Bay area, were in full period regalia, adding to the enjoyment.

“It is fun,” Nelson said. “It is fun to just pretend for a while, kind of lose yourself in the whole idea of the festival and just get into the spirit of the times. It is sort of like a grown up version of playing dress up or make believe. There are all these great performers and it is just fun to interact and be a part of that at least for a little while.”

This is a sentiment that was shared by many people this summer.

Izzo said despite the rainy conditions, particularly at the beginning of the festival in July, attendance was strong all summer.

“The rain didn't really seem to stop anybody from coming out,” Izzo said. “In fact a lot of people seem to really like being here when it rains. I think things went amazingly well. We have a lot of dedicated people that buy season tickets and are here every weekend and we always get a lot of new people. I think even with the weather everything went really well this summer.”

Izzo said that Waterbury's vision for the festival is far reaching and includes further expansion, both in terms of sheer size, with plans to increase the property the festival in situated on, as well as the number and scope of performers and performances and vendors over the next few years.

This fall will see the first of these future developments.

Izzo said beginning Oct. 3 and running Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Halloween, the festival grounds will be turned into a huge spooky Halloween experience, Screamer's Hollow

“We're really excited,” Izzo said. “We are really excited about the plans we have for the future and for the Halloween village. Our goal is to make that on of the biggest Halloween events in upstate New York.”