George Coulam
George C. Coulam was an American business owner. He was the founder and onetime owner of the Texas Renaissance Festival, now the largest Renaissance fair in the United States. Coulam served as the mayor of Todd Mission, Texas from 1982 to May 2025.
Early life
Coulam was born to a Mormon family in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 2, 1937. He attended the San [Fernando Valley State College].Life and work
In 1974, Coulam and his brother David purchased 15 acres of land on a former strip mine and founded the TRF. In 1982, Coulam and others incorporated the city of Todd Mission and expanded the TRF. In 1999, Coulam married Susie, a woman from Thailand. Coulam's mansion, Stargate Manor, sits on 200 acres of land in Todd Mission.In 2012, Coulam authored a book entitled Mind-Wars, which claims that holistic medicine reversed his Alzheimer's disease.
At the end of the 2010s Coulam was publicly accused of sexual harassment, including in a lawsuit by a former personal assistant in 2018, and a lawsuit by another former personal assistant in 2020.
Coulam drew wider public attention after being featured in the June 2024 release of the HBO documentary series, Ren Faire. American filmmaker Lance Oppenheim began production of the eventual three-part documentary about the future of the TRF as Coulam planned to retire at the end of the 2021 season. The series highlighted a succession crisis as Coulam considered retirement. Not broadcast until 2024, the three-episode series depicts Coulam's lifestyle and the trials and tribulations of the festival over the preceding three-year period. Prior to the series release, Oppenheim described Coulam as a king in an interview for NPR.
In May 2025, a sale of TRF was forced under court order due to a deal that Coulam was alleged to have not completed. Also that month was the 2025 election for mayor of Todd Mission, which Coulam lost.