WEST NEWTON — The Greater Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival is about to undergo a renaissance.

James Paradise, who owned a minority share of the old festival, said Wednesday that he plans to buy the festival from a bankruptcy trustee and begin holding the event again later this year.

The festival's other owners filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, citing debts of $3.5 million.

Robert Slone, the Greensburg attorney handling the bankruptcy, said the filing will wipe out the debt, and a trustee should be appointed by March to sell the festival's assets.

The festival began in 1994 in Butler County, but never grew as organizers expected. The event in South Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, attracted 55,000 people, but David Pearson, a Florida man who owned the majority share, has said organizers expected the event would have grown to attract twice that many.

Paradise, who runs a similar festival in Arizona, plans to hire new acts and update the festival. The festival will begin Aug. 25-26 and run weekends in September, he said.