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Faerieworlds 2009: Day 1 - Good Faeries (7/31/09)

Alternative Art Districts, Bands, Concerts, Faerieworlds, Living Myths and Legends, Music, Neo Folk and Pagan, Reviews, amusement, travelogues October 12th, 2009

Faerieworlds Greeters

Faerieworlds Day 1: Good Faeries Day : Faerieworlds 2009: July 31st, 2009

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We arrived late morning in enough time to register and set up camp before the larger crowds came rambling in, though there were already a plethera of attendees. The gates to the realms was opened at 2 pm. The Main stage brought the amazing performances of the Wicker Men (2:30-3:15 pm); an Opening Ceremony and Spiral Dance (3:30-4:00 pm); Tricky Pixie (4:15-5:00 pm); Gaia Consort (5:45-6:45 pm); Beats Antique with Zoe Jakes (7:30-8:45 pm); Woodland with Adam Hurst and Louisa John-Krol (9:30-11 pm); and the Summoning of the Fae/Howling at the Moon by the Mythmakers (11:30-midnight). Mark Lewis, one of the emcees told stories and led a storytelling workshop. On the Village stage throughout the day starred Gypsy Moon at 5 pm and Ghillie Dhu at 6:45 pm. As usual the vending village was full of arts, crafts, costumes, clothing, artwork, wings, ears, talent, cuisine, and artists. Highlighted this year was of course Brian/Wendy/Toby Froud, Amy Brown, J. Corsentino, Jen Delyth, Gris Grimly, Miss Mindy, and Carolyn Turgeon. The theme of the day was “Good Faeries” styled after Brian Froud’s book “Good Faeries, Bad Faeries”. So most peoples costumery were along that theme. The opening ceremony was nicely done with a pretty empowering spiral dance afterwards. The first performers were the Wicker Men who got the green stomping. Tricky Pixie enchanted the audience into mischievious frolick, followed by Gaia Consort who brought tribute to the Earth with their otherworldly tunes. We were then mesmerized by Beats Antique with bellydancer Zoe Jakes which was the highlight during the daylight; followed by legendary Woodland who were guested with the talents of Louisa John-Krol (Australia) and cellist Adam Hurst. As darkness took over out came the fire dancers/spinners and a getting into the faerie state rite performance by the Mythmakers who all highlighted night-time. Unfortunately since I hurt my foot earlier in the day, I was unable to dance the day and night away. But I was still enchanted hanging in the spectator zone praying that my foot would be better tomorrow as one should not miss even an hour of dancing to the amazing talents that Faerieworlds brings in. Regardless of the 94+ degree heat, there were water faeries throughout the dancing crowds spritzing and cooling off the attendees … that was a mighty nice addition. Day 1 official entertainment lasted until midnight, after which the attendees were guided out of the village and closed its gates. However, that was not the end of the activities for the night. Back at the Party camping area, revellers shared spiritual songs, dance, drumming, didgeridoo, glow-stick poi spinning, hanging out, and festivity with one another around the hearth that should have held a fire, but rather was only filled with glow-sticks since no fire seemed to be permitted. A fire would have kept the party going all night, and some did stay up to the rising of the sun, while others wandered back to their tents at an early hour. Apparently however, there were festivities and entertainment going on back at the village in the casbah teahouse tent; and unknown to many of the campers, some of the food vendors still were serving after-hours. The program guides were severely delayed in distribution as we didn’t get ours until the next day. (Guides were not ready when the gates were opened) Overall, it was a nice chill day of settling into the Faerie realm, setting up camp, catching up with old friends I hadn’t seen for ages, and figuring out what I wanted to get out of the festival this weekend. Tapping the Faerie energy and being charged with the blessings weaved by the Mythmakers, the spirit of Faerieworlds was invoked. Rating: 4 stars out of 5. Official Faerieworlds Gallery