Fairy Festival 2012 Report
Friday:
Came home from work, fiddled around until opening time for festival. Drove out there, parked right by the snack bar, and suited up. I couldn't find the dress I wanted (stupid HVAC guys really made a mess and I couldn't get to the laundry room) so I wore my Japanese embroidery shirt and my regular pants. Forgot my wand, dammit, but had the wings, arms and head for Ardeth. People kept asking me if I was hot. Good Lord. I'm wearing a sheep in 80 degree (Fahrenheit) temperatures, WTF do you think?? I got the weekend pass. I managed to NOT fall the entire time I was there - odd considering the ground is uneven, tree roots protrude, it was a little muddy (that was a surprise) and I'm very clumsy WITHOUT a huge sheep mask impeding my view. I also didn't run over anyone. The mask does have good vision ports but they aren't as good as your regular, uninhibited eyes. I sat for a caricature portrait by a nice woman (an art teacher from inner city Baltimore) named Lady Laura. :D "My first drawing of the festival and it's a sheep. I've never drawn a sheep person before, AWESOME!" was her reaction. :D I didn't do much other than walk around and have people stop me to get a photo. Really. I was quite popular. Weird. I will look around on the websites in case someone posted photos of me somewhere. :) I want to get photos of Ardeth in her dress this week sometime. She'll look better in that. I bought some kettle corn (!) and a slushie, which gave me brain freeze. Came home, sat on the back porch in the rain, to cool off. I was dying. I even was pretty well hydrated as I had two bottles of water with me - the BIG things that I have here at the house (a 24 oz and a 32 oz).
Later, at home, I did some artsy fartsy and slept. Woo!
Saturday:
OMG. JKL was here at 0900. We sat around and gabbed for a while. Got some water ready to take with us. I wore a black, lacy sundress and my punk Chucks. When we arrived and had parked at the festival, I gave JKL some wings. I got them at Goodwill, of all places. Anyway, she looked adorable.
We were let right in. We must have gotten there at the right time because we didn't wait in line at all. Soon as we were on premises, though, it was like another world. The farm itself is quite beautiful, but all the streamers, bubbles, wind chimes, and glitter just gave it a magical quality.
We visited the nature area first. This is where they allow various charity organizations to set up and talk to people about their work. Of course, JKL and I had to hit all of those. The various rescue groups (for greyhounds, Dachshunds, and Misfit Animals) were so fun. A lot had brought animals to show folks these are what we help. Talked to the bat conservationist, the weenie dog folks, and so forth. Yeah, I'm a soft touch, so I donated money here and there. At Bob's Critters, I got to have a scorpion run over my hand and so did JKL. He had some awesome tarantulas this year, too, and a HUGE turtle. :) Cute!
I think we stopped at the Orchard Freeze booth, the Slushie vendor. I got a berry one this time. OMG. Those things are super awesome. :9 I bought a purse (of course) made by an artisan, Soul Leather Studio. It is yellow buckskin and she had tooled the image of a tree on it. Yeah, I'm still in my "I Love Trees" phase. It's very supple and absolutely fantastic. It's kind of a blur after that. I'm going to be disjointed, sorry. I didn't have time to take notes.
Throughout the day, various musicians were one different stages or had set up around the farm. The band Telesma was there. Freakin' awesome. I got their new CD. Will have to get more. I can't really describe their sound to you. Go to their website, www.telesmaband.com I got some clothes from Reyen Design Studios - they do these fantastic tiedyed clothing and accessories. I have been wanting some of their stuff since my first trip to the festival. I got a felted silk vest and a cape. I thought they'd be perfect for Ardeth to wear. :D I got another mug. I love hand-thrown pottery. This year, I bought from Ash and Griffin Pottery of St Louis, MO. I got one with a griffin on it. I got another crown at Wing and Talon Leatherworks. I also got a barrette of a lunar moth. Very nice. Cherie Anne was there, she's the tea lady here in York. I got more Raining Cherries (my favorite) and a bag of green tea with raspberry (that I am drinking now on ice). I also got some herbal tea from another vendor there. It's quite tasty, too. Some digestive aid stuff but tastes really good. That was from herbalturtle.com The woman is a nutritionist and a clinical herbalist. Whoa. I bought some Christmas (or birthday) gifts while at the booth of Butterfly Bones (www.butterflybones.com) She uses found objects in her jewelry like acorn caps, starfish, lichen, snake skin, bones, etc. Very awesome! We got some food up on Frodo's Hill. JKL got a black bean felafel and I got a banana and caramel crepe. EVIL! It filled me up. Fantastic. Freshly made just for you. Amazing. The lady who plays the UFO was there, too. She is Janet Spahr and the instrument is called a Hang (it is pronounced like the Han in Han Solo). It is otherworldly in the way it sounds so it should look like a UFO. The way it looks, it seems like it would be similar to a Caribbean steel drum, but this is just tapped slightly by her fingers and it sings. She should release a CD of lullabies - I'd buy one - as her voice and the instrument are very soothing. (spahrstudios.com) I got sun burn. Not bad but I am light skinned and have always had trouble with sun burn. Now that I work night shift, this has gotten worse. Great. :P I drank more water today than yesterday. Got another slushie. Watched a magician - good Lord. Those people amaze me. I know it is all slight of hand stuff but it still is wonderful. Yeah, I give money to these folks, too.
We attended the festival from opening until around 1400 - 1430 hours. I then took JKL to Brown's Orchards and we got some granola (as that vendor wasn't at the festival this year) and fruits. By the time we got back to my house, I was dead. I went downstairs and sat in the art studio.
As for the KY Derby, I would have lost money. None of the horses I like ever fired. I should have used the "swami angle". Friday the winner of the KY Oaks (the fillie's version of the KY Derby) was Believe You Can. The winner of the Derby was I'll Have Another. I believe I will have another.
I drew the comic. It's up. Still having problems with the "insert photo" thing. Evidently it is a site wide error and not just my page.
Anyway, to sum up the Festival, I had fun. Definitely worth the time and money. I got to see Jami, whom I went to college with at HACC. :) That was nice. She brought her dog, Raven, with her. (Pitbull and very sweet.) I was too tired to stay to chat, though. My knees were buckling. I had a lot of fun. Got to meet and talk with a lot of awesome people. The music was amazing. The food and drinks were beyond awesome.
Photos can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42545568@N05/sets/72157629614553928/
For photos from past festivals: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42545568@N05/sets/
Came home from work, fiddled around until opening time for festival. Drove out there, parked right by the snack bar, and suited up. I couldn't find the dress I wanted (stupid HVAC guys really made a mess and I couldn't get to the laundry room) so I wore my Japanese embroidery shirt and my regular pants. Forgot my wand, dammit, but had the wings, arms and head for Ardeth. People kept asking me if I was hot. Good Lord. I'm wearing a sheep in 80 degree (Fahrenheit) temperatures, WTF do you think?? I got the weekend pass. I managed to NOT fall the entire time I was there - odd considering the ground is uneven, tree roots protrude, it was a little muddy (that was a surprise) and I'm very clumsy WITHOUT a huge sheep mask impeding my view. I also didn't run over anyone. The mask does have good vision ports but they aren't as good as your regular, uninhibited eyes. I sat for a caricature portrait by a nice woman (an art teacher from inner city Baltimore) named Lady Laura. :D "My first drawing of the festival and it's a sheep. I've never drawn a sheep person before, AWESOME!" was her reaction. :D I didn't do much other than walk around and have people stop me to get a photo. Really. I was quite popular. Weird. I will look around on the websites in case someone posted photos of me somewhere. :) I want to get photos of Ardeth in her dress this week sometime. She'll look better in that. I bought some kettle corn (!) and a slushie, which gave me brain freeze. Came home, sat on the back porch in the rain, to cool off. I was dying. I even was pretty well hydrated as I had two bottles of water with me - the BIG things that I have here at the house (a 24 oz and a 32 oz).
Later, at home, I did some artsy fartsy and slept. Woo!
Saturday:
OMG. JKL was here at 0900. We sat around and gabbed for a while. Got some water ready to take with us. I wore a black, lacy sundress and my punk Chucks. When we arrived and had parked at the festival, I gave JKL some wings. I got them at Goodwill, of all places. Anyway, she looked adorable.
We were let right in. We must have gotten there at the right time because we didn't wait in line at all. Soon as we were on premises, though, it was like another world. The farm itself is quite beautiful, but all the streamers, bubbles, wind chimes, and glitter just gave it a magical quality.
We visited the nature area first. This is where they allow various charity organizations to set up and talk to people about their work. Of course, JKL and I had to hit all of those. The various rescue groups (for greyhounds, Dachshunds, and Misfit Animals) were so fun. A lot had brought animals to show folks these are what we help. Talked to the bat conservationist, the weenie dog folks, and so forth. Yeah, I'm a soft touch, so I donated money here and there. At Bob's Critters, I got to have a scorpion run over my hand and so did JKL. He had some awesome tarantulas this year, too, and a HUGE turtle. :) Cute!
I think we stopped at the Orchard Freeze booth, the Slushie vendor. I got a berry one this time. OMG. Those things are super awesome. :9 I bought a purse (of course) made by an artisan, Soul Leather Studio. It is yellow buckskin and she had tooled the image of a tree on it. Yeah, I'm still in my "I Love Trees" phase. It's very supple and absolutely fantastic. It's kind of a blur after that. I'm going to be disjointed, sorry. I didn't have time to take notes.
Throughout the day, various musicians were one different stages or had set up around the farm. The band Telesma was there. Freakin' awesome. I got their new CD. Will have to get more. I can't really describe their sound to you. Go to their website, www.telesmaband.com I got some clothes from Reyen Design Studios - they do these fantastic tiedyed clothing and accessories. I have been wanting some of their stuff since my first trip to the festival. I got a felted silk vest and a cape. I thought they'd be perfect for Ardeth to wear. :D I got another mug. I love hand-thrown pottery. This year, I bought from Ash and Griffin Pottery of St Louis, MO. I got one with a griffin on it. I got another crown at Wing and Talon Leatherworks. I also got a barrette of a lunar moth. Very nice. Cherie Anne was there, she's the tea lady here in York. I got more Raining Cherries (my favorite) and a bag of green tea with raspberry (that I am drinking now on ice). I also got some herbal tea from another vendor there. It's quite tasty, too. Some digestive aid stuff but tastes really good. That was from herbalturtle.com The woman is a nutritionist and a clinical herbalist. Whoa. I bought some Christmas (or birthday) gifts while at the booth of Butterfly Bones (www.butterflybones.com) She uses found objects in her jewelry like acorn caps, starfish, lichen, snake skin, bones, etc. Very awesome! We got some food up on Frodo's Hill. JKL got a black bean felafel and I got a banana and caramel crepe. EVIL! It filled me up. Fantastic. Freshly made just for you. Amazing. The lady who plays the UFO was there, too. She is Janet Spahr and the instrument is called a Hang (it is pronounced like the Han in Han Solo). It is otherworldly in the way it sounds so it should look like a UFO. The way it looks, it seems like it would be similar to a Caribbean steel drum, but this is just tapped slightly by her fingers and it sings. She should release a CD of lullabies - I'd buy one - as her voice and the instrument are very soothing. (spahrstudios.com) I got sun burn. Not bad but I am light skinned and have always had trouble with sun burn. Now that I work night shift, this has gotten worse. Great. :P I drank more water today than yesterday. Got another slushie. Watched a magician - good Lord. Those people amaze me. I know it is all slight of hand stuff but it still is wonderful. Yeah, I give money to these folks, too.
We attended the festival from opening until around 1400 - 1430 hours. I then took JKL to Brown's Orchards and we got some granola (as that vendor wasn't at the festival this year) and fruits. By the time we got back to my house, I was dead. I went downstairs and sat in the art studio.
As for the KY Derby, I would have lost money. None of the horses I like ever fired. I should have used the "swami angle". Friday the winner of the KY Oaks (the fillie's version of the KY Derby) was Believe You Can. The winner of the Derby was I'll Have Another. I believe I will have another.
I drew the comic. It's up. Still having problems with the "insert photo" thing. Evidently it is a site wide error and not just my page.
Anyway, to sum up the Festival, I had fun. Definitely worth the time and money. I got to see Jami, whom I went to college with at HACC. :) That was nice. She brought her dog, Raven, with her. (Pitbull and very sweet.) I was too tired to stay to chat, though. My knees were buckling. I had a lot of fun. Got to meet and talk with a lot of awesome people. The music was amazing. The food and drinks were beyond awesome.
Photos can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42545568@N05/sets/72157629614553928/
For photos from past festivals: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42545568@N05/sets/