Artpark's Fairy House Festival has wings

Annual event returns Saturday

Artpark & Company’s 15th annual Fairy House Festival will be held this Saturday, July 12, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., in Artpark’s lower park, just off the South Fourth Street entrance. Visitors are asked to park in upper parking lot B (Portage Road entrance).

The event opens with the “Dragon Parade” starting promptly at 11 a.m. Those who wish to participate should arrive no later than 10:30 a.m. Follow the dragon, humans and fairies down the red brick road into the Fairy House Festival.

This event will be filled with hands-on art activities and feature a woodland tour of numerous fairy houses locally designed and built by professional artists, families and community groups.

Patrons can purchase mystical wares at the Mythic Market Place; hear an enchanting harp drifting through the woods and listen to stories at the Storytelling Place; mix magical potions, or welcome fairies into your home by making fairy doors; become a fairy by wearing wings or a mushroom hat; get your face painted or sip some fairy tea.

All ages can delight in dancing with bubbles and wandering through the woods to find fairy houses. Plus, enjoy a variety of interactive aerial, juggling, dance and music performances.

Artpark Fairy House Festival file photos.

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Artpark & Company Director of Education and Interpretation Tanis Winslow said, “People have the opportunity to sip fairy tea from fairy artist-thrown ceramic cups and take them home. There is a host of art activities like fairy doors and potions. Patrons are welcomed into the fun by creating wearable mushroom caps (hats) and wings so that they can dress like the fairies. Typically, people – young and old – come dressed in their fairy best. I have even seen dogs in a wagon wearing fairy wings.

“When you enter the Fairy House Festival, you really enter a world of immersive magic. The fairies only speak in fairyish, and interact with the audience throughout the day. Aerialists fly through the air. Fairies dance in spritely glee. The day is abuzz with magic and a youthful energy. And, of course, there are fairy houses in the woods and a mystical harp making music in the trees. You just have to be there.”

Artpark & Company President Dave Wedekindt said, “The Fairy House Festival is not only a fun tradition for all ages, but truly exemplifies our mission to merge art, nature and culture as we activate our picturesque and charming lower park.”

This collaborative celebration brings together the extraordinary talents of:

√ The Birds Nest Circus Arts, with aerial, juggling and whimsy

√ Amor and Heritage, with Latino dance

√ Kim Vincent Dance

√ Devi Bollywood Dance

√ Nusantara Arts Dance Group, with a gamelan music dance performance

√ Gold Summit Institute, with the dragon dance

√ African-American Cultural Center, with a drum workshop

√ Mara Neimanis and Morgan Mincer, with fairy frolic and fun

√ Anthony Hyatt, fairy minstrel

√ Artpark Bridges

√ Storytelling by Lorna MacDonald Czarnota

√ Sallyanndra, with a violin performance

√ Bánóg, and Irish traditional trio band

√ Katherine Berquist, playing Celtic/renaissance harp

√ Members of the Celtic Spirit Band, Scottish pipe and drum 

Artpark’s annual Fairy House Festival is supported in part by Wegmans and Highmark.

Artpark Fairy House Festival file photos.

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Speaking on the significance of the Fairy House Festival reaching year 15, and how the event has grown, Winslow said, “When we first started this festival, it was really about our own children. Our production manager, Susan Stimson, was reading the Tracy Kane books with her young child and had just visited Maine, where there had been an event of people just building fairy houses in the woods. So, really it was Susan's idea to start this at Artpark.

“My daughter was a 1-year-old at the time, and I had loved fairies since I could remember. My father and I used to try to find them in the woods when I was little. So, Susan and I sat down for five days in a roundtable discussion with the Artpark administration staff, going over what we wanted this festival to be. We wanted it to be about the magic of being young and discovering the unknown; we wanted it to bring families together; we wanted adults and people of all ages to have an afternoon of joy building houses and looking for fairies in our Artpark forest.

“We invited artists and families to build houses ahead of time, and we had over 150 people bring houses to install in our fairy real estate areas before the festival even began. People went off into the woods to build houses at the festival. We had a live unicorn, storyteller, live music performance, face painting, wings and grape vine crowns with real flowers – and, of course, Tracy Kane came and did a book signing. It was pretty marvelous for our first year; 1,200 people came. 

“Things have evolved over the years. We added an immersive performance element, so that fairies were wandering and dancing, speaking only fairyish. Ideas like potion-making and a tea tent evolved. We brought in more live music and performances. Attendance has grown to expect 2,000-3,000 patrons in attendance.

“The wonderful thing is that, because the festival is spaced out – and people attend at different points in the day – it never feels crowded or uncomfortable. For me, what is really wonderful about a festival like this is, now, Susan's child and my own daughter are working at the festival, bringing joy and fantasy to people the same way that they were able to experience growing up in it. I think that's the real magic.”

Fairy House Festival advance tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children ages 12 and under. Save $10 and purchase a family pack now through Friday, July 11, online at ticketmaster.com and artpark.net, or at the Artpark box office, 450 S. Fourth St., Lewiston. In-person box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, and from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday.