Editor:
I attended the Fairy Festival on June 30 at the plaza sponsored by Arcata Mainstreet, and commend the cause as a benefit for CASA (“Set it Off,” June 28). However, I was quite distressed by it on two counts.
First, it was sad to see no children at the Storytelling Stage for two of the storytellers who were presenting. Could it be because the children in that part of the plaza were so busy bashing each other with padded weapons? I felt that this “combat event” was chaotic, not well supervised and not a great idea if we are trying to promote peace and harmony through “fairy energy.” I felt sorry for the child I witnessed crying on the grass after having been hit, with no one to immediately attend to him until his mother spotted him.
Second, the programs on the Main Stage were great during the first part of the festival, with the talented music of Good Company and the wonderful belly dancing troupe. However, the music for the Twilight Ball was very disturbing and ultimately drove me out of there with its “bass whomping” special effect. The beauty created by the exotic instruments of the second band was totally overridden by this extreme-volume, electronic special effect, which made my chest vibrate in a very uncomfortable way. I feel that children are sensitive and if my body felt so physically assaulted by this effect both bands employed, it can only be even more damaging to vulnerable children — with which my companion was in agreement.
I feel that this extreme effect is only appropriate for contained, adult venues — not in an outdoor, family-oriented festival. I urge better discretion with careful screening in future hiring of musicians for such an event.
Margaret Branch, Arcata
This article appears in ‘Long Overdue’.
Dear Margaret,
I am so sorry that you had a negative experience at our first Fairy Festival. Thankfully, aside from a wish for more food options and several children hoping for unicorns and more dragons next year most of the reviews from the community seem to be positive. It was such a joy seeing so many enjoying the sunshine on the plaza, the children and adults who chose to dress up, the vendors’ creative fabulous offerings, and several downtown businesses and farmers from the market participating in the fun.
I am sorry that you did not enjoy our bands – we worked hard to bring music that would create an etherial soundtrack for a magical afternoon and evening. Black Magdalene, http://www.blackmagdalene.com/media.html, and Stellamara http://stellamara.com/media/ are both so delighted to offer their music to our local audiences and happily I have heard many people were enchanted with both. Both play at the famous Faerieworlds event in Oregon and at many other events catering to all ages. Of course our local music artists were fantastic!! 🙂
Our friends at Emerald Empire Live Action Role Playing who offered the boffering arena is a favorite every year at the annual Medieval Festival of Courage in Blue Lake for all ages. They have years of experience running such an area, and I know they work hard to help kids interact, be in communication with those around them and to instruct everyone to aim for the boffers, not the person. I knew kids love them and it was lovely having them join us.
We are excited to work with more fabulous people in future years of this event to bring more creative maker’s activities of different kinds,
We were delighted that it was a successful fundraiser for our friends at Humboldt CASA and I’m SO very happy that most of the feedback we have gotten was positive. We were trying hard to make a festival with a different layout and elements that would be new and exciting. If you would like to help make next year even better we’d love to have you join us.
If anyone would like to share their thoughts about our event please feel free! We have a feedback form here: https://goo.gl/forms/xD1pWdkNaQc7y1fD2
Love,
Shoshanna