Spoutwood Fairie Festival: Getting It Right

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," where today we begin with a spelling lesson!

You'll see the word "fairy" spelled three ways. Let's peruse them:

1. "fairy" -- easy way -- think Tinker Bell and little kids learning to put letters together.

2. "fairie" -- pretty way -- more elegant, suitable for festival use.

3. "faerie" -- ancient way -- Anne's preferred usage, sounds firey.

Any way you spell it is okay here at "The Gods Are Bored!" Remember, we specialize in the big, broad, flexible outlook.

Make no mistake about it, faeries are quite happy to come indoors. Who do you think hid your potato peeler? The dog?

When it comes to celebrations of faeries, however, the venue of choice is outdoors. Faeries are elementals. They blend into the natural world seamlessly. They especially like a varied habitat that includes air, fire, earth, and water.

Spoutwood Farm provides all of these in an extremely faerie-friendly setting. The farmhouse itself sits in a bowl surrounded by two moderately steep hills. There's a meadow, through which runs a fetching little stream, the kind that begs you to shuck your shoes and wiggle your toes in the water. Part of the farm is woodland with trails that pass faerie houses. Rain or shine, this place honors the fae splendidly.

Research and personal experience shows that the longer you work on something, the better you get at it. Spoutwood Farm has hosted Fairie Festivals for 18 years. The final kink that hadn't been worked through by this year was how to deal with a day of steady rain. Okay, so it wasn't ideal, but still a good time was had by all. Now that the festival has been held in the rain, it's like the final spell has been broken, and the weekend will endure ... at the faeries' whim.

When I say a good time is had by all, I really mean it. I spoke to some of the dudes responsible for keeping things jiggy behind the scenes. They were proud of their work. And when push comes to shove (which I hope it never does), even the Christian protesters have a great time. If you're inclined to berate other people for their personal lifestyle choices, you're not going to get a better opportunity for direct engagement:

Christian protester to Fairie Festival attendee: You're going to go to hell!

Festival attendee: HA HA HA HA HA HA! Nope.

If you live in a part of the world that is nowhere near Pennsylvania, why don't you get a few friends together and start a faerie festival of your own? All you really need is cool clothing, a few drummers, and a picnic lunch. Maypole optional but recommended. It doesn't have to be fancy, though. Heck, my Druid Grove used a bent sapling that was rooted in the ground.

We at "The Gods Are Bored" will be glad to act in an advisory capacity to anyone who wishes to organize a faerie festival. Well ... to a point. When you get to setting up electricity for french fry vendors and music stages, we'll be totally and permanently lost.