The Third Annual Maryland Faerie Festival in Upper Marlboro was saturated with art, music and fairy family fun! 

A riot of colors encompased the festivities, from the May Pole ribbons to the sizes and styles of fairy wings. 
Both festival visitors and vendors wore costumes of limitless imagination.  Vendors and performers came from as far away as North Carolina and Pennsylvania to sell their faerie finery.

Economically speaking, faerie festivals are as valid an economic engine as other festivals.  In fact, the culture crosses several genre boarders and draws enthusiasts from the science fiction and science fantasy lovers’ population as well as from Renaissance Festival enthusiasts.

The largest festival on the East Coast and is the Spoutwood Fairie Festival in Glen Rock, PA which drew about 12,000 visitors last year.  And, possibly the most extensive and widely attended faerie festival in the United States is the FaerieWorlds festival in Vental, Oregon. 

ilyAIMY on stage

Faerie festivals have become so popular that the first annual faerie convention FaerieCon International is taking place this October at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Widely attended conventions such as this are a good source of revenue for host cities and the establishments that serve convention attendees. 

Performers & Vendors

The primary songwriter of the group, Rob fronts the band with a percussive, rhythmically driven guitar style that freely composites fingerpicking, classical melodies, running bass lines, harmonics, and hard-charging chords. His vocals are needled and gaunt, with the jittery energy of a dockyard stray on speed—his songs are packed with fleeting thoughts, and have, as he says on his site, “a butt-load of lyrics.” Heather generally provides the honey for Rob’s bitterroot in her harmonies, but her voice can as easily rise to an alleycat wail worthy of P.J. Harvey. The girl can flat-out sing just about anything.

The Washington Area Music Association nominated them for both the Best Alternate Rock Recording of 2001, and as 2002’s Best Contemporary Folk Group or Duo.  They have recently released their latest album “The Fifth Circle.” 

Contact Juggler Lisa Olberg

Contact juggler Lisa Olberg’s performance enchanted children and adults alike.  Her hands swooped and danced around a crystal ball as if it were a drop of water rolling around on her skin.  She spent most of her day, however, twisting balloons into animal shapes to delight the wee fae.  She is a Baltimore native and has done work with The Cheeky Monkey Sideshow.

At mid-day a crowd gathered about the May Pole, which the children could dance around, weaving the ribbons together.  The Green Man Band removed the pole when it was wrapped and used it to lead a parade of children behind them. 

One particularly good children’s show featured a giant "walking" turtle with an intricate multi-functional and many-colored house on his back which, among other things, sprinkled “fairy dust,” blew bubbles and shot streamers into the sky.  

The giant turtle.