Kaliedascope Gathering 2008 News

We are back from the festical. It was an incredible expereince as always. This year we had a DOUBLE tent booth in the main vending area and met so many wonderful people. We would like to personally thank the various folks who volunteered to reserve our space as of the Saturday (Hobbes and friends), and the folks who helped us manage the our vending booth (John D., Karyn, WinterWolf).

Here is a brief recap of the exciting things we experienced there!

Monday July 28
Sam and I arrived and struggled to set up in the rain that decided to rain on us ONLY during tent set-up. We greeted the fairies and relaxed for the day.

Tuesday July 29
I (Scarlet) lead a beautiful Baby Naming ceremony for Alexander Roger-Rene Dhur. It was a largely attended ceremony. As a member of Black Forest tradition with vows to serve the community, performing rites of passage and especially baby blessings are my favotire services. The bonus is that I am the Goddess Mother to this adorable little man. here are a few pictures:

This is the formal altar with some special items that will be given to Alexander at his rite of manhood later on in his life.

This is me and Alexander. I hope to one day have a child of my own.

Wednesday July 30
Debra showed up in TWO trips with new tenting that was amazing and SO MUCH STOCK! We had such a full and beautiful booth! This year's festival theme was fairies and we were PREPARED! People were already coming into check out the pretties in out vending tent before we were done setting up!

Thursday July 31

We were finally and fully set up. This was an amazing day to sit in the vending tents, meet folks and make sales. We even had MIDNIGHT MADNESS!! This is where all the festival venders stay open till midnight for everyone just coming onto the site. The earlybirds get the specials! Mead was shared as part of the brewing contest. Kids ran around with glowsticks. We all changed from the city life of jeans and work clothing into sarongs and other summer fun clothes. Belly dancing and drumming around the bonfire could be heard from where we stood in our vending tent.

Friday August 1

Friday we continued the great day here, however there was a fun Fairy Gathering Cocktail Party. We watched folks go by dressed in their ritual best or in fairy costumes for the costume ball. In the evening we rested and watched the incredible display of starscape and shooting stars. MAKE A WISH!

Saturday August 2
Robyn came out to visit, despite her healing broken leg. HUZZAH! The unfortunate thing was the terrible thunder storms that hit that day and nearly flooded out vending tents. We spent a good deal of the day frantically moving things to save them from the encrouching puddle that grew from a 1/2 inch deep 1 foot diameter puddle in front of the entrance to a 8 foot puddle of about 2 inched deep. YIKES! Thankfully the ground soaked it up by the evening. The weather shifted and the night was beautiful and dry. Perfect for a bardic competition around the bonfire. Our very own Hobbes from the MPRC was performing a touching story for his father who past waway not long ago.

Sunday August 3
This was our LAST DAY! We held a book sale in the end of the day to help reduce the things we would need to pack and bring home. It was a sad time to have to say goodbye to frinds we only see once a year at this festival. The atmosphere is a rare expereicne of friendship and support we no longer really see in the general public "real" world. We love and miss everyone we met there!

Scarlet with the red hair looks up and wishes everyone a great year!


Sam the elf wishes everyone a Fairy Fun summer and hopes to see you all next festival!