Faeries and wizards coming to Woodbury

Annual festival welcomes ‘kids’ of all ages

WOODBURY » Faeries are mystical little people who inhabit the land, living in harmony with nature. Come enjoy a day of magic and imagination on Saturday, July 15, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. when Flanders will become inhabited by the “wee folk” during the Forest Faeries & Woodland Wizards Festival.

The activities will be based at the center’s Sugar House area which is a quarter mile up from the intersection of Flanders and Church Hill Road. There will be crafts, animals, Cyril the Sorcerer, unicorn and tractor rides, games, face painting, vendors, surprises and food with a magical twist. The magic continues with a Costume Contest and Faerie & Wizard Parade, live bird presentation and woodcarvers on site creating wizard staffs and wands.

Admission to the festival is $7 per person and free for children aged 2 and under.

Participants are invited to build their own Faerie/Wizard house for display at the festival. Each participant will have a 4 foot by 4 foot outdoor space, in which to display the miniature home and “landscaping.” Organizers suggest working with a base structure, which could be a bird house or milk carton, adding “towers” and “turrets,” using paper towel tubes or tooth paste boxes and decorating inside and out with natural materials, highlighted by artificial flowers, doll house furniture or other creative elements. Houses must be set up between 8 and 10 a.m. on July 15 at Flanders. Ribbons will be awarded in various categories for the best designed faerie dwellings.

For more information on the festival, Faerie House rules or entry forms, visit www.flandersnaturecenter.org. or their Facebook page facebook/FlandersNatureCenter.

Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust is a nonprofit organization

that focuses on environmental education, and on the acquisition, conservation, and stewardship of open space. Through its land trust initiatives, Flanders actively works to protect important natural sites and the area’s landscape character and quality of life. Flanders manages over 2,100 acres of preserved land in Woodbury and neighboring towns. Educational programs for children and adults are offered at the Van Vleck Farm Sanctuary, Flanders’ main campus in Woodbury. Trails at its major nature preserves are open to the public at no charge from dawn to dusk. Flanders’ Welcome Center is located at the corner of Church Hill and Flanders Roads in Woodbury. For more information, call 203-263-3711 or f landersnaturecenter.org

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Children can spend the day in the company of fairies and wizards on Saturday at Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury.