Transport to a fantastical land on Saturday, June 27, and visit the Philly Fairy Festival at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. Located at 8480 Hagy’s Mill Road, the Fairy Festival will take place from noon to 4 p.m. and include food and drinks, vendors, live entertainment, a “choose your own adventure” trail, and a gallery of homemade fairy houses.
Director of Communications Mae Axelrod has had a large part in putting the festival together, and has a deep passion for organizing events that will bring people closer to nature.
“We’re always thinking about new ways to connect with people,” Axelrod said. “One creative idea was hosting Fairy Festival to inspire people with nature and through imagination.”
As one of the first urban environmental education centers in the country and the largest privately owned conserved landscape in Philadelphia, the Schuylkill Center hosts many events throughout the year to educate and encourage people to deepen their understanding of the environment. Through events like Fairy Festival, they use family-friendly fun to inspire visitors to be conscious and appreciative of the environment around them.
With a large turnout at their first-ever Fairy Festival last year, Axelrod and her team are working hard on preparations in hopes of another successful event.
“This is certainly a big project, and we have a wonderful team here at the Schuylkill Center who is very engaged,” Axelrod said. “...Last year, 530 people showed up to our very first year, which we were absolutely thrilled about, so we’re anticipating it is going to build from there. It’s fantastic fun.”
One of the major changes happening prior to Fairy Festival is the inclusion of a volunteer event on Thursday, June 23, called Magic Makers. This event invites members of the community to come out and help set up for the big day while offering free admission as a thank you to everyone who volunteers.
Magic Makers “is really exciting, and I think it allows the event to be more accessible to some folks,” Axelrod said. “Also, it’s a way for folks to give back to the nature center.”
One of the other aspects Axelrod is most excited about is the Fairy Tale Trail, where community members build their very own fairy houses to be showcased at the event. The finished houses are placed along one of the wider trails, renamed as the “Fairy Tale Trail” for the day and attendees get to browse and admire all the houses.
A “choose your own adventure” trail will also be featured, where a local storyteller will guide visitors through the story of building a new trail and offer different choices of what sections of the trail to take as the story progresses.
Local vendors and entertainers will be selling food, goods and merchandise to attendees throughout the event. Live entertainment will include Circle City Labyrinth and The Great Fairy Games.
“So far we’ve gotten really, really lucky with very creative, mostly local vendors and artists that will be at Fairy Festival,” Axelrod said. “We’re thrilled to connect with this community.”
Axelrod explained that hosting events and getting the community involved in efforts to celebrate nature often leave people with lasting desires to help protect and care for it.
“I know folks travel to get to Fairy Festival from pretty far sometimes, so I think it’s all about making a place where people feel at home and excited to be,” Axelrod said. “...We’d love to have it for many more years.”
