GRAFTON — Dozens of tiny fairy houses and sprinkles of eco-friendly fairy dust enchanted visitors at The Nature Museum’s 17th annual Fairy House Festival Sept. 26-27.
Despite dreary weather, hundreds of attendees joined more than 90 event volunteers to transform a woodland trail around the museum into a village of fairy houses — tiny, handmade dwellings crafted from bark, acorns, pumpkins, moss and other craft supplies and knickknacks.
The festival featured food, live music, local craft vendors and a workshop where attendees of all ages could build their own fairy houses.
Laurie Danforth is The Nature Museum’s board president. At this festival, though, she also rules over the forest as the Fairy Queen.
“I’ve been the Fairy Queen for 17 years,” she said.
Danforth greeted guests at the festival entrance wearing a purple-and-blue butterfly-patterned outfit, matching boots and an elaborate crown. She was joined by her “royal court” of costumed volunteers.
“We set the stage for the whole festival,” she said. “We hand out the programs and calendars, and we dust everyone with eco-friendly magic fairy dust.”
The Fairy House Festival is the primary fundraiser for The Nature Museum, which opened in Grafton in 1989. The museum sold more than 1,200 tickets to the event, which was sponsored by VTel, Southern Vermont Solar, Chroma Technology Corp. and Terrigenous Landscape Architecture, according to the festival website.
Paul Spector, who has served on The Nature Museum’s board of directors for about five years, said he enjoys seeing visitors in fairy costumes walking through the festival and taking it all in.
“I think what’s so special about [the festival] is that so many people get involved in making the houses as individual or family projects,” he said.
Throughout the event, Dan Frank, a musician from Ashfield, Massachusetts, played the hurdy-gurdy, a hand-cranked string instrument traditionally used in European folk music.
Frank, who has played the festival for the past four years, said he “absolutely loves” coming.
“The huge amount of people who’ve come out to build houses, and the level of craftsmanship of the things that they’ve built, has really, really impressed me,” he said.
Frank added he’s grateful that the event supports the museum and its science initiatives.
For Danforth, though, the event is more than a fundraiser.
“The true purpose of it is to connect people with nature in a magical way,” she said. “Then people are really inspired, when they’re out in nature, to look around at the small things and really appreciate all those natural wonders.”