Fairy House Festival

 We are always looking for fun events and places to take Shelby on the weekends.

Recently I discovered a site called, Charlotte on the Cheap, which features a list of free events and other things to do around the city each week/weekend.

Brad has been hollering that he's BORED, and tired of sitting home.

(I don't think we sit home that much)

So, giving that, I looked for something to do over the weekend and saw that there was a Fairy House Festival at a local park/nature area.

He wasn't overly thrilled when he heard about it, but agreed to go.

Well, it didn't disappoint!

This is the 7th year for the festival and it has grown so popular you actually have to park and shuttle in!

Again, this was all free!

Shelby didn't have any wings, but I found some at a local gift shop the day before.

They are more butterfly wings than fairy wings, but they were cute and more comfortable than the other ones that they were actually selling there for only $4.

 

The ages varied from small to adult.

I have to admit, I wasn't surprised at this at all.

Think Renaissance festival but not as over the top.

 The festival was inspired by a series of books about fairy houses by a local author.

People got a number and actually competed for the best house.

We didn't participate in this, but did spend some time walking through them and all I can say is. 

WOW! 

 The whole goal of this festival is for children to discover and appreciate nature.

 We really enjoyed looking at what people came up with.

And, interesting enough, it was entire families out there building them, not just moms!

 Aside from the houses, there was much more to see and do for either free of charge, or a small fee.

For instance, pony rides were $2.

They had them dressed up like unicorns and the kids loved it.

We opted out of this because the line was huge and not sure Shelby would do it without one of us right there anyway.

Yes, there were more boys there than what I would have imagined.

Face painting was one of the free things and it was Shelby's first time to have this done.

 

In the end I had to sit with her for it to happen.

 The biggest part of this festival were craft stations.

One to make a magic wand and another to make a fairy boat.
All with stuff out of nature(sticks), and a few craft items they provided.

We hit them both up, and funny enough, Brad ended up taking over each time!!!

 My friend Sarah met us out there with her 2 girls.

She was a trooper braving this event alone.

Wand complete!!

Daddy did a great job!

Next stop was the fairy boat building station.

Most of the boats didn't actually float but it was good fun.

Aside from the crafts and houses, there was free popcorn, food trucks and in the park there was also a little house that we literally had to drag Shelby out of.

(who remembers these from Jon and Kate Plus 8?)

Every kid wants a play house, right?

In the end we stayed MUCH longer at the festival than ever planned, but not without ending our visit with a real life meeting with a fairy.

What a great day, even though we had no idea what to expect.

I think we both agree we'll be back next year.

I even suggested that we build a house next year.

Brad wasn't so sure about that!

HAAA!!!!!