INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Those who love folklore know that fairies prefer to reside in gardens, and anyone who tends a garden understands the special tranquility and magic that can be found within its leafy confines. McKee Botanical Garden must, then, be rich in fairies, for its unique history, natural beauty and appeal are truly unparalleled, and fairies are, it is said, a garden’s Gatekeepers.
On Saturday, the Garden was, indeed, rich in fairies – cleverly disguised as children, who had come to try their wings at McKee’s second annual Fairy Festival. The parking lots filled quickly as parents and their fairy-children hurried off toward the garden gate.
The sky was low overcast, silver and gray, the air soft and a little blustery, teasing fairy wings and gowns, and nudging the water lilies.
Just beyond the gate, the Fairy Queen sat on a stool welcoming visitors to her realm. On most days, she is Hannah Russell, a senior at the Charter High School. Her mom, Kim Russell, is McKee’s administrative assistant, and Hannah’s been volunteering at the Garden since eighth grade.
Visitors had much to enjoy: games, a marionette theater show, a Wishing Bush, a performance by the Vero Beach Classical Ballet, special snacks.
One of the most favorite activities was building fairy houses. Beneath tall palms in a grassy clearing beside a little stream, a helpful fellow in a pointy red cap welcomed children and parents to The Gnome Depot.
Corbin Geller, an IRSC student, was Gnomeo for these four magical hours, helping the little builders choose their construction materials. Rows of wide black tubs were heaped with palm fronds, branches, twigs, vines, coconuts, sea grape leaves, Spanish Moss and other natural fairy-favored materials.(Fairies do not wish to disturb anything still growing, so builders are careful to avoid flowers, ferns or berries.)
Adding the most special ingredient – boundless imagination – the children sat beneath the trees with their moms and dads, creating a miniature neighborhood of unique dwellings, where the elusive creatures would surely stop and “rest their weary wings,” after the last fairy child had gone home.
“I am so happy to be here,” said volunteer Edie Hendry. “Whenever I come here, I feel happy, just pulling into the parking lot. I always bring my relatives from New York here. It is a place you just want to share.”
With the addition of dozens of adorable fairies, the garden had become one giant photo opp, and designer Lin Wells was busy snapping picture after picture. She wore a beautiful pair of fairy wings of her own creation, glowing with peacock feathers, bright ferns and various graceful greenery.
In the Hall of Giants, fairy houses created by McKee staff and volunteers were displayed on the huge (and famous) cypress “table.” The centerpiece for these lovely works was a curving length of aged wood upon which rested a fabulous caterpillar, her body fashioned from green and yellow button mums, eyes of gerber daisies (sans petals) and billyballs for antennae.
This fanciful creature was the creation of flower designer and McKee board member Lee LaPointe. Next year, she explained, everyone will be invited to create a fairy house for the Hall of Giants display. Later LaPointe guided a wiggly, tulle-skirted cluster of little girls as they danced around the tall, beribboned bamboo maypole.
Joining the delicate fairy-girls were several boys, transformed into swashbuckling pirates. The pirate boys had fashioned their own foam cutlasses at the Scallywag Sword table.
Justin Glisker, 5, concentrated on his brandishing skills as mom, Cynthia Glisker, watched.
“And I made a fairy house,” Justin called, bounding away.
Six-year-old Marley Credell was every inch the pirate captain in his long black velvet coat, boots, broad-brimmed black hat and dashing red feather. Another young pirate, Bryce Byford, 7, knelt by the edge of the pond, intrigued by the feathery water plants whose leaves began to close whenever he gently touched them.
Little girls and their moms waited their turn for Fairy Face Painting and Butterfly “tattoos.” At the Fairy Manicure table, bottles of polish sparkled with colors fit for a fairy queen’s dressing table.
Morgan Hughes, 4, chose a yummy pink.
“She’s having a ball,” said her mom, Keri Hughes, as manicurist Linda Chancelor carefully applied color to the little fingertips.
At a curve in the path, the Morning Glory Whispering Bench beckoned.
Three-year-old Kendra Acres sat at one end, her ear pressed against a large blue metal blossom. The hollow stem extended across the bench to another blossom, into which her mom, Latoya Acres, was whispering. Kendra laughed as her mom’s secret message reached her ear.
The winged pair, dressed in pale blue, was still laughing as they headed away down the path.
At another bend in the path, a group of children were clustered around a tall man with a tiny unicorn on one shoulder and a red and black parrot on the other, both creatures nodding and glancing about at the children, as real as could be.
The man, Joe Scofield, explained, “This is Mistee the Unicorn. And this is Mr. Robert.” The parrot nodded. “He used to sail with the Dread Pirate Robert.”
As time for the costume parade neared, fairies from all over the garden began to gather in their age groups, the meadow by the pond filled with swirls of color and the cuteness level rose dramatically.
Marissa Daniel, 4, was eye-catching as she tossed her headful of bright pink ringlets. Dad Daniel Pauley pushed fairy baby Iris, 7 months, comfy and dozy in her stroller, wearing a soft purple “onesie” and large purple wings, which curved about her as she slurped her milk.
As the parade began, McKee’s Director Christine Hobart, tall and graceful in lilac tunic and wings, stood smiling, watching the colorful procession circle the meadow, the children laughing and waving, the grownups applauding from the grass.
Some 700 visitors had enjoyed the first fairy festival, and Hobart figured this year’s attendance could be at least that – all sorts of folks, young and old, sharing the special magic McKee has to offer.
“This is what the garden is all about,” she said happily.
