More than 1,500 spritely pixies, swashbuckling pirates and cheerful adults filled the grounds of McKee Botanical Garden last Saturday at the sixth annual Fairy and Pirate Festival, enjoying a family-friendly day filled with crafts, treasure hunting, an entertaining parrot show and a magical parade promenade as the finale of an enchanted day. The weather was perfect, with sunshine and slightly cooler than normal temperatures enticing crowds to come out in droves to enjoy one of McKee’s most popular fundraising events.
“Gardens are known to house the spirits of fairies,” said Executive Director Christine Hobart, sporting a delicate fairy outfit herself. “That is supposedly what makes the gardens grow. The pirates are to include those who prefer pirates to fairies.”
There is always something new to see at McKee and little ones were having a wonderful time racing around the lush pathways exploring all sorts of new adventures, dancing around the Maypole and hanging notes on a wishing tree. Adorably-dressed garden sprites could also get fairy manicures or have their faces painted, and fierce pirates worked off some of that boundless energy play fighting with swords. Many children headed the Gnome Depot, where they could build mini houses for woodland creatures using natural construction materials collected by volunteers.
“With Patrick Dougherty’s Stickwork installation called ‘The Royals’ standing in the garden, the children can use that as their inspiration to build their gnome houses in the garden,” said Hobart of the three sapling structures the artist had built for McKee earlier in the year.
Adults weren’t left out either, with photographers dotting the shores of the ponds taking photos of the beautiful lilies for the June 18 Water Lily Photo Contest.
“Approximately 125 photographers will enter the contest and an independent panel will choose winners in three categories,” explained Hobart.
“This was unexpected, I didn’t know this was going on when I got here and then saw all the kids,” said photographer Shelly Stang, who has won the contest’s color category for the last three years. “It was fantastic because I don’t think many of them would come here if it wasn’t for this event.”
The festival has long been a favorite but this year drew the largest crowd ever with more activities dotted throughout the entire grounds. Even more than fundraising, the hope was to encourage more people to become lifelong members of the beautiful and historical garden.
Tanya Goldsmith, a master gardener, McKee member and grandmother to 11 children, said she hopes that bringing them to events at the garden will instill a love and appreciation of nature and ecology that will last for the rest of their lives.
“I bring the children here every year,” said Goldsmith, wearing a huge bonnet made of flowers. “Over the years the faces have changed but I bring different fairies to the garden all year long. We all talk about the history of McKee and why we should protect and preserve it.”
