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It’s Fairy Festival time again!

Kristy Schmitt

As the Director of Education at the Botanical Gardens, one of my favorite events to be a part of is the Fairy Festival!  This year, it has been rescheduled to the end of September and I am sooooo excited it’s happening!

We had an idea five years ago that the Botanical Gardens would be a fun place that fairies would visit for a fun late spring event that could take place indoors rain or shine. Fairy houses were on trend in the gardening world at the time, and in the Botanical Gardens, people could display lasting creations that they carefully crafted either on their own, or with their family. We saw so many creative and inspirational fairy and gnome houses throughout the years and everyone enjoyed seeing the exhibit, including the many groups of school kids that came through for field trips. It was such a challenge to focus kids’ attention on even the super cool pitcher plants when there were so many intricate houses to look at!

The Festival has grown, changed, and expanded over the years with fun craft activities, music and even visits from princesses and fairies! Thanks to sponsorship from Wegmans for activities, it is now one of our fun Wegmans Family Days events.

My favorite thing is being able to dress up as a fairy, a princess or some other fantastical creature. Each year, I found that my costumes (and persona) continue to get more and more elaborate. I now have many options, including “Gandalf” from Lord of the Rings if the Festival lands on a day with cooler weather. My daughter, who is four, loooooves the Fairy Festival for this reason too. She makes the cutest fairy ever!! Last year, she wore a purple fairy costume (her favorite color) and she had to make all of her crafts purple too. She loved seeing what visitors were wearing for their costumes. I mean, who doesn’t love to dress up, and save money because you did?! One year, we even saw a family of dragons!! Buffalo really gets into the spirit of the Festival!

This year, the Festival may be a little different following state and CDC guidelines, like a lot of things nowadays, but it doesn’t mean it will be any less fun. The Festival is now two days long, tickets can be bought in advance, and there will be timed ticketing to ensure a small capacity inside the greenhouses.

Get in the festive spirit and decorate your mask/face covering to go with the theme or coordinate it with your costume! There is some amazing décor planned to adventure through, vendors and take-and-make kids activities included with admission. We also have a mini-garden class for kids held online both Festival days to extend the fun. I can’t wait to go, and neither can my daughter. And, I’m pretty sure our fairy friends that live among the plants are looking forward to it too.

Reserve your tickets early!
Fairy Festival-Find Your Wings!
September 26-27
10am-4pm

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