GRAFTON — The Fairy House Festival returns to The Nature Museum in Grafton on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 23 and 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The 14th annual celebration of nature, magic, creativity, and community brings together dozens of volunteers and builders to create a fairyland of small structures built from natural materials, including fairy playgrounds, castles, markets, gardens, and more.
Visitors of all ages will have an opportunity to enter the Fairy House Trail Portal and explore the creations through the meadow and forestland, as well as visit a craft tent, fairy house building station, games, bubbles, vendors, and local food.
The Fairy Royal Court will be welcoming all who enter the front gate, and fairy performers will be wandering the Chapman Meadow throughout the weekend. Many participants come in full fairy costume, complete with wings and sparkles.
The Nature Museum welcomes volunteers to help with the festival and donor contributions to the event, which is the Museum's biggest fundraiser of the year. All proceeds support the Museum's year-round programming, including week-long summer camps, in-school and after school programs, and all-ages workshops and immersive experiences.
Additionally, the festival supports the wetland restoration in the Chapman Meadow and the expansion of the Magic Forest Playscape, which is free and open to families dawn-to-dusk everyday.
The museum also welcomes donations of non-invasive, abundant natural materials (such as pine cones, acorns, small pebbles, dried grasses, daylily stems, and more) for the construction of fairy houses.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for children, and free for kids under 2. Tickets at the gate may be limited, so the museum encourages visitors to buy in advance. Visit nature-museum.org to buy tickets, or for more details on the festival.
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