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Article Specs
Article ID: 15034
VoxAcct: 168502
Section: festivals
Age Group: Adult
Days Up: 417
Times Read: 1,560
RSS Views: 80,365
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Toon Town’s Pagan Summer Fest: A Ten Year Long Dream
Author: Ave windwalker
Posted: April 29th. 2012
Times Viewed: 1,560
It is amazing where a daydream can take you if you find the courage and determination to bring it to life. Ten years is a long time for anything to be ongoing in this fast paced, limited attention span world. A world where a video posted on the Internet can have millions of viewers within an hour of being shared. A world where new and exciting things happen every day, and we get to see it happen the world over all in an instant with a click of a link! Ten years is a big deal, a decade, and a milestone. For someone who gets to be a part of that milestone? Suddenly a new day dream manifests…if ten years is possible…why not aim for twenty, thirty, forty, or more!
This is where you will find the thoughts of the founder of the event Toon Town’s Pagan Summer Fest. The year 2012 finds Toon Town’s Pagan Summer Fest and heading towards its tenth year anniversary, which is humbling and exciting for the crazy lady who’s long ago daydream brought the event to life.
From a daydream, and an idea spoken aloud one fall eleven years ago: “Saskatchewan needs a larger scale Pagan friendly festival. I have done smaller, one evening potluck events. I could do it.” to planning the ten year celebration of the festival that came to be in the summer of 2003. This day dream come to life has had its share of roadblocks and bumps along the way, it has changed locations, and lengths…From the struggles of finding a new location every couple of years, to finally finding a more permanent location; including transitioning from a daylong twelve hour event, into a weekend long camp out. There were times when only determination and plain old stubbornness kept the gears turning for the festival.
Some roadblocks were brought to us from outside sources prejudice against us as a Pagan event; others though were personal, such as illness in the family. No matter how rough the opposition got, nor how tired we were, or the difficulties we faced, we kept pushing forward. At times it was only the dream of the fest… and the future of the event that kept us going. It may not have been an easy path to travel, but being the founder of this festival has been very rewarding, and has also taught me a lot about myself that I may not have learned if it had not been for the struggles involved in keeping this dream alive.
One of the things that have continued us moving forward is the people who have made the festival a part of their hearts and lives. The people who want to secure their tickets for the next year’s festival while they are attending the current one! A level of devotion, and love for an event that is really just a dream come true for the founders. One festive guest called it Festmas, and honestly until she explained it I would never have seen our event in that light. For her, she books the time off for our festival with as much determination as some people book time off for Christmas.
To her and others who came and shared with me that they too see the fest in the same light; this one weekend in June is their Festmas, some even admitting that this day dream come to life is more important to them than those three days in December! For some of the people attending the fest. The event means so much to them that they have shared something as personal as their handfastings at the event itself. Some of us may not see each other until the next year’s event, yet there is a feeling of family when you are there. Hugs and tears are a common sight as the festival wraps up for the year. It is because of those wonderful people who have made the event such a large part of their lives that we continue to run the fest…without them? This event would not be what it is now.
Another very important part of the festival is the people who help make the event happen. Those who month after month help plan, and in the weeks leading up to the event spend almost as much of their free time working on things needed to make the fest run smoothly. Those people who once attended the fest that are now a part of the planning crew, who have over time become as passionate about the festival as those who founded it. It may not have been their daydream, but the success of the event means just as much to them as it does to me, united it has become our dream.
To know the festival means so much to those who attend and also to those who help, is humbling, and touching. To know so many have made the festival such a large part of their lives, that there are people counting down the months, days, and even hours until the next festival. I love going online as the date gets closer for the next fest and seeing someone else who has posted that “28 days till festmas” or “packed and heading to the fest!!!” and knowing I am not the only one excited.
All of this is even more amazing when you realize we have people who attend, that while our event happens, post pictures, reviews and updates in an instant with the click of a link! Somehow our daydream come to life has become for some, that new and exciting thing shared globally via the Internet! Impressive for a weekend long camping event!
So with help provided by people who care about the festival so much that they too put forth the work, effort and determination…plans are well underway to make this ten-year milestone a memorable and treasured celebration. And you will find that the founder, who once saw it all as a daydream, now sees it as an event that will reach far into the future!
Footnotes:
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=cask and c=festivals and id=12382
ABOUT...
Ave windwalker
Location: Asquith, Saskatchewan
Website: http://toontownspagansummerfest.bravehost.com
Author's Profile: To learn more about Ave windwalker - Click HERE
Other Articles: Ave windwalker has posted 1 additional articles- View them?
Other Listings: To view ALL of my listings: Click HERE
Email Ave windwalker... (Yes! I have opted to receive invites to Pagan events, groups, and commercial sales)
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