Spoutwood Farm Center, an organization dedicated to bringing people and nature together, presents…

The 17th Annual May Day Fairie Festival

This year’s May Day Fairie Festival will be held at Spoutwood Farm on May 2nd from 12:00 PM to 7:00 PM, and May 3rd and 4th from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM each day. Admission is $10 for adults (over 12), $5 for kids (ages 3 to 12), and free for those 2 and under. Those who decide to volunteer when they arrive at the festival can request a 2-hour job assignment; upon completion, the admission fee will be refunded.

Spoutwood Farm is just outside of Glen Rock, PA, 45 minutes north of Baltimore, 30 minutes south of York, PA. Parking will be available near the farm.

The May Day Fairie Festival is the brainchild of Rob and Lucy Wood, owners of Spoutwood Farm, an organic farm in the Community Supported Agriculture movement. It began as a party for about 100 friends, and was last year celebrated by 15,000 “friends” of the little people from the area and as far away as Texas. Previously a one-day festival, a second day was added as a response to the festival’s rising popularity.

Once again, the festival will celebrate the beginning of spring and all of the nature spirits return to the warm world with 70 arts and crafts vendors (mostly featuring handmade art inspired by the little people), performances by celtic musicians and dancers, magicians, participatory maypole dancing accompanied by bagpipes and other music, fairie craft activities such as fairie wand and garland making (involves a small fee), food vendors, fairie and other nature spirit environments to explore, a Nature Place offering a place for environmental, health, animal interest and other groups to share their vision, woodland gnome and elf tours, fairie tea parties, guest appearances by the Green Man, Shadow Fairie, and others.

Families attending this event have discovered that this event is not just for kids!

The fairie and May Day themes go back to ancient times in almost all cultures, especially to the Celts of the British Isles who had a festival on the first of May called Beltane. It was a time of great rejoicing at the return of the earth's abundance in spring and the impending bounty of summer. The Celts celebrated the spirits of nature by honoring not only the plants that they could see and smell but also the unseen beings of the fairie realm.

See photos of past Fairie Festivals in the Photo section