For years people have been clamoring for workshops or learning sessions about such things as fairies, fairie lore and Celtic life and spirituality. This year, in what we're calling a "Fairie Chautauqua" tent, we are offering a wide array of learning experiences for the younger or older festival-goer alike.

The word "Chautauqua" comes from the town and lake in far western New York State, where began in 1874 a summer "open air" (under tent) adult education forum or lyceum (since it was likened to the culture-shaping academies of classical Greek antiquity). The summertime lakeshore Chautauqua experience still thrives today thanks to a 20th century revival. It is in the spirit of this style of learning - learning both fun and germane to our present-day interests in and connections to the Realms of Fairie (or Fairy or Faerie, depending on how you spell it) - that we offer this addition to Spoutwood Farm's May Day Fairie Festival.

Note: Please check notice board at Chautauqua Tent for additions, updates, or alterations!

ANDREW STEED is official Bard of the Fairie Festival. He leads regular journeys to the Celtic British Isles and is a well-known teacher of Celtic spirituality and shamanism.

ARI BERK is a writer, visual artist, and scholar of literature, history, iconography, and comparative myth, who will be sharing with us his deep knowledge of Hospitality and the Fairie Tradition.

BETH and ZEEB are two artists working in harmony with each other and with Nature in the woodlands of Indiana. They will help us interact with the fey elements of nature through music and dance.

CHARLES VESS is an award-winning Fairie artist and publisher (Greenman Press), based in Virginia. He will be conducting a drawing demonstration entitled The Art of Faerie.

JESSICA GALBRETH is a painter of myth, magick, and enchantment who has graciously agreed to allow participants to personalize her Faerie drawings in an informal coloring circle.

KAADE is a traveling bard mostly from Austin, Texas, and a World-Winder of Old Growth Music. He specializes in traditional and original music of mystical origin on wood flutes and Finnish Kantele.

KAREN BOGER, perhaps better known to Festival-goers as the Lady Kerridwyn, the Treasure-Hunt Fairie, is a gifted and respected instructor of the fair(ie) art of bellydance.

ROSEMARY HOUSE, in Mechanicsburg, PA, is one of America's oldest herb shops. Susanna Reppert-Brill, proprietor, brings her knowledge of herbs and fairie lore to delight our senses and sensibilities.

SHANNON REINHOLD-GEE is a master of sherenschnitte and scratchboard art. She lives in Otego, NY where she runs her business, Razor's Edge Creations Fine Art.