Well we have arrived back from the Elf Fantasy Fair, at the Castle De Haar, Utrecht, in the Netherlands.
We traded there last year but my husband came with me then, this year it was just me and Sapphire Fairy so I was very apprehensive about driving all the way there. I only booked the Euro Tunnel at about 11pm the night before we were due to leave as I was still unsure of going. My husband waved me off before 6am the next morning and before we knew it we were through the tunnel and motoring along in France. The journey overall was good apart from getting lost in Antwerp and getting continually beeped at for my appalling driving there.
Thursday afternoon was spent setting up the stall.
Friday was spent was again trying to make the stall look as colourful and fairyish as possible, it is unbeliveable just how long you can spend doing this. Trixie Fairy and Moe the Irish Fairy arrived harrassed and tired at about 6.30pm. Moe was running the Fae Magazine stall and Trixie was selling her Fairy Kisses jewellery on our stall.Saturday dawned bright and sunny and we had a wonderful and busy day selling loads of tutus, wings and other fairy goodies. The costumes were amazing and the people as lovely as ever.
I woke up at 5am Sunday morning to the sound of rain, never good, so I hastily went back under the duvet for more sleep. At 7am it had stopped so I was keen to get to the stall and see if any leaks had sprung, however by the time we arrived there so had the rain and the first few hours of Sunday were spent we arranging our stall to allow everything to be brought inside the shelter part. We were told it would be sunny later but I was a doubting fairy I'm afraid, however I was proved wrong and it was lovely and warm and bright by the afternoon.
The day progressed with steady sales so I was a happy fairy. The stressful part of this event is always the packing down which is done on the Sunday evening. You can only bring your vehicle in at your allocated time slot which makes it all a big rush. Sapphire and I rushed to pack up as much as the stall as possible before I had to go to the car park to await my time slot, you then spend the next hour standing in the car park waiting and by the time you bring the car in to your stall you have to pack it in the pitch dark, never easy.We left Moe and Trixie at 10pm when the headed off to try and hitch a lift back to Utrecht which left me slightly uneasy but having spoke to Trixie since they obviously managed ok!
I have a Fairy Dress Up Party this Saturday and then we are off once again to our next festival, the Radio 1 Big Weekend at Swindon. Looking forward to this once we sort out the usual logistical nightmare of juggling the little fairies and goblin around getting to the festival and setting up.
