September 21 – It’s time again for one of the most popular events of the year at the West Virginia Botanic Garden (WVBG): the 14th annual Fall Children’s Festival.
The festival will take place on October 6 from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM and will create an atmosphere where children can see nature as an endless opportunity for self-expression.
The central vision of the Fall Children’s Festival is to highlight the wild and wonderful beauty of fall in West Virginia. This year, however, the event will also illustrate the magic of childhood by highlighting one of WVBG’s most popular areas: the Fairy Garden.
While the Botanical Garden recently added an expanded Children’s Adventure Garden where kids can climb and play in nature, the Fairy Tale Garden offers a unique combination of wild exploration and unstructured creativity.
“I think the Fairy Garden has its own special magic,” said WVBG Education Director Abigail Waugh. “It’s this place of connection and getting close to nature, digging in the dirt, playing with sticks and moss and things; it combines with a lot of creativity.”
On any day of the year, regardless of the weather or season, visitors to the Fairy Garden can explore dozens of structures created by the clumsy, earth-covered hands of imaginative youngsters. The structures—homes, businesses, and recreation for the fairies who call the area home—are sometimes loose concepts that lean against each other, or resemble the interlocking style of Lincoln Logs, while others are artfully and carefully woven together.
Next week a whole new community of fairy dwellings will be created, based on the previous designs.
These themes, pushing the boundaries of imagination with only the materials of the earth at your disposal, form an overarching theme of this year’s autumn children’s festival.
While the Fairy Garden is a highlight of the event, other festivities are also organised in the various facilities of the Botanical Garden.
Pumpkin painting, storytime, leaf printmaking and face painting are just a few ways the Botanical Garden combines art and nature during the festival. No matter what activity visitors choose to do, the goal is the same: to invite children and their families to get outside and engage with the world around them.
“When you go outside, whether you’re actually out there learning, just connecting with the trees, with the salamanders and insects that are in the garden, just being there is a form of learning,” Waugh said. “Getting that connection with nature and spending that time creatively is part of wellness, and community wellness is a big part of our mission.”
WVBG partners Umbrella Arts, Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia (ACCA), Girl Scouts of Black Diamond, WVU Extension, On Eagle’s Wings Therapeutic Horsemanship, Cheat Area Public Library and Cheat Lake Volunteer Fire Department will conduct and host outreach activities for participants. ACCA and On Eagle’s Wings are welcome to bring ambassador animals. Refreshments will be available.
Both new and experienced visitors can explore the botanical garden’s recently opened Equitrans Midstream Visitors Center, which also highlights another update to the garden’s amenities.
This fall, WVBG will partner with local artist Michael Loop to build a playful entrance to the Fairy Garden, made from steel and cordwood.
Loop’s work is no stranger to Botanic Garden visitors. Last year, the sculptor designed a trailhead marker for the Botanic Garden’s Pixie Cup Trail, featuring a life-size representation of the trail’s pixie cup and British soldier moss.
While the new structure may not be ready in time for the Autumn Children’s Festival, it does reflect the festival’s emphasis on the magical atmosphere of the Fairy Garden.
“It’s always a pleasure to see how children respond to the [Fairy Garden ]. I think the real magic out there is seeing how the kids interact and what they come up with,” Waugh said. “I think the most exciting thing is that the kids really have a lot of room to take charge in [the Fall Children’s Festival ]and we get the chance to see nature and the magic of autumn through their eyes.”
Registration is required for the Fall Children’s Festival and additional information is available at WVBG.org/programs/events. WVBG is at 1061 Tyrone Road and is open year-round from sunrise to sunset.
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