Storybook forest

We didn't know what to expect when we decided to attend the 3rd annual Light UP Lantern festival this weekend. I guessed that we would experience something different and magical since it was sponsored by Leandra Drumm, a well-known local artist and her creative family members who run one of the oldest and respected galleries in the area. Just walking into Don Drumm studios is a delightful experience. To see an event they created and sponsored is something out of this world. Combine all that familial creativity with a fall evening, close to Halloween, lanterns and costumed spectators of every shape and size, folk music, fortune tellers, stilt walkers, street performers, and the exotic aroma of food cooking at sidewalk stalls and you have all the ingredients for a unique evening.

I am glad we arrived early. The whole event took place on one small side street, so once it got crowded it became hard to see everything. Since we arrived about an hour before the crowds we wandered through the gallery where I bought this spider "hat",

Grace and Dawson took a quick rest on a bench in the secret garden,

they made two craft projects (a firefly and a lantern),

and we people-watched as fanciful costumes, floats, and lanterns wandered up and down the street.

This little girl's costume was amazing.

The entire back was like a patchwork quilt.

Grace was curious about the "smoke"

in the Alice in Wonderland teapot.

But NONE of us liked the Queen of Hearts. She was RUDE!

The theme was "storybooks" and there were a lot of fairies.

I liked this one best. She was Thumbelina

and next to her was Tinkerbell.

The girls are looking at Tinkerbell here.

Grace told me early in the day that she was "so excited" to go to the lantern festival and more than once when we were there she said, "This is so awesome". Putting her to bed was fun as she recounted to me her impression of the beautiful costumes, displays, and lights.