I spent Friday evening with a passle of princesses, a few dancing princes and more fairies, sprites and other whimsical creatures than J.M. Barrie of “Peter Pan” or Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi of “The Spiderwick Chronicles” could contain in a whole library of books.
Gabe the Babe, my 19-month-old son, and I were among about 350 to 400 adults and children who gathered in a vacant lot Friday evening looking for a bit of summer magic.
The annual Midsummer Faerie Ball on Paseo moved to a new, larger location this year, and it proved a bigger space was needed. Infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers, grade-schoolers, teens, adults and dogs crowded onto the vacant lot west of Paseo Grill for the art event, organized by Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan.
The ball lets children and adults dress as fairy tale creatures, make flower crowns and fairy wings, paint their faces with theatrical makeup, watch a performance by StarDanceSwan dancers, hear otherworldly music by local artists and, most importantly, dance the summer night away.
Since Gabe is still pretty young for arts and crafts, we skipped the costume-decorating portion of the event and went straight to the dancing. Gabe loves to dance, and he also seemed entranced by the StarDanceSwan dancers and the energetic performance by local musicians Steve McLinn, Jahruba Lambeth and Barry Stramp.
Of course, Gabe enjoyed petting the dogs in the crowd and collecting the palm-leaf fairy wings discarded by other children, too.
If you have young children - particularly ones who enjoy playing dress-up and make-believe - consider attending the ball next July.
Oklahoman photographer Bryan Terry also put in an appearance at the ball, capturing these great images of the young participants in the magic of the moment.
Sophia Randall, 5, of Edmond.
Mary Roberts, 4, of Oklahoma City.
Olivia Biggerstaff, 5, of Oklahoma City.
-BAM