ysabetwordsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-06-07 07:12 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-06-07 07:12 pm
Today's Adventures
Today we went to the Fairy Market in Effingham. :D
The event was hosted by the mind-body-spirit store Hazel Jayne. Their Facebook page has pictures from the event. We took a quick glance at the store, not intending to buy anything today but rather go back when they're not mobbed. They had a lot of crystals, metaphysical supplies, and bohemian decor. We wound up buying some Satya Sai Baba nag champa incense, in small stick and giant stick form because it's hard to find.
The Fairy Market in general was delightful. It was full of freaks. I was so happy to see that. It's been years and years since I went somewhere that actually had a preponderance of freaks, rather than just mundanes goofing off. Based on the garb, makeup, and prosthetics I would estimate at least a third of the audience was nonhuman, and it could easily have been more than that. I was particularly pleased to see that it wasn't all light fairies either; the goblincore side was well represented in audience and booths alike. So maybe, just maybe, I've found one of the places the freaks have moved to after largely abandoning Paganism and speculative fiction fandom. If so, I'll be thrilled, since I am actually fey. And I didn't even get mobbed like I sometimes do around other fey; I think there may have actually been enough of us packed together that I didn't stand out, which was really nice. It was great to be in a place full of people with wings, horns, sparkly scales, cat eyes, crayon hair, and other variations plus the glitter, forest-fey clothes, and all. <3 I'll definitely have to watch for more such events in the future. The layout was good too, about a block of one street closed off and more of the fair in a large parking lot. Some booths were so crammed with people that I skipped them because I couldn't fit inside.
The food clustered in the parking lot, which was actually the far end from where we started. We went there first because we were hungry. Two of our favorite food trucks were there. Mac Daddy sells not only sandwiches but various toppings over macaroni. We split a bowl of Mac Daddy, which is every kind of meat they offer over macaroni, which was excellent. The Fair Lady makes shakeups in many flavors, sometimes also mini-donuts and a few other things. We got a sunrise shakeup with strawberry and orange, along with salted caramel donuts. My partner Doug is a big fan of salted caramel and loved the donuts. I found them okay for summer, but wouldn't get something that salty in fall. If you're a salted caramel fan, though, it's worth trying -- the flavors were very strong.
Partway through eating lunch, it started spitting rain more than an occasional droplet, so we grabbed our food and scampered back to the near end close to where we parked. Happily we found a small table under an overhang where we could finish eating. I would've spent more time at the event just enjoying the fairies if the weather hadn't made me twitchy. You never know when it's going to go from spitting to monsoon in 0.2 seconds. 0_o
After we finished eating, we discussed logistics. I was torn between:
* Weather could wipe out the event at any moment.
* Look at everything before buying anything, as this was an event easy to blow the whole budget.
* If there are many items of interest, it's hard to remember them all and easy to forget something on the buying loop.
We ended up ping-ponging from one side of the street to the other. That at least minimized the amount of time spent far from the car in case of rain. Once we had seen all the booths, we went back to make purchases. Everything I wanted was actually clustered at the near end of the fair.
One guy had a table of potted plants, mostly small succulents. I bought three pots. One is a pickle cactus, which I hadn't seen before -- it lacks spines and consists of tall pencil-thick stems. Another is mother-of-thousands, a succulent that forms tiny plantlets on its leaves. The last is a mini-garden with three different plants: a bluish-green succulent, a more greenish succulent, and a variegated plant with thinner leaves showing some pink. <3 I've seen a steady increase in houseplant vendors over the last 5 years or so; there are several who often hit the shows in our area. Some plants are familiar, others new to me, which is fun. It's not quite back to the bohemian rhapsody of plant vendors that I saw when I was little, but it's certainly heading in that direction. Huh, I wonder if the candle carvers will return someday.
Styles 4 Life was an African-American booth with loose-leaf teas, organic herbs, natural remedies, essential oils, shea butter, and other stuff. I picked up a Deep Blue roll-on essential oil, which has kind of a minty smell.
The Gypsy's Den offered incense, tie-dyed T-shirts, and other items. I bought a bag each of Evergreen and Cedar stick incense. I also got a T-shirt that is mostly black, gray, and white with some odd bits of pinkish-copper-mauve that I suspect come from capillary separation of individual pigments within the black dye. It's a good "I don't want stains to show" tie-dye. I had expected that somebody would have fairy-printed T-shirts, which is a pretty common thing, but nobody did.
Other vendors I enjoyed browsing but didn't buy from included:
EdenStone -- bohemian decor, including dreamcatchers and some wall hangings that were sort of like dreamcatchers but with designs other than netted, made with yarn and rags and other stuff, very colorful and eye-catching
Forty-leven Brooms -- Handcrafted, locally sourced brooms and other items for your unique lifestyle.
Goregeus Goblin -- Whimsical, Weird Gifts, RC Sculptures, Cosplay, TTRPG, Home Decor, Custom Orders Welcome
Helen & Vera Tea Company -- teas and herbal products
Handmade Crochet by Georgia -- crochet clothes and decor
Somebody had crochet footstools shaped like mushrooms, might've been this place but I'm not sure.
Lori Klanke -- Reiki, chakra, crystal healing, art therapy, flower essence, aromatherapy
Mad's Rock Shop & Apothecary -- crystals, jewelry, soy wax melts, etc.
Mel's Potionz & Lotionz -- herbal remedies and natural products
ReCat Designs Studio
Oddities, curiosities, art, bones, wet specimens, preserved animals and plants, jewelry, unique gifts. Custom requests welcome.
One of the goblincore offerings.
The only real downside was themusic noise. There was a booth blaring painfully loud sound. Now that's a bad idea at most events, but especially bad with a fair full of fairies, since most fairies have keen senses. I wasn't the only person hurrying past that corner with my hands over my ears. More sensible options would've been acoustic rather than sound system, folk music, fairy or fantasy music, or anything soft and sprightly such as harp, hammered dulcimer, or flute. It's not like fairy music is hard to find. But most of what passes for music nowadays is not well suited to fairy ears.
Some other events advertised included:
Magic & Mischief – A Midsummer’s Night Ball & Oddities Market on August 23rd, 2025
Step into a realm of wonder, enchantment, and mystery…
Wander the Oddities Market (12PM–6PM)
Free admission | All ages welcome
Explore bizarre and beautiful creations from unique vendors, enjoy spellbinding performances, and shop for crystals, potions, taxidermy, and more! There will be DRAGONS!
Sil-Con in Gays, IL on September 19-20
Paranormal, horror, anime, gaming, comics, cosplay, cryptids.
60+ vendors and food trucks.
Events have Free General Admissions.
I've been seeing more about cryptids in recent years. I wonder if that's another place where freaks are congregating. If so, that's also cool; I like cryptids.
Also worth mentioning, Effingham had quite a bit of public sculptures in the area. One was a nearly life-size wire sculpture of a ballerina done in blue and silver, probably the best piece of wire sculpture I've seen. That one had a sign saying it was for sale. I approve the idea of using the streets as a public art gallery! I saw a couple of hands made out of some solid material; there was a yellow one making a peace sign. I don't know if those were permanent or also for sale. But it was fun to see.
By the time we had walked through the fair several times -- it wasn't very big, so we could easily see it all -- the rain was falling in more earnest. Since we were done shopping, we went back to the car.
On the way out of town, we stopped at a gas station. Bizarrely, the men's and women's restrooms were on opposite sides of the fairly large building. The staff hollered this information to me while I was looking around for the other door. Apparently they have to do that all day. I pointed out that they could just stick a sign on each door with an arrow and "Other restroom on far side of building." That solution will work for any situation where normally adjacent things are widely separated for some fool reason.
When we got into Mattoon, I stopped at PetSmart to pick up a couple of things. I got a filter sponge to stick over the spigot for the two jugs I already have, so I'll be able to set up the comfrey liquid fertilizer. I plan to try two methods, with and without water. We'll see how that turns out. I also looked for oxygenating plants. What I wound up finding was a hand-sized piece of what looks like felt that is supposed to reconstitute into live java moss. I've never grown the stuff before but I've seen it in videos online. It'll be interesting to see if this works in the trough pond. They also had tiny rosy red minnows. I didn't pick up any, but it's a thought for future reference, since they can serve as mosquito fish.
We also started reading Hello! 365 Tomato Recipes: Best Tomato Cookbook Ever For Beginners. This is exactly what I was hoping for, and we've already marked a bunch of recipes. :D It seems to have a nice mix of recipes that use fresh tomatoes (what I wanted for this summer) and pantry recipes using canned tomatoes, paste, etc. (useful for winter). Despite the title, they range from simple to more complex.
It has been a fun and productive day.
The event was hosted by the mind-body-spirit store Hazel Jayne. Their Facebook page has pictures from the event. We took a quick glance at the store, not intending to buy anything today but rather go back when they're not mobbed. They had a lot of crystals, metaphysical supplies, and bohemian decor. We wound up buying some Satya Sai Baba nag champa incense, in small stick and giant stick form because it's hard to find.
The Fairy Market in general was delightful. It was full of freaks. I was so happy to see that. It's been years and years since I went somewhere that actually had a preponderance of freaks, rather than just mundanes goofing off. Based on the garb, makeup, and prosthetics I would estimate at least a third of the audience was nonhuman, and it could easily have been more than that. I was particularly pleased to see that it wasn't all light fairies either; the goblincore side was well represented in audience and booths alike. So maybe, just maybe, I've found one of the places the freaks have moved to after largely abandoning Paganism and speculative fiction fandom. If so, I'll be thrilled, since I am actually fey. And I didn't even get mobbed like I sometimes do around other fey; I think there may have actually been enough of us packed together that I didn't stand out, which was really nice. It was great to be in a place full of people with wings, horns, sparkly scales, cat eyes, crayon hair, and other variations plus the glitter, forest-fey clothes, and all. <3 I'll definitely have to watch for more such events in the future. The layout was good too, about a block of one street closed off and more of the fair in a large parking lot. Some booths were so crammed with people that I skipped them because I couldn't fit inside.
The food clustered in the parking lot, which was actually the far end from where we started. We went there first because we were hungry. Two of our favorite food trucks were there. Mac Daddy sells not only sandwiches but various toppings over macaroni. We split a bowl of Mac Daddy, which is every kind of meat they offer over macaroni, which was excellent. The Fair Lady makes shakeups in many flavors, sometimes also mini-donuts and a few other things. We got a sunrise shakeup with strawberry and orange, along with salted caramel donuts. My partner Doug is a big fan of salted caramel and loved the donuts. I found them okay for summer, but wouldn't get something that salty in fall. If you're a salted caramel fan, though, it's worth trying -- the flavors were very strong.
Partway through eating lunch, it started spitting rain more than an occasional droplet, so we grabbed our food and scampered back to the near end close to where we parked. Happily we found a small table under an overhang where we could finish eating. I would've spent more time at the event just enjoying the fairies if the weather hadn't made me twitchy. You never know when it's going to go from spitting to monsoon in 0.2 seconds. 0_o
After we finished eating, we discussed logistics. I was torn between:
* Weather could wipe out the event at any moment.
* Look at everything before buying anything, as this was an event easy to blow the whole budget.
* If there are many items of interest, it's hard to remember them all and easy to forget something on the buying loop.
We ended up ping-ponging from one side of the street to the other. That at least minimized the amount of time spent far from the car in case of rain. Once we had seen all the booths, we went back to make purchases. Everything I wanted was actually clustered at the near end of the fair.
One guy had a table of potted plants, mostly small succulents. I bought three pots. One is a pickle cactus, which I hadn't seen before -- it lacks spines and consists of tall pencil-thick stems. Another is mother-of-thousands, a succulent that forms tiny plantlets on its leaves. The last is a mini-garden with three different plants: a bluish-green succulent, a more greenish succulent, and a variegated plant with thinner leaves showing some pink. <3 I've seen a steady increase in houseplant vendors over the last 5 years or so; there are several who often hit the shows in our area. Some plants are familiar, others new to me, which is fun. It's not quite back to the bohemian rhapsody of plant vendors that I saw when I was little, but it's certainly heading in that direction. Huh, I wonder if the candle carvers will return someday.
Styles 4 Life was an African-American booth with loose-leaf teas, organic herbs, natural remedies, essential oils, shea butter, and other stuff. I picked up a Deep Blue roll-on essential oil, which has kind of a minty smell.
The Gypsy's Den offered incense, tie-dyed T-shirts, and other items. I bought a bag each of Evergreen and Cedar stick incense. I also got a T-shirt that is mostly black, gray, and white with some odd bits of pinkish-copper-mauve that I suspect come from capillary separation of individual pigments within the black dye. It's a good "I don't want stains to show" tie-dye. I had expected that somebody would have fairy-printed T-shirts, which is a pretty common thing, but nobody did.
Other vendors I enjoyed browsing but didn't buy from included:
EdenStone -- bohemian decor, including dreamcatchers and some wall hangings that were sort of like dreamcatchers but with designs other than netted, made with yarn and rags and other stuff, very colorful and eye-catching
Forty-leven Brooms -- Handcrafted, locally sourced brooms and other items for your unique lifestyle.
Goregeus Goblin -- Whimsical, Weird Gifts, RC Sculptures, Cosplay, TTRPG, Home Decor, Custom Orders Welcome
Helen & Vera Tea Company -- teas and herbal products
Handmade Crochet by Georgia -- crochet clothes and decor
Somebody had crochet footstools shaped like mushrooms, might've been this place but I'm not sure.
Lori Klanke -- Reiki, chakra, crystal healing, art therapy, flower essence, aromatherapy
Mad's Rock Shop & Apothecary -- crystals, jewelry, soy wax melts, etc.
Mel's Potionz & Lotionz -- herbal remedies and natural products
ReCat Designs Studio
Oddities, curiosities, art, bones, wet specimens, preserved animals and plants, jewelry, unique gifts. Custom requests welcome.
One of the goblincore offerings.
The only real downside was the
Some other events advertised included:
Magic & Mischief – A Midsummer’s Night Ball & Oddities Market on August 23rd, 2025
Step into a realm of wonder, enchantment, and mystery…
Wander the Oddities Market (12PM–6PM)
Free admission | All ages welcome
Explore bizarre and beautiful creations from unique vendors, enjoy spellbinding performances, and shop for crystals, potions, taxidermy, and more! There will be DRAGONS!
Sil-Con in Gays, IL on September 19-20
Paranormal, horror, anime, gaming, comics, cosplay, cryptids.
60+ vendors and food trucks.
Events have Free General Admissions.
I've been seeing more about cryptids in recent years. I wonder if that's another place where freaks are congregating. If so, that's also cool; I like cryptids.
Also worth mentioning, Effingham had quite a bit of public sculptures in the area. One was a nearly life-size wire sculpture of a ballerina done in blue and silver, probably the best piece of wire sculpture I've seen. That one had a sign saying it was for sale. I approve the idea of using the streets as a public art gallery! I saw a couple of hands made out of some solid material; there was a yellow one making a peace sign. I don't know if those were permanent or also for sale. But it was fun to see.
By the time we had walked through the fair several times -- it wasn't very big, so we could easily see it all -- the rain was falling in more earnest. Since we were done shopping, we went back to the car.
On the way out of town, we stopped at a gas station. Bizarrely, the men's and women's restrooms were on opposite sides of the fairly large building. The staff hollered this information to me while I was looking around for the other door. Apparently they have to do that all day. I pointed out that they could just stick a sign on each door with an arrow and "Other restroom on far side of building." That solution will work for any situation where normally adjacent things are widely separated for some fool reason.
When we got into Mattoon, I stopped at PetSmart to pick up a couple of things. I got a filter sponge to stick over the spigot for the two jugs I already have, so I'll be able to set up the comfrey liquid fertilizer. I plan to try two methods, with and without water. We'll see how that turns out. I also looked for oxygenating plants. What I wound up finding was a hand-sized piece of what looks like felt that is supposed to reconstitute into live java moss. I've never grown the stuff before but I've seen it in videos online. It'll be interesting to see if this works in the trough pond. They also had tiny rosy red minnows. I didn't pick up any, but it's a thought for future reference, since they can serve as mosquito fish.
We also started reading Hello! 365 Tomato Recipes: Best Tomato Cookbook Ever For Beginners. This is exactly what I was hoping for, and we've already marked a bunch of recipes. :D It seems to have a nice mix of recipes that use fresh tomatoes (what I wanted for this summer) and pantry recipes using canned tomatoes, paste, etc. (useful for winter). Despite the title, they range from simple to more complex.
It has been a fun and productive day.
no subject
Yay!
I'd love to get a half-barrel pond. I might do that next year.
Re: Yay!
Although I will say, working with fibreglass is a miserable messy sticky smelly business and will take at least three or four days if you do more than a single layer. (apply layer, wait to dry, sand, apply another layer, repeat.)
Re: Yay!
Re: Yay!
no subject
The tomato recipe book sounds interesting. If you do a review I look forward it.
no subject
no subject
Yes ...
Re: Yes ...
Re: Yes ...
no subject
Extended Family
I do not know if I am nonhuman or not. I never was able to believe I was from anyone but my parents, as they, and my other relations, are the only people I know in this area who look like me. I do not know if there is a way to test for this, or related things.
no subject
(not me thinking about what it would take to start a faery festival here in town ...)
(STOPPIT STOPPIT STOPPIT NO I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS KIND OF THING)
Thoughts
That would be awesome. I quite liked Colorado when I visited there, years ago. Such scenery.
>> (not me thinking about what it would take to start a faery festival here in town ...)
(STOPPIT STOPPIT STOPPIT NO I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS KIND OF THING) <<
Okay, first check if there are any. They go by different names to think synonyms. Check a general list of festivals for your state or region, which is how I found this one -- it's in a magazine that lists things to do in central Illinois.
If there are none, think about how to start one. You don't have to do it yourself! Just check for feasibility. Are there affordable venues, indoors or out? You've got a few months' lead time so an October event might work, that's a popular time for the oddities / goblin / cryptid style. The fairy fests seems to be a spring thing. Are there vendors who sell fairy decor, bohemian stuff, goblincore, oddities, and so on? Do you have a decent supply of food trucks / carts and infrastructure isn't trying to kill them off? If you have stores, talk to the owners. The event I caught was sponsored by a store, and they're doing another later in the year with an oddities market.
If you would be interested in attending, then they'd already have one potential vendor.
Re: Thoughts
There's enough stores & such that we could pull it off. Just need someone to run the thing. I'll poke around & see if I can sniff up anyone interested.
Re: Thoughts
Definitely a gap to be filled.
>>The one local group doing anything similar was going to do a one-day medieval festival last summer, but apparently cancelled it without telling a couple of the groups who were supposed to show up to help? So I don't trust them to run one.<<
Agreed, not them.
>> There's enough stores & such that we could pull it off. Just need someone to run the thing. I'll poke around & see if I can sniff up anyone interested. <<
Somebody in the local merchant pool should have the skills and maybe a parking lot or multipurpose room. I hope it pans out for you!