THE 3 WISHES FAIRY FESTIVAL 2023 TAKES PLACE AT MOUNT EDGCUMBE COUNTRY PARK NEAR LOOE AND PLYMOUTH BETWEEN FRIDAY 16 AND SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2023. EXPECT PARADES, CAMPING, LIVE MUSIC AND, OF COURSE, FAERIES!
Fairies are real. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in them. And countless spiritualists and fans of fantasy still believe so today. Ah, but all you naysayers out there don’t believe sprites, gnomes, fairies and elves are real? You need evidence, do you? Well, we’ve got all the proof you need… you just have to go to the 3 Wishes Fairy Festival 2023 in Cornwall in June.
Okay, many would say fairies are not real. But who cares? The hundreds of fairies who gather at this annual festival are good enough for us. This is a beautiful, fantastical event that pays homage to the little sprites that inhabit so many of our traditional stories and fables.
The Three Wishes Fairy Festival 2023 returns to Mount Edgcumbe Country Park opposite Plymouth and up the coast from Looe between Friday 16 and Sunday 18 June 2023. This event is often dubbed the ‘UK’s most magical’ gathering of the summer. Last year’s fest came back after a two-year absence thanks to the pandemic.
The 17th fairy festival at Mount Edgcumbe, which is on the edge of Torpoint, is a family-friendly event that also welcomes dogs. Hundreds of workshops, performances and talks feature over the three days and nights, and everyone who goes along is encouraged to embrace their ‘inner fairy’. Dressing up is a must, making this a vibrantly colourful event that’s bags of fun for all who take part. It really is like stepping into a modern day, real fairyland.
The views from Mount Edgcumbe only add to the magic. As does the fact that this is Cornwall, a land of magic, mystery and Celtic tradition. It’s for anyone of any age, with under-sevens going for free. There’s a ‘Faery School’ at the fest for all the little pixies, elves and fairies with activities like hula-hooping and storytelling on offer over the three days.
The festival’s music stage runs from 12 midday until 12 midnight each day. Live music comes from some great acts, including the inimitable Mediaeval Babes who played Truro Cathedral way back in December. Other acts include 3 Daft Monkeys, The Dolmen, Damh the Bard and The Captain’s Beard. There are actually four music areas spread out across the site.
The 3 Wishes Fairy Festival 2023 celebrates 100 years of Cicely Mary Barker’s ‘Flower Fairies’ books, which were published in the first half of the 20th century and contained enchanting illustrations of incredibly lifelike fairies. Therefore, there’s a ‘Flower Fairies’ theme over the three days to accompany other themes: Friday is ‘mermaids, pirates and flower fairies’, Saturday is ‘green men and flower fairies’ and Sunday is ‘gnomes and flower fairies’.
Expect parades to take place in the days and the nights plus a ‘Greenman and Flower Fairies Procession’ on the Saturday that will be led by the Mediaeval Babes no less. Add to that a mystical ‘Faerie Market’ for accessories like crowns and wings. Plus, there’s a ‘fire Faery show’ in the ‘Faery Kingdom Arena’ to enjoy. Also venture inside a giant dragon’s stomach to discover a bar. Meet ‘Bubble Flower Fairies’ and see the mermaid in the ‘Mermaid Lagoon’. Oh, and there’s a ‘Fairy Circus’ too. Magic!
Camping or glamping is encouraged although there are day tickets available too. And the grub is worth dancing about as this is believed to be the first UK fairy festival to be totally vegan, with all food provided by vegan caterers.
Former BBC journalist Karen Kay, who is based near Truro, started the 3 Wishes Fairy Festival in 2007. She has written books on fairies and chose to stage the fest in mid-June to coincide with the midsummer celebrations. It is claimed that she was ‘guided to create’ the gathering by ‘the fairies she has been communicating with since she was a child’.
So what more proof do you need? Just get your tickets now, take the clan and prepare to dress, live and love life like a fairy, gnome, elf or sprite for three days at Mount Edgcumbe Country Park. Fairies do exist. And you’re going to meet plenty of them at this festival.