Fairy House Tour

2011 Fairy House Tour

Hundreds of children and adults braved newly repaired roads, a miserable weekend weather forecast, occasional rain showers and a surprising amount of mud (all of which was actually a lot better than what had been forecasted), as well as a looming array of necessary work in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, in order to enjoy a unique and totally therapeutic adventure at the Museum's Third Vermont Fairy House Tour on September 24 and 25, 2011.

Twenty-eight very different structures or villages dotted the trailsides in the Village Park behind the Museum. After viewing them closely, visitors returned to the Museum and its garden.

Inside the Museum, in addition to regular exhibits and special hands-on activities, The Agate House by Sue Hadden of the Vermont Museum of Mining and Minerals captured the viewers' eyes with a sedately lovely house and chimney created from slabs and buttons of different kinds of agate. Also displayed nearby for unimpeded close inspection were two of her fairy houses from earlier tours: the Grafton Amethyst Mine and the Lapidary.

Outside in the garden, youngsters blew giant bubbles, enjoyed readings from fairy books, or decorated wreaths and wands with flowers, shells, and fairy dust. Participants also built their own imaginative structures from especially gathered materials or just had a grand time watching others of all ages working together to create something special and being so very thoughtful, deliberate, frugal, and careful about the materials they chose for their work.

By the end of the second day of the tour, at least 108 incredibly different structures had been created in the Museum garden out of a vast selection of natural materials! A birthday celebration even featured a fairy house birthday cake for one happy young man and his friends who had completed their houses!

See the fantastic slideshows of the formal tour entries and spontaneous structures. We hope they'll inspire you to want to do a formal entry yourself next year.

Thank you to our event supporters!

This year's wonderful event was made possible by many generous supporters. Their contributions help fund the Museum's programs and exhibits.

• Underwriter - Windham Foundation
• Sustaining Sponsors - Cota & Cota, Inc., and Tania Evans
• Supporting Sponsors - Chester Hardware, MJS Lawn Care & Lawnscape, Inc., Salmon and Nostrand Attorneys at Law, and TD Bank

Thank you also to additional event donors!

• Finn & Stone Insurance in Springfield,
• Knockout Carpet in Chester,
• Merchants Bank in Bellows Falls,
• Morning Star Perennials in Rockingham,
• Newtown Business/Snow & Lear in Bellows Falls,
• The Richards Group in Ludlow

Special thanks to the Windham Foundation for parking and other facilities, to Decker's Tent Rentals for a discount on the tent rental, and to NewsBank, Inc., for printing the event's color posters and program booklet.

If you weren't able to attend this year's event, we hope you will mark next year's calendar for September 29 and 30 so you can get ready for Fairy House Tour 2012!