First Ironic Festival Moment ~ Two local people talking in a restaurant. One asks the other, "Have you gotten any more business with the festival here?" The restaurant owner says, "Nah. I've only seen maybe one or two people, but not much difference at all." Here's the ironic part ~~ This was told to me by a group of six pagans sitting and eating in the restaurant overhearing the conversation.
Second Ironic Festival Moment ~ During Friday night's awesome fire service during which the Fahrenheit 360 troupe was performing followed the spoken wisdom of Fred around the huge bonfire, we all turn to see that the Fire Department was pulling up onto the levee behind us. (The site is in a long line bordering Lake Okeechobee on one side and an extreme high levee on the other side separating the lake from the Town of Pahokee.)
Everyone starts moaning and groaning thinking that now we are going to have big trouble with the Fire Department over our fire displays, which are an integral part of our religious worship at Summer Solstice. One of the festival promoters, Bruce Mullins, along with a few others, quickly ascended the levee to handle the situation while the festival goers were looking on and muttering about whether we would need to organize a formal protest against this same sort of thing we have had to occasionally encounter at other Florida festivals. Not fair. Wasn't an article just recently posted that Pahokee and the Pagans were BFF's?
Okay, here it comes. Bruce comes back down the hill and announces that the fire tender had been speaking previously with the Fire Department and that they were so impressed by how we handled bonfires and other fire workings, that they brought their firemen down to see how well it worked in action! Big sigh of relief from everyone and even more jubilation during the remainder of the evening with the firemen joining in for a few moments at our fire tender's birthday celebration. (By the way, we think firemen are very sexy and we would definitely buy their calendar if they sold it during the next festival. Just saying!)
As the firemen departed, they were greeted by whoops and hollers of appreciation ("Hail and be well, firemen. Hail and be well!) from festival goers for their understanding and support of the festival. This truly was one of those memorable moments of a memorable festival in our Florida Pagan history.
Now back to the festival follies, which is not going to be as detailed as usual as I have to head back to the festival early today for some interviews and, of course, to get lost in more festival fun this evening. (It is the last day of festival and not to be missed, you know.)
PAGAN FESTIVAL FASHION TREND ALERT ~ The Steampunk look is here. Actually, steampunk with a bit of Viking warrior blended in is hitting the festivals and EVERY fashion forward pagan simply MUST be sure to add a few pieces of steampunk.
PAGAN FESTIVAL FASHION TREND BLINK~ While I am the first to admit that platform high heels are extremely sexy, they are also extremely painful at a festival that requires a lot of walking. Just saying.
Wicked Revolution
On Thursday, the music line-up on-stage began with a performance by Mark & Holly including a very enjoyable composition by Mark entitled The Sister Song, which was dedicated, of course, to his sister. Later in the evening, another concert was held by the Whatwedo band. (Unfortunately, because of so many offerings at the festival, I was unable to catch this concert. Hugs and kisses to Whatwedo. I'll catch up with you later. Muwah!)
Friday's lineup began with Grassy Waters, a South Florida band, with a musical flavor we describe in the South as swamp music. Swamp music usually combines musical tones and rhythms found in Louisiana blues and Cajun stylings, merged with Southern rock, jazz, and blues. It's a unique Southern flavor which we adore.
Next came one of my favorite Florida performers (as well as good friend), Lord Alexian, who gave a wonderful performance (as usual) in which he engages his audience to become an actual part of the performance.
Performance Art at Wicked Revolution's Concert
The evening concluded with a performance by Wicked Revolution, which included performance art of shadowed dancers and fire dancers during the show. After enjoying Lord Alexian's concert and then Wicked Revolution, we can easily see that pagan music performances are beginning to evolve into more than just the musicians. We are beginning to reach into performance art along with musical presentation. More about pagan music trends later.
As for shopping, because we do love to shop, the vendors were able to regain their stride after Thursday's dousing and vendors' row was the place to be yesterday. Love the vendors. When looking for a particular item, I always try to go to our vendors first and their on-line pagan stores before going to other on-line shopping venues whenever possible. Supporting our Community is important!
I'm going to end this article by sharing several photos of the festival on our Website Facebook Page (just click here to find them) since I have to get ready and head back out to the festival, but I promise to continue sharing more of this memorable festival with everyone.
