Erica & Lacey go to the Harry Potter Festival

About a month ago, a couple blocks of Western Avenue were transformed into the wizarding world of Harry Potter. The Harry Potter Festival was a free outdoor event for all ages. Thank goodness it was for all ages because I didn't want to be the oldest person in attendance who wasn't a parent or grandparent! LOL

My absolute favorite part was all of the costumes. Look how cute doggie Dobby is!!!

The event was advertised pretty heavily on social media and the turnout was far greater than anyone could have expected (or planned for). Being a local vendor, I think that the magnitude of people who showed up was great! It's always so rewarding and awesome to see your event fill up with shoppers. Every vendor wants to sell out of their merchandise and that is exactly what happened at the Harry Potter Festival. I felt so happy and proud of the vendors there. But many of the other patrons did not feel as I did. As soon as the event started, rants and complaints were posted all over the event's Facebook page. Everyone was so extremely upset with how crowded it was. I agree that the event quickly outgrew its venue, the lines were long and the streets were so crowded that you felt claustrophobic. But, none of that made me angry (and I usually HATE crowds and lines). I anticipated a large turnout so I wasn't upset when I saw over 5,000 people meandering around the streets and, as a pleasant surprise, the lines that Lacey & I waited in moved fairly quickly.

Also, it was a free festival...festivals are always crowded to begin with and throw the word 'free' on top of that and yeah, of course there's going to be a huge turnout!! And honestly, I didn't think it was that crowded once you compared it to other festivals. The Chinese New Year Festival that Wes & I went to in Dallas earlier this year was just as crowded and everyone loved it. El Rastro (open air flea market) in Spain is three times more crowded but it's still one of the most popular Sunday afternoon shopping excursions. If you've ever tried to get on the subway in rush hour, you probably know what crowded truly means... and the Harry Potter Festival wasn't even half as bad. So the haters need to shut their pie holes!

One complaint I do have is the damn hot weather. It was 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the middle of October. Yuck! We walked from my apartment (about a 1.2 mile trek) and were instantly exhausted as soon as we got there. Gawd, Lacey, we are old! Haha. Anyway, the festival was in full swing when we arrived. At first the crowds were a little overwhelming but we were able to maneuver along the sidewalks. If you wanted to get in a photo opp (they had staged scenes and props everywhere) or to participate in an event or purchase something from a vendor or off a food truck, you had to stand in line. If you were just a spectator, you could move freely along the street. I, of course, wanted to do & experience everything but Lacey was the smart one who suggested that we just walk along the sidewalk and view all the action from a distance. We saw so many fun costumes (I was a little shocked at how many Slytherins there were... I expected most of the people would dress as Gryffindors) with all our walking around. I think we had a better experience just walking around and taking in the sights than we would have had if we stood in line to actually do the activities.   

The festival was sectioned into four parts to represent the four houses of Hogwarts. Each section had its own array of events to participate in. Gryffindor had a Quidditch tournament, sorting hat and other kid's activities. Syltherin had a photo opp in the Azkaban Prison with actors dressed as Death Eaters and Dementors. Hufflepuff is where all of the food trucks were. Ravenclaw was where all of the vendors' tents were. We poked our heads in into each vendor tent and was even able to get into the air conditioned indoor shop with no trouble. Even though we didn't stand in line to use any of the photo props and/or scenes, I was still able to take plenty of pictures from a distance (as you can see from this blog). 

One thing we actually did (instead of just watching) was participate in the arts & crafts booth. There were two tables. At one, we made quills, which were feathers attached to straws. We dipped the feather in glue and decorated it with glitter. The other make & take we did was the golden snitch. This seriously was the most efficient arts & crafts booth I have ever seen.  It was an assembly line of volunteers; one would cut the yarn, another would string a Christmas ornament onto the cut yarn and then the last would drill holes into each side of the ornament and drop the finished product into a large pot. By the time we got up to the table, there was a large pot filled with ornaments we could choose from. After picking one, we scooted down to the next station where a volunteer filled the drilled holes with hot glue. Then she moved us down to the next station where another volunteer was ready to hand us two feathers to stick into the hot glue. We were done in less than a minute. And that is how you keep a line moving!

The last thing we did was visit Honeydukes (the candy shop). The 42nd Street Candy Company did a knock out job transforming their store into Honeydukes. The window displays were so adorable and they had wizarding themed candies and decorations throughout the store. The line for Honeydukes winded all the way down the street but it, too, moved very quickly. The shop was arranged like a little maze where everyone had to walk single file and move through the entire store to get to the check out line. That way you were able to see everything and not have to worry about people cutting in line. I bought two candy sticks (or 'wands' if you want to be festive) and a stick of caramel. 

I think the organizers and vendors did an amazing job. I appreciate all the effort that went into creating an event like this. I was able to see all of its attractions despite the crowds. Lacey & I were able to participate in all of the activities that interested us and all in all, we both really enjoyed the festival.  

Erica & Wes visit the Renaissance Festival.

       ONCE UPON A TIME... Alan and Erica journeyed to ye far off land of Muskogee on a quest to find enchanted weapons. They happened upon a castle of old ,where they were greeted by a jovial wench. She showed them many weapons. From the time Alan was a young lad, all he wanted to do was to hold ye magical ax and recite incantations. When he picked up thy ax, the largest grin appeared on his  round face and he shined brighter than the northernmost star. Poor Erica was not as lucky. She chanced upon thy giant bardiche but thou arms were too spindly to wield the weapon. She tried with all her might... she grunted and pulled and made horrid faces... but the weapon would not lift off thy ground. Then the court jester appeared and laughed a hearty ho ho ho! The bardiche was cursed to never leave thy wooden floor. The wench, jester, Alan and Erica all gave a boisterous laugh and merriment was had by all. THE END.

Just kidding, none of that happened. But Wes & I did go to the Renaissance Festival at the Castle at Muskogee last weekend for Alan's birthday. It was a pretty fun experience (minus the heat... walking around outside in the Oklahoma heat for an afternoon was terrible!) The fair was held on the "castle grounds" and it was set up to look like a medieval village. There were various stages with different performers every hour, a few bars & food vendors and lots of shops. We had a turkey leg, funnel cake and beer for lunch when we got there. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the grounds with Alan and his friends.

None of the weapons were enchanted but there was a historical society at the fair that had old medieval battle weapons. So my story wasn't completely made up! LOL The girl who volunteered at the booth was a history buff who shared factoids on the swords, axes and maces. And, she let us handle the weapons! Alan picked the heaviest thing for me to hold.

There were some ladies spinning wool into thread!

We went into just about every shop and saw each vendor. (and there were a lot!) My favorites were:

       *a craftsman who made wooden mugs and puzzle boxes,

       *a shop that sold replicas of armor, chain-mail and helmets and

       *a shop that demonstrated weaving, spinning and basket-making  

There was a lot of neat stuff but we didn't find anything that we couldn't do without so we left sans souvenir. 

The top right picture was from the Musical Blades performance. There is a guy in a white t-shirt sitting on the bench with a guitar. He wasn't part of the band and he didn't play the guitar. He just sat there with it.

We also saw two performances. One was a gypsy group called Wine & Alchemy. A woman sung and her band mates played various instruments. For their final song, she danced with a sword. The other performance we saw was the Musical Blades. They were a musical comedy troupe of pirates. Their act consisted of dirty jokes, original pirate themed songs and covers of hip hop songs. It was Wes' favorite part of the day. I've only been to one other medieval fair (the one in Norman) and I didn't really enjoy it but since Alan requested that we go for his birthday, we ventured out. I would say this Renaissance Festival was a good one. It had a variety of things to do and see and you could easily spend a day there. 

Erin, Matt, Melanie, Alan, me & Wes. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Erica's first costume wedding

The happy groom & bride dressed as Pokemon trainers.

Last month, my friend Jessa married the love of her life and became a Mrs. (insert mushy "awwww" sighing here) She and her husband, Mason, are geeks and proud of it. LOL

For their wedding, they had a Pokemon themed costume party. It was just like the cosplay weddings you see on TV... everyone (well, not me because I went straight from work) was in costume, the decorations & cake were themed, and even the ceremony was staged as a "Pokemon battle." I don't know anything about Pokemon and have never attended a themed or costume wedding so I was in for a treat!

Have you ever seen a Ninja Turtle dancing with the Mad Hatter?

So many costumes!!

One would think that I wouldn't really enjoy myself since I'm not fanatical about video games or anime, but I had a great time :)  I got to see some old friends & meet new ones and I learned a thing or two about geekdom! I've learned that in social situations, if you ask questions, everyone will want to fill you in and that's the best way to make friends. Even though I couldn't really appreciate the intricacy of the Pokemon theme, I was very impressed by the table settings & decor and the bride's & groom's cakes were gorgeous. 

Bride's cake was from Pokemon and groom's cake was from Megaman.

I missed the entire wedding ceremony since it started in the mid-afternoon and I was still at work. I arrived just in time for the reception, though. I learned from other attendees that the ceremony was a staged Pokemon battle. I then learned that a Pokemon battle is where two trainers take their Pokemon out to fight. The ceremony went like this: the bridesmaids were Jessa's Pokemon and the groomsmen were Mason's Pokemon. They walked down the aisle and "fought." When it was over, the officiant announced that Jessa's and Mason's Pokemon teams would actually be better if they joined and worked together. So, it became official that the two of them would join and be together forever and ever. This is what I was told... I'm still waiting to see the video recorded ceremony.

Sadly, I also missed the first dance and maid of honor's & best man's speeches, but I arrived just in time for the cake cutting. For food, there was a taco bar ... aka heaven. It was probably the best tacos ever! They were home cooked by the wedding party. There was shredded pork, beef and turkey, flour and corn tortillas and all of the fixings. Instead of dancing and mingling, I was the fat girl who sat alone at the table and ate... and ate... and ate! 

This was when I went back for seconds. I already had 2 tacos before this but I forgot to take a picture and I thought, "For the blog's sake, I better go get more."

After dinner was taken care of, it was time for the bouquet toss! All the girls lined up on the dance floor as Beyonce's "Single Ladies" played in the background. Jessa pretended to throw the bouquet a few times and then she just spun around and handed the bouquet to one of her friends. What?? Her surprised friend stood there momentarily and wondered why a bouquet was just handed to her. Then her boyfriend tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and he was down on one knee. OMG! Waves of awww's and sighs filled the room.  A wedding and proposal in the same night!

Red velvet cake pop.

The rest of the night consisted of chatting, dancing (which I did not participate in because I was pooped from work and I'm a killjoy), drinking and karaoke. I was able to catch up with two friends that I hadn't seen in literally a decade--one was married to the bride's sister and the other was also part of the family... small world. I stayed to watch a few karaoke performances and then left for the evening. I am so happy for Jessa & Mason. What a fun and unique evening!

My friend, Courtney with her husband, Alex, and their adorable Ruthie.

Oh and because I always have to brag about RagsReborn, here are the customized pillows I made as their wedding gift.

This was actually Jessa's bachelorette gift.

Pokeball pillows with the bride & groom's favorite colors.

Happy wedding day!!