Will o’ Wisps Festival “The Fairy Tale Garden”, a magical world of Fantasy in Athens, Greece! We talk about Cosplay, the event and its work!
LIVING THE FAIRY TALE !
For two years only, in June 2018 and 2019, countless people had the opportunity to experience a Fantasy fairy tale event in the magical garden of Vasilissis Tower in Ilion, Athens, Greece!
A festival dedicated to fairy tales and children who love stories, magic and fantasy, in the most suitable environment! A day, and then a weekend, full of theatrical sketches, concerts, on stage storytelling, games, treasure hunt, creative activities for children, fantasy creatures parades and more, with part of its revenue going to the support of the work of the non-profit organizations Make-A-Wish Greece and Ark of the World!
Cosplay, in the strict sense of its definition, was not one of its main points, but rather the many dozens of fantasy themed costumes, which dominated the event!
The conditions may not have allowed the event to continue taking place, but it will surely remain forever in the hearts of those who visited it!
Let’s talk about everything in detail with Will o’ Wisp Festival‘s organizers!
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2018 – Photo by Natalia Maragkou
Find Will o' Wisps on the following media! Page - Facebook - Youtube - Instagram
A MAGICAL FAIRY FAIR !
1) Tell us a few words about Will o’ Wisps! What do we need to know about you?
Will o’ Wisps.gr is the Greek portal exclusively to the genre of Fantasy, presenting all its cultural manifestations: literature, illustrations, music, comics, games, cinema etc. Created in February 2017 by illustrator Marilena Mexi, with a vision and dream to achieve something different in the Greek Fantasy scene. Readers quickly embraced our effort and now the website has seventeen thousand readers per month and amounted 270 thousand visitors and 10,000+ followers on our Facebook Page since its inception .
In 2017, sponsored by Will o’ Wisps and in collaboration with AthensCon, we brought the concept artist of The Lord of the Rings film adaption, John Howe, to Greece. In October 2018, an event dedicated to Halloween was successfully held, Will o’ Wisps Halloween Treat at Death Disco. And in December 2019, Will o’ Wisps Christmas Night, a wonderful night dedicated to Christmas. And every year we organized the Will o’ Wisps Festival “The Fairy Tale Garden”, the Greek fairy fair in the garden of Vasilissis Tower in Ilion.
Our founding members are: Marilena Mexi, Artemis Veloudou, George Chatzikiriakos, George Chatzis, Irini Manolakou, Dimitra Benisi. Later, Andreas Michaelides was added to our team, being also the coordinator – narrator of our two anthologies, as well as our editor George Aggelidis.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2018 – Photos by Natalia Maragkou
2) Tell us a few words about Will o’ Wisps Festival, its history and contents! When and how did it start? What themes was it about? Were those themes based on the organizers’ personal interests, and if so, when did you start taking an interest in each of them, before your first event?
Will o ‘Wisps Festival “The Fairy Tale Garden” was a Greek fairy fair takling place in the magical garden with the mulberries at Vasilissis Tower in Ilion! We loved this location and wanted to hold an event there. A fairy tale festival full of stage events by famous storytellers, theatrical sketches, concerts with fantasy and folklore music, imaginative creative activities for children, lost treasure quests in the garden and other games, parades of fairy tale creatures and much more. The festival was 100% charitable, since as a group we didn’t form an association, we just acted as volunteers. In the first year taking place in June 2018, the proceeds were donated to Make-A-Wish Greece and in the second year ( June 2019 ) the proceeds were donated to the Voluntary Non-Profit Organization for Special Care and Protection of Mother and Child Ark of the World. The theme of the festival was based primarily on our own interests, but other similar events abroad taking place mainly in the Nordic countries in various parks and forests acted as a model for us.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography
3) What led you to proceed with organizing Will o’ Wisps Festival? How long and what exactly did it take until the first event was possible? What could one find there and how do you think it differed from other events of similar type or theme?
Initially, the inspiration was the place itself, Vasilissis Tower in Ilion, a historical pearl literally in the heart of Athens, a place taken from fairy tales. The organizing team visited the place for a simple tour and there they envisioned a medieval fairy fair in the garden of the estate, a fairy tale festival where the proceeds would be donated to charity. We immediately communicated the idea to the owners and they immediately embraced our desire. Within six months of that day, the 1st festival took place. Ιt was a one day trial that actually took place in June 2018 and the proceeds were donated to Make-A-Wish Greece. The festival differed, initially because it took place outdoors and mainly because it combined music, dance and outdoor games such as treasure hunts, something that hadn’t taken place at the same time in any other respective festival, at least as far as we know.
The organizing team was the following: Marilena Mexi, Artemis Veloudou, George Aggelidis, Konstantinos Lepouris, Maria Bakara, Christina Yfanti, Christos Pitarakis, Efi Tsibi and Zoi Efstathiou.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography
4) What was the biggest, but also the most difficult Will o’ Wisps Festival you have done? What defines them as such?
Our second festival, which took place in early June 2019, was more organized, and there were sponsorships, unlike the first. The visitors were also clearly more.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2018 – Photo by Natalia Maragkou
5) How much effort, time and money did it usually take to set up Will o’ Wisps Festival? What was the usual preparation plan that you followed?
It takes at least a year of preparation, to get in touch with new participants, to find volunteers, sponsorships for our equipment, and this is a very demanding and time consuming process. We prefer not to mention how much money was needed, but due to lack of sponsorships most of the expenses were covered by the organizing team. With the only shining exception in 2019, where World Anvil sponsored the festival’s audio coverage.
Video with general footage of Will o’ Wisp Festival 2019 – Video by Constantinos Lepouris Photography & George Aggelidis
6) How did you feel during the first Will o’ Wisps Festival and how after its end? Describe this experience to us.
It was a bit of a bittersweet feeling, since the attendance was not what we expected. Unfortunately, on the same day of our festival, there were other events related to pop culture, which had a greater reputation and advertising coverage, resulting in our attempt kind of going amiss.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by Elena Vasilaki
7) What’s your opinion, in proportion to Greece’s size, about the size and level of the audience of the scene towards which Will o’ Wisps Festival was addressed?
Our festival was mainly aimed at children, since besides Fantasy the basis of our festival was games and fairy tales. People seemed familiar with this and we believe that they immediately embraced the idea and style of our festival.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography
8) Are you satisfied with the people’s response to Will o’ Wisps Festival during all these years, as well as with the number of fantasy costumes attending?
In the first year, as we mentioned above, we were disappointed, but in the second year everything went great, the attendance was considerable and we felt a moral satisfaction that our vision and efforts were rewarded. It’s worth mentioning that the second year’s festival revenue was given to Ark of the World.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography
9) When and why did you decide to include Cosplay and fantasy costumes in Will o’ Wisps Festival‘s themes? What more do you think did the presence of Cosplays provide to Will o’ Wisps Festival?
The festival was themed, with its title “shouting” Fairy Tale. Organizers, volunteers, participants and even visitors were dressed accordingly. This invitation was open from the beginning. Even our volunteers wore fairy wreaths and welcomed visitors. We thought that this detail would give a magical vibe to the festival and would immediately let young and old travel to another era. All the participating teams such as the Greek Tolkien Society, Pegasus Fencing Club, Orion Archery, Lost Treasure Larp Team, as well as the independent cosplayers who attended respectively, donned impressive costumes creating fantasy and dream vibes in our event. It’s worth mentioning that world renowned Body Painter Efi Tsimpi did her magic and transformed two models during the two festivals into fantasy creatures. She gave shape to Will o’ Wisp ( Natasa Papadaki ) and with the help of Kostis Lepouris, George Aggelidis and Aggeliki Didimopoulou, the promo trailer of our festival was also created.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography
10) What led to the suspension of the Will o’ Wisps Festival’s activities in the end?
Unfortunately the pandemic’s conditions as well as the personal fatigue of the organizing team brought the end of the festival, but the magical memories will remain forever etched in our hearts and that’s what matters.
Video with general footage of Will o’ Wisp Festival 2018 – Video by Constantinos Lepouris Photography
11) Was there a long term goal or personal dream you wanted to achieve through Will o’ Wisps Festival?
We had many dreams, but the pandemic’s conditions, as well as the personal fatigue of the organizing committee led to the final cancellation of our festival. Let’s hope another team finds the strength, the sponsorships and the time to accomplish something similar in the future. We will keep the beautiful memories forever in our hearts.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography
12) Is there any important or funny experience that happened during Will o’ Wisps Festival that you will never forget?
Lots of funny experiences. Various mishaps happened behind the scenes. An important experience was director Faidon Sofianou‘s seminar and Savina Giannatou‘s live. Two important personalities supported us, trusted us and embraced our idea and this was and is for us an honor.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography
13) Is there anything last you would like to share with our readers?
We wish for you to stay well, have patience and not stop dreaming. May we all meet soon at the Greek festivals we love so much and share beautiful moments again.
Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography
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