{"id":18168,"date":"2021-04-08T12:52:27","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T10:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cosplayers.gr\/?p=18168"},"modified":"2025-10-24T17:24:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T15:24:02","slug":"will-o-wisps-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cosplayers.gr\/en\/main\/will-o-wisps-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Will o’ Wisps Festival “The Fairy Tale Garden”! A special Fantasy Festival in Athens, Greece! We talk about everything!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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LIVING THE FAIRY TALE !<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n
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For two years<\/span><\/strong> only, in June 2018<\/span><\/strong> and 2019<\/span><\/strong>, countless people had the opportunity to experience a Fantasy fairy tale event in the magical garden of Vasilissis Tower in Ilion<\/span><\/strong>, Athens<\/span><\/strong>, Greece!<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/strong>, full of theatrical sketches, concerts, on stage storytelling, games, treasure hunt, creative activities for children, fantasy creatures parades and more<\/span><\/strong>, with part of its revenue going to the support of the work of the non-profit organizations<\/span><\/strong> Make-A-Wish Greece<\/strong><\/a> and<\/span><\/strong> Ark of the World<\/strong><\/a>!<\/p>\n

Cosplay<\/span><\/strong>, in the strict sense of its definition, was not one of its main points, but rather the many dozens of fantasy themed costumes<\/span><\/strong>, which dominated the event!<\/p>\n

The conditions may not have allowed the event to continue taking place<\/span><\/strong>, but it will surely remain forever in the hearts of those who visited it!<\/p>\n

Let’s talk about everything in detail with Will o’ Wisp Festival<\/span><\/strong>‘s organizers!<\/p>\n

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Will o’ Wisps Festival 2018 – Photo by Natalia Maragkou<\/a><\/p>\n

Find Will o' Wisps on the following media!\r\nPage<\/a> - Facebook<\/a> - Youtube<\/a> - Instagram<\/a>\r\n<\/strong><\/pre>\n

\nA MAGICAL FAIRY FAIR<\/span><\/strong> !<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n
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1) Tell us a few words about Will o\u2019 Wisps! What do we need to know about you?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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 .<\/p>\n
In 2017, sponsored by Will o’ Wisps and in collaboration with AthensCon<\/strong><\/a>, we brought the concept artist of The Lord of the Rings film adaption, John Howe<\/strong><\/a>, to Greece. In October 2018, an event dedicated to Halloween was successfully held, Will o’ Wisps Halloween Treat<\/span><\/strong> at Death Disco<\/strong><\/a>. And in December 2019, Will o’ Wisps Christmas Night<\/span><\/strong>, a wonderful night dedicated to Christmas. And every year we organized the Will o’ Wisps Festival “The Fairy Tale Garden”<\/span><\/strong>, the Greek fairy fair in the garden of Vasilissis Tower in Ilion.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Will o’ Wisps Festival 2018 – Photos by Natalia Maragkou<\/a><\/p>\n
2) Tell us a few words about <\/strong>Will o\u2019 Wisps Festival<\/strong>, 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?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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<\/strong><\/a> 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<\/strong><\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n
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Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography<\/a><\/p>\n
3) What led you to proceed with organizing <\/strong>Will o\u2019 Wisps Festival<\/strong>? 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?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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. \u0399t was a one day trial that actually took place in June 2018 and the proceeds were donated to Make-A-Wish Greece<\/strong><\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Will o’ Wisps Festival 2019 – Photo by AD Photography<\/a><\/p>\n
4) What was the biggest, but also the most difficult <\/strong>Will o\u2019 Wisps Festival <\/strong>you have done? What defines them as such?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Will o’ Wisps Festival 2018 – Photo by Natalia Maragkou<\/a><\/p>\n
5) How much effort, time and money did it usually take to set up <\/strong>Will o\u2019 Wisps Festival<\/strong>? What was the usual preparation plan that you followed?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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<\/strong><\/a> sponsored the festival’s audio coverage.<\/p>\n