You just never know where the magic will lead you.
Most years, The Flanagin Fairies have a heartwarming story to tell after appearing at Valparaiso’s Popcorn Festival and this year was no exception.
Here is a little background:
Our sole purpose as the Fairies is to create magical memories for the children and sometimes we find out that we did exactly that.
After the parade, the Fairies do a meet and greet for the children at the Popcorn Festival. The wonder and excitement you see in the children’s eyes makes all the preparation worthwhile. After chatting, it's customary to give the child a pre-printed photograph of your fairy character, a sticker, or sometimes even a little fairy ornament.
In 2015, Crystal Snowflake (aka my daughter Erica Flanagin George), had the creative idea to give some of the children a very precious, one of a kind, keep it under your pillow “magical moon stone.” Crystal presented it to the child with a cute little saying about how it has magic and it will make their dreams come true, but only the good dreams, of course. She kept them in a pouch and the children couldn’t see them at first. She would sometimes even tell the child that, “Oh wait that stone doesn’t have enough magic, let me find you a different one.”
Spoiler alert: You can buy them by the bag at most craft stores in pretty colors originally designed to put in flower vases.
In 2016, The Fairy Gladmother was chatting with a sweet little girl and when it was about time to go on her way, the mother asked if I (The Fairy Gladmother) remembered the “magic moon stones” that we gave away last year at the meet and greet. Of course I said YES, I sure do! Then, she pointed at her daughter Madelyn and there it was! Madelyn’s mom had turned it into a necklace that Madelyn was wearing. Our hearts just melted. We ARE creating magic! Afterwards, we decided we wanted to invite Madelyn to be a Flanagin Fairy with us for the 2017 parade.
After some searching, we were unfortunately unable to find her in time, but there is a silver lining. After the 2017 parade, we saw Madelyn again! Maybe a little magic brought her our way, but we finally had the chance to invite her to be a Flanagin Fairy in the 2018 Popcorn Parade.
You just never know where the magic will lead you, so keep an eye out next year for our newest little fairy, Madelyn!
