Wizards, witches and whimsy await at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds July 26. Returning for its second year, this year’s WOW Fest: Weekend of Wizardry aims to bring magic and fantasy to life in a family-friendly event.
According to event organizer Keisha Keen, WOW Fest stems from two of her biggest passions — her cat sanctuary and her love of wizard books. She runs Copper Kitten Inc., a 501c3 non-profit sanctuary for rescue cats, according to the organization’s website.
“I started a cat rescue, I got to a point where we ended the cat rescue, we started a sanctuary for the cats that didn’t get adopted because they were all special needs,” Keen said. “And we had a little extra time, so my husband and I went to Ironton, Ohio to a WizardFest over there and I fell in love with it and I said ‘why can’t I combine the two things that I love to support our sanctuary?’ And so I got some pointers from the organizer over there and we threw our first event last year.”
Last year’s festival faced a couple issues in regards to attendance, Keen said, as they initially had anticipated 2,500 people coming. Instead, she said they saw double that with more than 5,000 people attending.
“… so we did get a lot of complaints that it was too crowded, that parking was a nightmare, but we did have it planned, we just didn’t expect the turnout that we got last year,” Keen said. “So this year, we’re prepared and we’ve got everything covered.”
This year’s festivities will take place on the fairgrounds and in two of the its buildings, as opposed to the one building they had last year, Keen said. Attendees can look forward to over 50 vendors from across the Midwest selling handmade mystical items.
Several food trucks and vendors will be present, including some local options like Antojitos Rosita and Dirty Dough. On the entertainment side, the Columbus Indiana Youth Philharmonic and Mockery Max will have performances throughout the event.
“… (Mockery Max) takes some 60s and 70s music and changes the lyrics, so he’ll do that. We’ll have hourly drawings, a bake sale, and we have Indiana Skunk Rescue coming, we have Creature Connections coming,” Keen said. “She does snakes and spiders and all the scary things to kind of help bridge that gap between human and the scary things. So it kind of helps you face your fears.”
The event has even more to offer, including a “magical” creatures presentation by Fort Wayne-based Indiana Wild, a Ford Anglia car show and a Sorcerer’s Bar for those 21 and older. Bounce houses, crafts and tattoos will be offered for the kids, Keen said.
All proceeds from the event go towards Copper Kitten, Inc., but Keen said she looks at this event far beyond the fundraising aspect.
“They don’t have to go multiple places to see Ford Anglias and see exotic animals and bounce on bouncy houses and get their face painted and eat good food and shop; it’s all in one location and it’s a lot of fun,” Keen said. ”So I think that what I really want to get out of it is for people to come, have a good time and kind of let their worries go away, let the magic take them away.”
Early Bird admission tickets have sold out, but tickets can still be purchased online at Eventbrite or at the gate. Tickets for adults cost $10, kids five to 12 cost $5 and admission for kids 4 and younger is free. Parking costs $5. No pets are allowed.
