October 2025
By Kat Resanovich, Volunteer Coordinator & Educator
In October, we hosted our annual Autumnal Fairy Festival. The event was a huge success, thanks to the many volunteers that helped us make it possible. This year, we had 36 volunteers helping at the event, which is one of our largest groups ever! From helping visitors park, to checking them in, and running dozens of activities throughout the woods – the volunteers did it all.
The volunteers transformed into different characters to make the event extra magical. As visitors traveled through the “enchanted woods,” they encountered parking gnomes, wizards, various fairies, and more volunteers in character. This year, we had enough volunteers that we were able to have characters wandering throughout the enchanted forest interacting with visitors and making the experience even more immersive. Some of them gave the visitors clues that helped them find the Fairy Queen’s stolen spellbook!
Board members Gary Germain and Paula Conan that volunteered at the event said, “The kids were so excited to be there and to be face painted and everything. It was great to see.” The volunteers bring so much joy to this event, but we also often hear from them about how this is their favorite event to volunteer at. Paul, one of the parking gnomes said, “Seeing all of the fairies coming out of their cars and getting dressed up and excited is always my favorite thing every year!”
There were also dozens of volunteers that helped beforehand to prepare for this event. Our A-Team volunteers set up tents, cauldrons, collected wands, and more the week leading up to the event. The front desk volunteers assembled hundreds of check-in envelopes, made troll coins, and gathered hundreds of crafts for visitors. Dedicated volunteers came early in the morning to help with set-up the day of the event and stayed late to help with cleanup afterwards. One of our volunteers Rose Burdick, who runs the fairy village, has been collecting supplies for fairy house building all year!
In the middle of the event, we had a plumbing crisis that forced us to shut down the bathrooms. Thanks to quick action from our volunteers who helped us spread the word about the issue, clean, and unclog the issue, we were able to get the bathrooms reopened in under an hour. A special thank you to Ken Kaufman, Paul Mooney, and Ken Burdick for helping us unclog the plumbing.
Thanks to Marcellus High School teacher Maria Antil, for helping us get the word out about this event to students. Thanks to her help, we had 14 Marcellus High School students volunteering at the event. The students helped with games, food, crafts, and as wandering characters. Having these extra hands was a huge help, and the students were all so excited to dress up and become a part of the event. We’re excited to have this partnership with the high school for future volunteering events!
Thank you to all of our fairy fest volunteers, without volunteers this event would not be possible! Are you interested in becoming a volunteer? Fill out our volunteer interest form: https://baltimorewoods.org/volunteer-request-for-information/