The 16th Annual St. Louis Pagan Picnic - June 7-8, 2008

Author Ellen Dugan, the Garden Witch, is among the guests at this year's St. Louis Pagan Picnic, the weekend of June 7th and 8th at Tower Grove Park. Dugan has written numerous books for Llewellyn, including Garden Witchery: Magick From the Ground Up and Herb Magic for Beginners. More than 3,000 people attend the annual event with activities for all ages, and, in its 16th year, one of the longest-running such events in the Midwest.

More Authors and Artists

Joining her at the annual event will be horror writer M. R. Sellars, author of the Rowan Gant Investigations saga. Among the other special guests are authors Dorothy Morrison, Mickie Mueller, Tish Owen, W. Lyon Martin, River and Joyce Higginbotham, radio talk show host Terry Hinkle, and artist Gengrafix.

All will be giving presentations as well as signing their work at the author's and artist's tables.

More First Time Activities

Recruiting is underway for a new Craft Village consisting of demonstrators of traditional crafts such as flintknapping and basket making, not to mention the making of more specialized Pagan tools like brooms and wands.

Another debut this year is The Wizards Tournament, pitting two of the country's top Schools of Magick against each other in a series of games and challenges.

Enchanting Music

Returning is the Bardic Circle, featuring local musical talent including singers, poets, bands, and belly dancers . So far scheduled to perform are Morning Vision Blue, Bellawyck, Sede, Jenn Lutke, Shoca, and Joe Credit III. There will also be Saturday afternoon's Drum Circle. Western Gate Ampgard will present live-action role-play in the open fields of the park.

Fascinating Fact

There will be back-to-back rituals and four workshop tracks. Workshop presentations cover a range of topics from how to deal with paranormal activity and magic down and dirty to why magic works and tarot keywords. Children's activities will be emphasized in the KidZone and there's the Sunday morning Children's Parade.

The theme of this year's picnic is "Where Magick is Afoot."

Vendors Abound

More than 70 vendors are expected to be set up along the trails at the east end of the park where the Pagan Picnic is located, with all sorts of offerings from trinkets and treatises to T-shirts and bumper stickers.

Barrels will be set out for donations of nonperishable food for Operation Food Search Operation Food Search The organization distributes more than one million pounds of food and household items to 300 community partner agencies to feed 100,000 people every month. nearly half of whom are children. Donations will also be accepted for local animal shelters.

Alpha and Omega

The event, sponsored by Yarrow Coven, starts at 10am, Saturday, June 7th with an opening ritual performed by Greenleaf Coven of Missouri. The daily activities run from 10am to 6pm. The closing ritual is at 5pm Sunday, June 8th.

For more information, go to www.paganpicnic.org.

For more articles on places to visit in Illinois (or in neighboring locations like St Louis), feel free to visit my  group Illinois Road Trip at www.illinoisroadtrip.com