The St Louis Pagan Picnic Jun 13-14, 2009: Have a Magickal Time

The 17th Annual St Louis Pagan Picnic is being held this year on June 13 and 14th, 2009, at Tower Grove Park, located a few blocks south of the Missouri Botanical Gardens. The event is free and open to the public.

Entertainment

Performers appearing this year in the Bardic Circle include the bands Coyote Run, Scott Helland and the Gypsy Nomads, Foilhat, and Alabaster Brown, Ami Amore and Exotic Rythms Belly Dancing.

The annual event includes rituals and workshops, vendors offering a variety of goods and services, Saturday's Kidzone for children, professional entertainers, artists, and authors, and, naturally, food and beverage vendors will be available. An information booth is continuously manned by members of the Witch Hat Society.

Special Guests

Special guests include Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, wizard, author, and former publisher of Green Egg magazine, he will be among workshop presenters on The Awakening of Gaia and Real Wizardry for the Harry Potter Generation. In the Real Wizardry presentation, Zell-Ravenhart, founding headmaster of the Gray School of Wizardry, will focus on what it takes to be a wizard, why one would want to become one, and the Grey School's system of color associated with a wizard's path.

Other guests include Grandmother Elspeth of Haven, noted for her earth-based "mountain wisdom" and honest advice. Another special guest is author L.R. Sellers, the "pagan Stephen King," author of paranormal thrillers including the Miranda Trilogy. Authors River and Joyce Higgenbotham, authors of Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions and Pagan Spirituality: A Guide to Personal Transformation will also be on hand.

Volunteers, Food Drive, Recycling

Volunteers are always being sought to help put on the event, including for the Friday, June 12th set-up.

Admission is free to the Pagan Picnic. However, barrels will be placed around the grounds and sponsors urge attendees to fill them with canned goods which will be turned over to Operation Food Search. The group distributes more than 1,000,000 pounds of food and household items to 300 community partner agencies which feed 100,000 needy people monthly, nearly half of whom are children.

In addition, recycling containers will be set up on the grounds as part of the picnic's Green Initiative. Recycling saves money and assists in a more efficient expenditure of funds for the picnic. Donations are also being collected for the Tree Fund, which is being used to help in the lengthy recovering from 2006 storm damage which resulted in the loss of more than 200 trees at the park.

Website

For schedule, photos and tape of past events, and other information, including the latest updates, consult the website at http://www.paganpicnic.org/.