Sunday 8 October 2017

The Excitement and Sadness of Witchfest 2017


I had a fabulous day at Witchfest International, run by Children of Artemis in Brighton yesterday, marred only by the news that there won’t be one next year. Late in the afternoon, just before a superb talk by Professor Ronald Hutton on the origins of Halloween, CoA organiser Merlyn announced that because of poor ticket sales they couldn’t afford to run the event in 2018.

This is very sad, because Witchfest International has been running for 22 unbroken years, originally at Fairfield Halls in Croydon, but moving to The Brighton Centre (pictured above) last year because the other venue had closed for refurbishment.

Merlyn said it was because of poor ticket sales on the door. He put this year’s low attendance down to bad weather and the trains to Brighton being replaced by buses due to engineering works. There will, however, be Wicca Introduced in 2018. It will on 24-25 February 2018 at Lea Hall, Rugeley. You can find details here: http://witchfest.net/events/wicca-introduced-midlands-2018/  and also Witchfest Midlands on 26 May, also in Rugely: http://witchfest.net/events/witchfest-midlands/

Apart from that, I really enjoyed the day – and it was the first time I had given a talk there myself. I spoke about candle magic to a 100 people in the early afternoon. I also did a book signing later in the day. Treadwell’s had a stall in the market and copies of my book completely sold out. If you wanted a copy and weren’t able to get one, you can still order them from Treadwell’s online as there are more copies in stock at the London shop.

I only managed to get to two lectures apart from my own. They were Melissa Harrington’s talk on Wicca and Revolution - in which she pointed out that although individual Wiccans might be very involved in protests and campaigns, Wicca these days is more mainstream than revolutionary – and Ronald Hutton’s talk on Halloween, in which he explained that historically it is a mixture of festivals from both Christian and Pagan cultures. I also bought a wonderful hat and spent a lot of time chatting with friends and getting extremely drunk at the mead bar. I do hope I wasn’t too embarrassing by the end of the day.

Note: As usual, Witchfest has a photo ban, apart from official photographers a booth where you can queue up to have your own picture taken, so I photographed the rather dull looking outside of the building. It was much more exciting inside.

12 comments:

Alan C-B said...

Mead bar ... you've sold me! :)

Andi's English Attic said...

That's very sad. Perhaps low attendance could be catered for in a smaller, less expensive to hire premises? I hope all avenues and possibilities haven't been closed. Perhaps all is not lost. xx

diane bailey beger said...

I wish I had known about the Event! I flew over in September for the Nameless Arte and really enjoyed that one. Perhaps more advertising?

Tasty bite blogger. said...

We did give Witchfest a miss this year due to the costs of getting to Brighton,hotels,parking ect.Why not plan a open air Summer event,with stalls,camping talks ect a bit like Pagan Pride does in Nottingham,perhaps over a weekend ,naturally the weather would play a key part,but this may keep down costs of hiring a venue,security ect have large marques for talks or hold them under a tree ect it would be great ! Just an idea. BB x

Anonymous said...

I was driven there as ticket was a bday present but traffic was horrendous & travel to Brighton on train can be a huge issue. I must confess it being in Brighton did put me off going (i've been to most of the Croydon ones) I noticed pre-book ticket sales sold out so maybe people didn't want to travel down in what was awful weather to find they might not be able to get in. If people have already committed themselves to the ticket they would be more likely to go that getting them to make the decision on the day. I think it's very sad there will be no Witchfest 2018 but I do hope they will resume bigger and better when Fairfield Halls reopens

Badwitch said...

I hope CoA returns to Croydon or another London venue too!

Tasty Bite Blogger: I believe CoA will still be running its regular camping event in the summer - the Artemis Gathering - which is essentially rather the kind of thing you are talking about.

Awel said...

So sad that there will be no Witchfest 2018. We had tickets but unfortunately were unable to go. One of the reasons being that the original accommodation that we had booked cancelled. After searching for an affordable alternative we found a caravan site in Worthing. Then my husband started a new job which meant we couldn't travel down to Brighton on the Friday after work as it just wasn't feasible. Hopefully they will resume somewhere else.

Tim said...

I think it has a lot do with promotion of the fest. I am a witch and live in Newhaven, around the corner of Brighton and it is only today that I learn about this fest. Such a shame, I would have loved to attend!

Jacquie Clapperton said...

To put it on at an extreme end of the UK doesn't help. I simply couldn't afford the travel from Scotland at over £200 before accommodation and spending money. If they held it centrally (eg Manchester) they would get more people attending.

Badwitch said...

I think that's one of the reasons they have started Witchfest Midlands.

greenmanbirder said...

They do its called the Artemis Gathering

Anonymous said...

It was my first witchfest and I loved it such a shame there isn't going to be one next year. I must admit it was a lot quieter than I had thought it would be. Plus the mead was lovely. Can anyone tell me the brand or seller as I'd love to get some x