Festivity, music, colour and food highlights of fair

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 40

Festivity, music, colour and food highlights of fair

Festivity, fun, colour and good quality food characterise the Rudolf Steiner School fair. The school’s annual fair is much more than just another school fair; it is a celebration, with entertainment too. The fair will be held at the school, at 19 Ombersley Terrace, Opawa, on Saturday, November 26. It begins at 11 a.m. when the Wizard, wearing white instead of his familiar black, will open the fair in his own magical way. He will lead the children in Pied Piper fashion to form a circle for music and dancing.

Later they will vie with him in a white wizard competition. He will judge whom he deems the best white wizard. With Christmas approaching rapidly, the fair offers the community a rare chance to buy gifts of high quality and originality not usually seen in Christchurch. For the school, the fair day is an opportunity for its imaginative and artistic qualities to spill out into the community. Parents have been meeting regularly all year to produce many of the original, beautifully made craft items for the fair. One of the highlights will be a magical treasure trove of inexpensive items for young children, which they will be able to afford out of their pocket money. Small delights such as stars, gnomes, fairies, bis-

cuits, angels, candles and very simple Christmas decorations have been lovingly made by the kindergarten teachers and their helpers. The children will' be able to browse at the stall without being jostled. Dried flower craft — garlands and wall hangings, a good selection of professionally made pottery, porcelain pottery, a variety of planters, novelty pots filled with fragrant pot pourri and porcelain jewellery are examples of the top quality goods that can be found at the fair. One stall will be devoted to Weleda home remedies and cosmetics which are specially sought after because they contain only natural ingredients. Elke Bergkessel, a wellknown artist from Le Bons Bay, will be selling water colour paintings. The stall for crystals and agates will deliglft gemstone lovers. Plants, herbs, Indian clothes, a stained glass stall, helium baloons, special hand-crafted dolls, Tussie Mussies, beeswax crayons and candles, beautiful cards and posters will appeal to all tastes. No fair is complete without stalls for secondhand clothes, books and white elephant and this fair is no exception. Mushroom compost will be on sale too.

Food is very much to the fore — food to take

home or eat at the fair. There will be stalls for home-baked bread, afternoon tea,, gateaux, cakes, scones and muffins, home-made ice-cream — the real thing, bursting with fruit and nuts — Dutch oliebollen resembling doughnuts, and a cake stall will encourage fairgoers to linger and watch the entertainment. Entertainment includes the Kotahitanga intermediate group, Compass Rose folk group and Circle Dancing to the music of Murphy’s Law (well known as the Mulligans). Two Clydesdales from Ferrymead will give waggon rides and Natural Magic will entertain and lead parachute games. Three raffles offer collector’s prizes — a large patchwork quilt which took two years to make, an original stained glass table lamp and an intricately made doll’s house. The money raised is to help clear the 1988 deficit in order to step into 1989 on a positive note.