[Midshot of Russell Drake, blonde head and shoulders in his dorm, smiling at everyone.]Hi, everyone! I'm Russell Drake, co-leader of the Garden Festival Committee, and I have a story for you all!
( once upon a time there was a GF named Shiva... )Though originally her festival began on the Winter Solstice, with time we've become more relaxed about the date; we're pretty sure she's chill with it
[russ pls], so long as it's around the end of the year. Plus, we wanted to give our fellow students some time to relax and spend time with their families.
So the GFC has prepared a special three day festival for the people of Garden! This will be held from
Wednesday December 26th through Friday December 28th.
[Unless a good deal of people can't make these dates? We thought people might not be moving between home and school then.]On the first day, there will be a morning ice sculpting contest in the quad judged by Headmaster Cid's wife, Edea Kramer. Ice and tools will be provided, but use of magic, GFs, and off-world powers will also be allowed! Mrs. Kramer will be judging on both creativity and craftsmanship. This can also be an opportunity to carve the ice candleholders which Instructor Tseng tells us are traditional gifts on Gaia.
In the afternoon, we will be holding a school fair around the first floor. This will be an opportunity for students and staff to sell arts, crafts, and food of their own making, and for others to find the perfect presents for their loved ones! It will be open to the public, both for local tradespeople to sell their wares and for people to get to know our staff and students.
At night there will be an art and talent show in the ballroom, with art from all over the world being sold for charity, and the people of Garden will have an opportunity to show off their talents - and maybe
those carols that SeeD Kamui is leading. This will be open to the public to admire and buy the artwork, and to experience the talents that Garden has to offer. As well as performers, we will also require volunteers to help sell the art and serve refreshments.
The second day is our day of volunteer action! We have organized four volunteer efforts which you can sign up for in the cafeteria until the festival starts:
Party time: A group will be going down to the Centra orphanage to throw a party for the orphans! This will involve entertaining the children with party games and costumes, and helping serve food and distribute presents donated by the public.
Balamb's got talent: Groups will be visiting Balamb Hospital and Balamb's retirement village to entertain the in-patients and residents. This could be another opportunity to break out those carols, or any other talents! Preferably talents that are seen as achievable here; we don't want to freak out the sick and old people during a special time of the year.
Paint with all the colors of the wind: Another group will be painting a mural in the Balamb township to brighten up the town! Paint and equipment will be supplied.
Presenting...: This group will be joining the Balamb Town Mission in putting together gift packs for the less fortunate. The Mission already has all the presents and packaging supplies; they just need some extra hands!
[OOC signups for the fair and all volunteer efforts are in this thread, though feel free to have your characters post about them, egg each other on to participate, etc.]
On the third day, us locals will be exchanging gifts. In the afternoon, there will be an open storytelling circle in the quad for people to share stories from their worlds or that you've written yourself, and there will be a feast in the cafeteria for dinner. After this, we will hold a fireworks display and release floating candles on the beach. Instructor Tseng tells us that people on Gaia also float candles in carved ice to honor the departed.
The thing is, fireworks didn't occur to us early enough for us to be able to import in the good fireworks - slow boat from Winhill and all that. But we know some of you off-worlders have some neat powers, and I bet someone could pull off cooler looking fireworks than just Thundaging something explosive, so would anyone like to put on a show? We'll have some smaller fireworks and glowsticks available for purchase, but the main attraction would be on you! Let me or another GFC member know.
On behalf of the GFC, I'd like to wish you all a festive end of year, and I hope that you participate in and enjoy our Festival.
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