Mystic Realms Fantasy Fair returns for fourth year

POCATELLO – A fair celebrating all things fantasy is returning for its fourth time to the Gate City.

The fourth annual Mystic Realms Fantasy Fair is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, at the Bannock County Event Center, and its organizers say it will be a weekend celebrating all things fantasy, with many of the same vendors and an all-new layout that will offer better visibility for them.

“If you’ve never been, this is an experience that you’re not going to get going to … any of the county fairs, or state fairs or anything like that,” said Deneb Edwards, co-owner of the fair with his business partner, Michael Collins.

Edwards said the reason for this is that people who attend Mystic Realms Fantasy Fair will find entertainment such as knights dueling with swords or bards spinning ballads, and will see people wearing a wide variety of fantasy-themed costumes. While some attendees may come dressed as a fantasy creature, such as a fairy or a goblin, others may wear Viking garb.

“The patrons that show up in costume, some of them have been coming for years, and every year their costumes get better and better and better, and it’s something that you can look forward to,” Edwards said.

This year, the fair starts on Friday at 1 p.m. and runs until 8 p.m. On Saturday, the fair will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $15 per day or $30 for the weekend.

Over the last three years, the fair has sold around 600 more tickets than it sold the previous year, and Edwards said they hope to continue that trend. In its first year, the fair sold 2,800 tickets, then 3,400 in its second year and then it sold 4,000 tickets last year.

And while many of the fair’s previous vendors are returning this year, Edwards and Collins have decided to reorient the booth layout. This was because they observed that the previous layout, where booths were separated by islands, created “dead space” in which some booths were less noticed by attendees.

This year, booths will be organized into two rows, with vendors facing each other down the row, and those rows will be split into four blocks. Additionally, rather than having them at the back of the fair, food vendors will be placed at the entrance.

“We’re bringing the food forward to the gates … so that patrons can sit and eat under the shade of the trees,” Edwards said.

For those who want to attend the fair, Edwards said there’s a variety of things to do and see, and it makes sense to treat it as an all-day or all-weekend affair.

“It’s not just a (fair where you) wander around, look at a few things, and leave,” Edwards said. “You want to spend the day there, hanging out.”