Comment on Unicorn Festival invites children, adults to kick-start imaginations

Three-year-old Natalie Sells and her mother, Tania, planned their hair and makeup for almost a month before arriving at Clement Park on Saturday morning near Littleton. Natalie paired her braid and her bedazzled makeup with a mermaid costume. Tania modeled purple and pink hair and a unicorn jumper. Both completed their looks with matching unicorn horn headbands. These were just two of many fanciful costumes that brought the second annual Unicorn Festival to life Saturday. A celebration of imagination and all things mythical, the Unicorn Festival invited children and adults to step out of reality and into fantasy land, if only for a few hours. Organizers Dana Cain of Dana Cain Events and Michelle Baldwin of Frolic and Vamp started Unicorn Festival in 2017 with hopes of creating “an environment of inspiration, magic and imagination that makes everyone feel great about life and the endless possibilities the world has to offer.” According to Cain, this year’s festival hosted five times more attractions and activities as last, catering to the young and the young at heart. Upon arrival, a gigantic pink blow-up unicorn welcomed guests as event organizers directed excited children — and in some cases equally excited adults — toward one of the many attractions laid out across the park. “I came for me, but I borrowed my friend’s girls to come with me,” said Becky Palmback while waiting in line for the dragon blow-up slide — tiara and multi-colored wig accenting her excitement. The rest of the crowd showed similar enthusiasm, sporting fairy costumes, knights’ helmets, tutus and fairy wings.