Event - Castlefest 2023
Elfia 2023: rain.
Fotofair 2023: heatwave.
El Mundo Fantasia 2023: heatwave.
Castlefest 2023: rain.
Seeing a pattern? In recent visits to the Netherlands the weather has been rather unwelcoming.. Luckily the volunteers, the visitors, the creatures & the inhabitants of Castlefest are a véry welcoming crowd of wandering (may I say: festive) souls. There needs to be some balance, right?
.
Admittedly, on Sunday there was less rain, less super-hard rainshowers and less stormwind than previously announced and as in other parts of this region of Europe (as I noticed when retuning to Belgium). And a few times the sun even peeked out of the clouds for a moment.
Still; it had been raining for weeks without end so there was only so much much the organisation could do in lands which are 5m below the sea surface.
.
It was wet: RUBBERBOOTS!
There was rain: PONCHOS!
The crew I strolled around with were suffering excruciating pain: PLENTY OF PITSTOPS!
The mead was selling out quickly: DRINK FASTER! (and: TRY NEW TASTES!)
And I still managed to make a few pictures.
So always despair for a bit, then see the difference with the previous Castlefests, and make at least one unique shot, right?
.
When you visit Castlefest, you should know that the music has a very important place in the event. It's like a renaissance music festival. I went to see Celtica, and they did not dissapoint (Classic heavy metal with Judas Priest-influences.. and burning bagpipes). And I discovered Reliquiae to be very to my taste (Mittelalter Rock meets Neue Deutsche Härte.. with violin & bagpipes).
The festival programmers sure know their public.
All photos have been uploaded to my Flickr. (UPDATE: 100% is online)
2 videos will go to my Clapper and maybe even Instagram? (Once all photos are done)
Clapper video 1 - Reliquiae
Clapper video 2 - Celtica (mixed with Elftopia)
Updates can be found on Facebook.
.
Here are a few samples:
.
.
.
.
.
.
On Facebook I read about several issues and the organisation will surely tackle them, alas I have nothing to complain about (except the rising prices, but all events are going through the roof). No long waiting lines. Toilets & coin-machines everywhere. Free water (pun intended). A helpful & friendly crew. Plenty of stalls. Great music. Nice people. Good food.
Hell, you can't expect me to invent something to complain about?
A link to this article: https://tinyurl.com/Castlefest2023
Namaste & till Elftopia
