The May Day Faire

Last weekend, the Relay for Life held it's May Day Faire for 2012. This was a smaller event than the Fantasy Faire last week, taking place on two sims instead of nine, Maypole and Mayday. But there was more of an emphasis on events and group participation. The event had a Medieval/ Renaissance theme to it, with many dressing the part. The two sims were divided into plots for groups, all lined up on both sides of a brick road that wound around the two sims, with a music stage in the middle.

One group's plot had two free outfits, one male, one female, for anyone to grab a copy. I went ahead and grabbed the mens'. Different groups had different things on their plots. One had a burlesque tent on their land, but to the disappointment of many males (and relief of the staff) entering the tent, there were no hints of anything but a show not exceeding the PG limits of the Relay event. One Brazilian group had a castle and smithy, with the letters H, O, P, E being worked on and red hot.

The Doctor Who team had a deserted-looking plot with a tradis tipped over with small fires licking at it. The Cure Chasers had a tavern with a kissing booth next to it, which wasn't too far from some barrels of ale of which the girls might have needed a double helping with a few certain avatars. One team was offering dragon rides, with a suggested donation of 50L each. Perhaps no up-front payment was demanded as no one was going to short-change a huge roaring dragon, at least no one who couldn't run away very fast. I took one, and it was quite a ride up there.

Among the areas that were manned which I ran into were the Giant Snail Racing staff's "Giant Snail Relay." RacerX Gullwing was there, explaining that he ran a few races each afternoon for both of the days, and anyone was invited to take part. All one had to do was wear one of the "tiny" giant snail avatars, which had three Medieval/Renaissance outfits, mage, damsel, and warrior. To make things interesting, there were occasional patches of mushrooms that sprouted around the track. Stepping on one would result in being sprung into the air. I took part in one such race. The two regular snail racers quickly took the lead, leaving me and RacerX competing for third place. As luck would have it, I ended up hitting an obstacle, and RacerX zoomed ahead. I was 4rth out of 5.

The Passionate Redheads, of which this reporter has been a member of, held their own booth. It was a variation of a "jail and bail." This was more like "stock and bail," of which those arrested on various charges, of which the accuser had to pay a fee, had to sit in the stocks until their fee was paid. To make things interesting, there was a free "tormentor's kit" with things like ticking feathers and throwing tomatoes to "entertain" those locked away. At one point I saw Sunweaver leader, and Redhead, Rita Mariner reaching behind one girl in the stocks to give her such a tickling while another worked on the feet with a feather.

Last but not least was the music stage. Trader1 Whiplash would DJ there occasionally, but more often there were other DJs as well as the occasional live musician. I dropped in on one event sponsored by the Flying Tigers, with Jessii2009 Warrhol among the dancers.

Dusk Griswold later announced the Redheads took in 14,000 Lindens from the Faire, "which was the highest total I could see of any kiosk there. Special thanks go out to Rita Mariner, who supplied the items in our booth, as well as set it up and spent a lot of time running it. It was a lot of fun, and we did very well."

I didn't hear the final total raised by the Relay for the event, but around 11AM Sunday Trader1 Whiplash stated almost 800,000 Lindens had been raised by then, and expected the event to net at least 1,200,000. Of the team totals, by now the Passionate Redheads passed the 90,000 Linden mark, closing in on Silver status. The Steelhead Salmons are 188,500, with few Silver teams over them. Six teams have passed the one million Linden mark, True Blusers for the Cure, Team OD, Goreans in Relay for Life, Amaretto Ranch Breedables, SL Music Races for a Cure, and one Purple rank, Friends Fighting Cancer, which has raised over 6,300,000 Lindens.

So far this year, the Relay has raised over 46,800,000 Lindens or over $187,000. And the season is not yet half over.

Bixyl Shuftan

VWBPE Dragon Parade

VWBPE(Virtual World Best Practices in Education) opened Thursday in SL with Conference Orientaion at 21:30.


But then there was a dragon parade that started at 1:00 pm on the social island. That I had to see and participate in.


You will find some great outfits on the social island along with all kinds of fun transportation to try out. You can find the conference schedule at http://vwbpe12.vwbpe.org/. Perhaps you will find something you would like to attend.


The dragon parade was great fun!! Marvelous dragons.


If you don't have one and would like one visit the VWEPE social island and pick up a few free ones. Very cute! http://slurl.com/secondlife/EduIsland%208/91/13/22

Gemma Cleanslate

Here Be Dragons: A Look at the Isle of Wyrm’s Steam Dragon Festival

From Thursday August 25th to Sunay August 28th, the Isle of Wyrms, the nost noted dragon community in Second Life, held it’s “Steam Dragon" festival to raise funds for an animal hospital. But it also offered a chance for visitors to come and look at the place.

I had the impression the place would be especially laggy with multiple full sized dragon avatars around. What I saw was that many of the dragons were tiny-sized. I also noticed a small number of other tinies about. A few of the dragons were anthros, with two arms and two legs and a tail. I also saw a fae, a foot-high humanoid avie the same height as my micro-fox. There were several of the full-sized dragon avatars that I expected, but they were less than half of the scalies I ran into.

There were a number of exhibits high above the ground on huge turning gears. I did get a look at a few of them, notably the Madpea one, which offered a freebie pet (nonbreedable) dragon. I also came across one story reading, one of the dragons speaking in Voice reading her story to an audience that was a mix of full-sized, medium, and tiny dragons.

I never did get a chance to play the games in their gaming area, but I did get a look at their “Maze of Doom.” With a pyramid as the entrance, it gave statistics as to how many tried and failed, and how many “cheated” by teleporting out. It also gave statistics as to how those who croaked met their demise. I managed to find one treasure chest. My reward: a cookie. If it’s still around, one word of advice for those trying it, look about for boulders rolling behind you. ...

There were a number of musicians invited to perform. I managed to catch the last one, Jana Kyomoon play a performance of ambient music. The gentle tunes pleased the audience, who applauded her performance. Following her, one of the dragons, Onix Harbinger, gave the closing ceremonies, “Thank you everyone for attending our grand summer/fall festival this year. (smile) It has been wonderful fun and a great success!”

Onix thanked a few people in particular for helping out in the festival, but singled out one in particular, “... a very very special thank you goes to one person in particular. She has been the cornerstone of this festival, and I don’t think any of it would have happened without her. I cant thank her enough for all that she has done for us. She was only recently made an Elder and it is with great pleasure to give kudos and my hugs and applause to GertieGazoo Gazov!” The locals in the audience erupted in applause. The tiny dragon thanked them, , “You guys, thank you so much. ... I just loves ya all so much I cannot help myself. (grin)” Onyx answered, “We all love you, Gertie. Yes we dooooo.” “We wubbs you Getrs!!!! And a great kitchen you have. (laugh).”

Onix declared the festival a success, having raised a good deal of funding for the Tiggywwinkles Animal Hospital, “The festival is now at a close. There will still be ongoing fishing and other bits of fun throughout the day. Cleanup isn't until tomorrow and the next day. And now... lets have some fun... I hearby lift the rules on particles and gesture spam (as long as it is PG) so that we may enjoy some fireworks!”

And with that, fireworks began launching into the air, making for a colorful sight, especially for those who set the sky to midnight. One of the dragons was so happy, she turned Voice on and began singing. It was an interesting event in this Fantasy sim. Hopefully next time I can see more of it.

Bixyl Shuftan