Fairies migrating to Foxton Beach thanks to local artist

Chorus box decorated by Sonja Hart.

Fairies will be moving into Foxton Beach thanks to a project by Sonja Hart, an artist who has been involved in a number of community art projects in Horowhenua.

At the moment, the closest fairy residential estates are in Paraparaumu Beach and Kitchener Park, Feilding.

Funding has been approved for the project from the Horowhenua Creative Communities scheme. The wooden miniature doors will be made by Foxton Menzshed members.

Fairy door in Feilding.

The doors will be decorated and painted by children aged 7-13 at two workshops run by Sonja on November 28. By popular demand, there will be also be a workshop for adults.

Behind each tiny door, painted rocks can be left for the fairies and rock hunters, part of the highly successful worldwide scavenger hunt, believed to originated in Port Angeles in Washington.

Painted rocks are hidden in public areas for children to find and then re-hide them for others to discover. Clues about the rock locations are shared on social media. The biggest New Zealand group is Palmy Rocks which has over 8000 Facebook followers https://www.facebook.com/groups/PalmyRocks/.

Details of painted rock groups across New Zealand are listed on this page. Sonja will also be running a workshop to help children design and paint rocks.

Fairy door in Feilding

The fairies are very particular about where they will live. They have selected the base of trees in a small area of Holben Parade Park as their new residence. The Foxton Menzshed have agreed with the fairies to maintain their new doors.

The project encourages creativity in young people, and to use their imagination about the fairy world which has been a much-loved theme in nursery tales, legends and fables for centuries.

It also encourages free family activities - painting rocks, hiding them in public areas and searching for the fairy doors.

Previous projects Sonja has led locally include the funky fish mural in Main St, Foxton, and the Chorus box at Foxton Beach painted with another colourful fish design.

She is hoping to be able to decorate the building housing Te Awahou Kai in Whyte St soon, and is looking for donations of paint to get that project going. She has been involved in community based creative projects for the last 24 years.

Workshops to design and paint fairy doors will be held on Saturday, November 28 at 10am and 1pm (children) and Sunday 10am (adults). A workshop on painting rocks will be on Sunday, November 29 at 1pm.

All workshops will be held at the Foxton Beach Community Centre. Children must be registered to attend the workshops, and numbers are limited to ten per morning or afternoon session.

The cost of the workshops is $5 which goes towards materials and venue hire.

Another sample of a fairy door.

It is hoped that additional fairy doors will be available from the Menzshed to purchase so families can decorate them at home and invite fairies to move in to a tree on their own properties too.