We’ve been working really hard on our traveling show since December. That’s right, only since December. We gave ourselves a really tight timeline, and honestly it was a little too tight. We were faced with two choices: 1) Move forward with a substandard, ‘eh’-type show, or 2) Postpone until next year, and give ourselves the opportunity to really refine what we’re doing, so that when we travel we bring with us an amazing show. Continue reading “We’re traveling?” »

We have our winners from the Winterpalooza enter-to-win contest! The winners are:  Continue reading “Contest Winners” »

Katie Roundy – Deseret News

Whether it’s fighting off witches, rescuing fellow damsels in distress or attending the royal ball, a princess has a very full day. While this may sound like something far, far away, a charity event in Utah is bringing the magic closer to home.

The Princess Festival, in Lindon, offers little girls from all over the state a chance to mix with their favorite princesses and prove their royal worth.

Based on an original Princess Proverb, the event centers around the theme, “Real princesses care about the well-being of others.”

“The whole concept of the Princess Festival is teaching little girls to serve and love,” said Holly Sue Hatfield, one of the event coordinators.

In its third year, the two-week festival allows 4- to 12-year-old girls to enter the magical Kingdom of Hatfieldadelphia. There, they help save Sleeping Beauty, the Little Mermaid and other princesses from the Four Season Witches.

Dressed in ball gowns and crowns, the little princesses must face the witches, not with swords, but with bravery, service and kindness.

“We helped melt her frozen heart,” 9-year-old Rachel Thomas said of facing the Winter Witch.

Aside from the classics, ethnic princesses such as Psyche of Greece, Sonrisa of Latin America and Mrugi of Africa are in attendance.

“We try to represent all of the different nations and all the different cultures,” Hatfield said.

The festival also introduces a line of princesses all their own. Based on books by author K.L. Morgan, the princesses of the Kingdoms of Everley personify girls from all over the world.

Instead of dragons and witches, however, the characters learn to battle real-life problems, such as earthquakes, floods, disease and illiteracy.

The event educates the girls about the problems children face around the world and teaches them how they can get involved.

“They can be brave and strong and they can help, just like the princesses do,” Hatfield said. “In order to be verified a true princess they have to go and do an act of service.”

At the end of the tour the girls can complete a treasure hunt to receive a copy of K.L. Morgan’s book, “Princess Ilissa’s Idea,” which tells the history of the festival through a fairytale.

As part of the quest girls must perform different acts of service, such as tying quilts and assembling hygiene kits for local charities.

“They learn service is part of being a princess,” said Emily Huff, a volunteer with the Christmas Box, which will donate all of the quilts to children in foster care.

“I like that it has a point because it is for charity,” said Heather Thomas, whose three daughters attended the event. “They know that’s a big reason why we come.”

Ron Hatfield initially started the festival as a princess party for his 32 granddaughters. When others wanted to join, however, he decided to make it an event to raise funds and awareness for his charity organization, In Our Own Quiet Way.

Dedicated to finding long-term solutions for impoverished regions, the funds will be used by Quiet Way to purchase school supplies, feed orphans and build dams in Kenya.

“When you think (the Princess Festival) translates into giving other people life … it’s a win, win, win,” Ron Hatfield said. “It’s the way humanity should be.”

The festival ends Friday. For more information or to sign up for the festival visit www.princessfestival.com.

See full article here.

The Annual Princess Festival is a charity event and this year features 80′s Pop Princess, Debbie Gibson!

100% of the donations received at the Princess Festival will be used to help children and their families in Kenya, Africa. The sponsoring organization, “In Our Own Quiet Way,” is a fully-accredited 501(c)(3) charitable organization in Lindon, Utah.

“In Our Own Quiet Way” and the Hatfieldadelphia fantasy land in Lindon are the creations of a generous Utah Valley couple whose love of their own grandchildren inspired a desire to help the people in a small village in Kenya. Email your questions to info@princessfestival.com. Please include your name, and phone number or e-mail address.

For more information please visit www.quietway.org and www.princessfestival.com

See full article here.

Sara Lenz – Deseret News

LINDON — Calling all princesses: Rapunzel needs help escaping from the tall tower, the Beast must be turned back into a man and Snow White needs saving from the evil witch.

And please hurry. They don’t want to be late for the ball.

Girls ages 4 to 12 wearing princess attire will begin such adventures June 8 when the Princess Festival gets under way at Hatfieldadelphia, 110 S. Main.

Each day through June 13, young princesses will be guided on two-hour adventures through the fantasy land owned and created by Ron Hatfield. Volunteer actors and actresses from local high schools and colleges will help the young girls overcome obstacles to save the princesses and help them make it to the ball.

Devin Davis, a recent Orem High School graduate, and Mckenna Henkel, a Utah Valley University sophomore, created the script and found all of the volunteers to put on this year’s show. During the adventure, there are tests of courage, love, knowledge, enchantment and grace.

During the journey, the girls will discover that each of them is a princess on the inside, said Holly Sue Hatfield, Princess Festival chairwoman.

At the end of the tour, Prince Charming puts a slipper on each girl’s foot, and as they leave, they are given a mermaid pearl necklace.

In addition to the tour, the girls can visit other princesses and princes around the 3-acre fantasy land, rub Aladdin’s lamp or listen to fairy tales being read.

The $25 cost per child will go toward In Our Own Quiet Way, a global nonprofit organization aimed at helping people in underdeveloped regions help themselves, said Crystal Miller, the group’s programming and funding director.

“To see the light in the little girls’ eyes and to know all of (the money) is going toward a good cause is amazing,” Holly Sue Hatfield said. “It’s a combination of fun with charity. It’s a community event that serves the world. It doesn’t get any cooler than that.”

So far, 700 have signed up for the festival, and there is room for 200 more.

Several vendors at the event also plan to donate their proceeds to the foundation. Roberts Arts & Crafts will be there with materials to make wands and crowns. If the girls arrive early, they can get their hair done for $2 by local hair stylists.

Ron Hatfield, co-founder of In Our Own Quiet Way, hopes to open seven more Princess Festival locations next year in Florida, Virginia, California, New England, the Portland/Seattle area, the Midwest and Dublin, Ireland.

Since last year’s Princess Festival in August, In Our Own Quiet Way has worked with other organizations to deliver more than $2 million worth of donated educational supplies and medical equipment to Kakamega, a town in western Kenya.

The $25,000 they raised from last year’s event helped facilitate the delivery, Ron Hatfield said.

With money raised this year, In Our Own Quiet Way hopes to send at least $50 million worth of food to areas in eastern Kenya, where locals are suffering from a two-year drought, Miller said.

Four 8- to 12-year-old girls from Kakamega who have benefitted from the money raised last year will be flying to Utah with one of their teachers for this year’s event. Along with hundreds of local girls, they will get a chance to walk around the witch’s cabin, go inside the 50-foot-tall castle and meet dozens of princesses.

See full article here.

Alyssa Sharp – Universe

Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel sent in their RSVP’s for the second annual Princess Festival, taking place June 8-12, and requested magic and adventure for local princess participants.

Upon arrival, the princess participants will begin their spellbinding quest as the Blue Fairy leads the path to rescue storybook princesses in need. The participants, young girls ages 4 to 12, first meet a distraught Prince Charming as his beloved Snow White lies across the seven dwarfs’ beds.

After helping the prince save Snow White, the participants are led to rescue Rapunzel from a high tower, transform the Beast into a handsome prince and help Cinderella go to the ball. After their adventures, the princess participants are led to the grand ballroom where they dance, mingle and meet adored fairytale princes and princesses.

Devin Davis, a recent graduate from Orem High School, and McKenna Henkel, a freshman at UVU, organized the Princess Festival this year. After participating as characters last year, Davis and Henkel asked to head up the event this year. They were in charge of finding actors to play the various parts and create the experience participants have.

“The event is so individual,” Henkel said. “There is closeness with 30 storybook characters here and an opportunity for participants to be involved with the characters that can’t be found anywhere else in Utah.”

Henkel has the task of portraying Cinderella while Davis acts as behind-the-scenes director and only plays a character when they need a substitute.

“I have always loved fairytales and Disney,” Davis said. “It’s great to bring the stories to life for the participants.”

Henkel said she loves interacting with the participants and seeing the joy on their faces.

“It’s great to see [participants] run back to their mom and say ‘I just hugged Cinderella,’” Henkel said.

In addition to the characters in the adventure, participants will be greeted by other storybook characters such as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell at the pavilion as they await their turn. Davis said they wanted more characters than they could fit in the adventure, so some will be interacting with guests as they visit other activities and booths.

At the event, there will be crafts provided by Roberts Craft and food available for discounted purchase by The Sconecutter.

One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to the charity, In Our Own Quiet Way (Quiet Way). Quiet Way was founded by local businessman Ron Hatfield. Holly Hatfield, Ron’s daughter and chairperson of Quiet Way, said the charity began by purchasing a plot of land in the village of Kakameja, Kenya. The land was used to teach local orphans how to farm and provide food for the community.

“Two-thirds of kids are orphans [in Kakameja],” Holly Hatfield said. “The village takes care of them even though resources are extremely scarce.”

The Hatfield family funds the entire Princess Festival upfront so all the proceeds can go to ship food to Kenya. They also created the venue and opened up their home as the ballroom for the festival.

This year, a few children from Kakameja, Kenya will participate in the festival.

“It’s great because the community will get to meet the people the money is going to affect,” Hatfield said. “People will realize that these children are polite, have extreme manners and are just funny, vivacious children.”

In addition to children from the village, the U.S.

Ambassador to Kenya will attend the final daddy-daughter ball on June 12. Crystal Miller, the director of operations of the charity, told a story of how Quiet Way randomly met the ambassador, H. Peter Ogego, at a small airport in Kenya. After hearing why a group of Americans from Utah were traveling to meet the Vice President of Kenya, Ambassador Orego gave Miller his card and personal cell phone number and told her to contact him if he could be of any assistance.

“We called him and reminded him who we were and asked him to come to our final event,” Miller said. “It’s just little miracles like that that helped the organization to be where it is today.”

Holly Hatfield said the Princess Festival is great because it gets children in the community involved in a charity event.

“It’s all about fun,” Hatfield said. “We want the community to know that charity isn’t all drudging, but can be creative, bright, fun and involve children.”

The Princess Festival will be held at Hatfieldadelphia located at 110 S. Main St. in Lindon. Registration for the event is online at princessfestival.com where participants can sign up for their adventure time. For more information about Quiet Way, visit quietway.org.

See full article here.