BoomTown Fair: An Interactive Storybook

WORDS: Kalisi Luv ❤

PHOTOGRAPHY: BoomTown Fair Media

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BoomTown Fair is full of choices: will you go right? Or will you go left? Will you be a part of the regime or a part of the rebellion? Will you be a tourist or an active member of the community?

BoomTown Fair is an annual four-day festival held in Winchester, UK. This year the festivities were from August 11th to the 14th and the dates for 2017 will be announced soon. Each year is another chapter in the tale of BoomTown-a story which unfolds right before your eyes. The festival had a kind of Hunger Games meets Pirates of the Caribbean feel to it. This year was Chapter 8: The Revolution Starts Now. The Rebels could no longer sit by and watch as the divide between the rich and poor grew and the brainwashed Mayor Comrade Jose’s dominance over the city slowly destroyed it. Sound intense? Well, it was. Throughout the entire festival, we watched as stages were slowly taken over by the rebels who promised that this was the beginning of a new era for BoomTown Fair filled with hope and change. The masked man described it as a new dream, a type of “creative evolution”: “It is your story we have written here together tonight,” he said at the revolution celebration party on Sunday night. To read more about the city’s story, click here.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was getting into when I headed to BoomTown Fair. The entire festival was a plethora of auditory, visual and kinaesthetic experiences and it was difficult to indulge in it all. The following is a list of ways in which you can enhance your participation in next year’s festival:

1. Pick up Boomtown’snewspaper. Every day there is a newspaper called The Daily Rag, filled with breaking news and hints about what is going on around town. Want to find out where a secret room might be? Or engage in a little detective work? The Newspaper will lead you in the right direction.

2. Interact with the townspeople. They know a lot more than you may think. Interact with them, ask them questions, find out the dirt and perhaps be invited to a private party or solve a mystery!

3. Go to the bank. At the bank you can acquire BoomTown money which you can use to interact with the townspeople, as well as engage in other parts of town such as the Casino. See how far money goes in the Mayfair area or in Distrikt 5 where money trouble is ramped.

4. Play on the rides. Make sure to hop on one of the many rides around town. The carnival is afoot!

5. Read the propaganda. BoomTown is filled with all different types of propaganda from both sides. Read the flyers being handed out to get some insider information about what is going on as you don’t want to miss any big events around town.

6. Visit every part of town as often as you can. Don’t stay in your campsite all day and wait until the sun goes down. One thing I noticed was that different areas became available for use throughout the proceedings of the festival. Every night I discovered a new part of town, so remember that even though you think you’ve seen everything in Distrikt 5 you will be amazed at the new doors that have opened the following day and/or evening. Also, each area is very different at night than it is in the daytime so see what you can discover at all hours.

7. Pick a character and dress the part. Check out photos of BoomTown Fair and see if there is something that strikes your fancy. I saw a bunch of groups dressed up in different attire that fit in nicely with the festival such as pirates, masked bees, etc.

BoomTown Fair is by far the most unique festival I have ever been to and the actress in me loved the interactive nature of it all. Make sure to buy your tickets early for ‘Chapter 9: Behind the Mask’ and discover more about the people behind the revolution.