Evie's Tavern Presents: The Midnight Festival Gaia's Embrace

The Midnight Festival staff would like to sincerely thank everybody who came together to make this event the success it was. The list of people to thank is extensive, and it is a testament to how wonderful and supportive this community is. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude.

To our wonderful vendors: Meg and Steve M, Maryanne E-B, Casey L, Rebekah S, Briar S who wrote a lovely WIWTG article for us, Arthur G who impressed us with his fire poi, and John P, whose potato stand left all of us in awe, and very well fed on Saturday and Sunday morning! Another thank you to Casey who made the adorable patches for our kitchen staff, I’m obsessed with them! It meant the world to have so many talented artists, designers, culinary geniuses, and makers supporting this event and bringing the Night Market to life. We had a few first time Realms vendors and I was so thrilled that you chose to make your debut with us!

Thank you James M and Emily M for bringing and running the casino, and bringing an extra pop up tent for our vendors, and Steve M for running Stacked Deck. Gambling is one of my favorite things to do at the Realms and having games available all weekend for folks was great!

A massive massive thank you to our phenomenal NPCs: Charlie P, Kathy F, MJ R, Matt H, Emma S, Keith C, Cody G, Jamie B, Kelsey M, Anna H, Mike Z, Seamus P, Sean F, Greg F, Ted V, Kelly P, Justin T, Kelly B (who appeared as Gaia for a seance!), Tanner W who played Pogo the clown, Crystal W who absolutely slayed the role of Louisa the festival organizer, and our head NPC Tom G. Encounter after encounter, you all brought whimsy and fun to this event, rolling with the punches and giving the players some awesome stories to bring home.

Thank you Justin B-H, Nataliya K, Crystal W, Lynn B and Charlie P for helping set up the carnival games and raffle on Saturday evening, we appreciate you so much!
Another shout out to Kelsey M who brought jingly belts for dancers and gave amazing belly dancing lessons, and Mike Z who brought his guitar and speaker to add ambiance to the evenings. The music you played during the gorilla encounter had me crying laughing, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment!

A huge shout out to our incredible kitchen staff who cranked out amazing food all weekend: Kelly B, Jasper S, Justin T, Charlie P who hopped in to wash dishes, and Matt B who brought his award winning Blackwood meatballs. Dish after dish, you all knocked it out of the park, keeping us well fed and excited for more! Another thank you to Justin T, Jasper S, and Jarryd K for manning the bar throughout the weekend.

Thank you Joey C, Nixon S for helping clean up on Saturday night, Adam B for loaning us NPC weapons, and Kieran B and Justin B-H for grabbing water and ice! Thank you Dustin M for helping tidy up the tavern, Ryan W for staying to help with clean up, and a massive thank you to Stephen S who took care of all of the trash, taking that burden off of us was huge!

I’d like to give a shout out to my boyfriend Jarryd who was there through every step of this process. Thank you for always being enthusiastic about the things I’m excited for. Thank you for never once doubting me, and reassuring me when I got stressed or worried. Thank you for being my right hand man through decorating the tavern, for setting up mods and moving props, and keeping the fire big and toasty all weekend. I appreciate you more than words can say.

To Jasper S, thank you for jumping into event holding for the first time with me. I’m so glad we got to have this experience together and create a whimsical food filled wonderland for the weekend. You absolutely killed it in the kitchen and the menu you and Kelly created was fabulous. Thanks for diving in head first, adapting as needed, and keeping the vibes light and positive all weekend!

To Dani and Ben L, thank you for hearing my ideas and always supporting me. When I first considered creating an Evie’s Tavern event series, I knew that I’d need mentors and friends to back me up, and you were there for me from the start. Dani, you were the cornerstone of the questing for this event. The silly ideas we brainstormed became reality because of you, and I am so grateful that you chose to take this on. Thank you for running everything behind the scenes, keeping mods on time, always being patient and sharing your brilliant mind. Ben, thank you for letting me run my tavern in your home, Eroewan. Thank you for running deeper Eroewan content throughout the weekend to juxtapose the silly festival shenanigans I was eager to throw. Thank you for writing and hashing out our Sunday content and coming up with ideas on the fly. Thank you both for being such amazing friends and making my wildest dreams come true with this event.

And finally, we want to thank the players who came and supported our event. This was a massive undertaking, and to have so many people show up for this event that we poured our hearts and souls into means the absolute world. We hope you had an amazing time; we did! If you enjoyed the event, we would really appreciate it if you left us a review on Realmsnet. We will be sending out a PEL, please fill it out so we can throw an even better event next time! 

Love, Sarah/ Evie on behalf of the Midnight Festival EH team