Faeries dance through the forest campsite in Mythica village before the community parade.

Mythical faeries are real and they live in festival and forested environments.

Wotan the faerie smasher delighted audiences and kids as he tried to squash the playful faeries throughout the parade.

Mythica Village campers and many more friends from other villages joined together to host a community parade through the Maisonic Family park.

Saxophonist Kyle Griffith and friends march together in the Mythica Village parade proving a beat for parade-goers to dance to.

Saxophonist Kyle Griffith has some fun with bubbles while taking a break from his tunes during the Mythica Village parade.

CascadiaNow! communications officer Tanner Colvin sported his lizard man attire, spotted here during the dance party at the end of the Mythica Village parade.

Sydnie Stemn practices hooping at the river stage.

Levi Joy Aley practices hoop dancing by the river.

To make fire from natural materials, you have to call it forth from within and appreciate its value, importance, strength and beauty.

Instructors held a workshop to teach campers how to awaken fire out of natural materials of the forest.

Artist Ashley Shafer starts a new painting in Mythica Village at The Lawn. Nearby, the workshop Awakening Fire teaches people how to awaken fire out of the simplest materials.

Artist Rose Drummond finishes a work in progress in the art tent full of paintings, abstract art and sculpture by Cascadian artists.

The CascadiaNow! squad posed in front of our booth painted by Seattle artist Ryan Henry Ward.

CascadiaNow! executive director Brandon Letsinger hosted a workshop on Cascadia as a bio-region.

Our resident Sasquatch was one of the few surrounding camp, seen here holding the map of the Cascadia bio-region for Brandon Letsinger's workshop. The Sasquatch and octopus was painted by Seattle artist Ryan Henry Ward.

People of all backgrounds came together at the festival to learn about the history of the Cascadia bio-region and what Cascadia means to them as a culture.

Performers of the Rebel Disco Alliance took turns hitting the floor before inviting the audience to join in.

Performer Gale Force dressed in her best attire for the closing ceremonies, enchanting and stealing the heart of a young girl.

The sacred fire was awakened as part of the opening ceremonies held the first night of the festival at the River Stage. The sacred fire was meant to be shared and to spread warmth and love throughout the weekend of the festival.

Performer Luma dances her hoop routine with four lighted hoops on stage before the dance floor in the Dream Dome.

Clown and Fire-dancer Jpeace Lovecircus poses for a night portrait before his set on the Zepto Space stage.

Saleurn Ramos leads her troupe of fire dancers lighting the path to the River stage for their first performance.

Saleurn Ramos performs her set with others in her troupe preparing to follow.

Clown and fire dancer Jpeace Lovecircus delights audiences with his witty fire set.

Butterfly dancers performed a ballet set at the River Stage the first night of the festival.

A beautiful dance by Indiyana Rae about leaving the weight of the past behind and crossing the river.

Light projection art was used against the white background of dancer's clothing to capture body shape in dance.

The festival culture and the Cascadian community were one in the same at this year’s Cascadia NW music and arts festival. Cascadia-local artists set up installations, vending booths, and live paintings around the beautiful Maisonic Family Park in Granite Falls, Washington. For three days and nights, local musicians and DJs filled the forest with music.

Starborne Shows partnered with performers and dance groups like Luma, Gale Force, Zepto Space, Emerald City Hoop Troupe and much more. Musicians and DJs set up at the River Stage, the Dream Dome and The Lodge with lots of space for dancing and for performers to practice hooping and poi.

Performers, musicians and set designers worked together to create a truly interactive and enchanting experience with everyone at the festival. Set design and lights made the forest a magical setting taken straight from the most beautiful dream.

An art gallery tent was set up near the Dream Dome in the center of the camp to showcase artists work from around Cascadia. Contributing artists included Adam One, Michelle Anderst, Zack Verde, Moksha Marquardt, Deana Nguyen, Ferg, Wild Rose, Jeremia Slentinial, Mari Shibuya, Leo Shallat, Justin Rodda, and SIENNA.

Art Installations featured Simon 2.0 modeled after the traditional Simon game. The new version spouted fire after a gamer lost. The CascadiaNow! Sasquatch made an appearance along with Henry the Sasquatch and his octopus.

The Festival kept a forest circus theme that met with the mythical forest and ambient lights. A Flaming Clown Shoe, a giant clown shoe-shaped bus had flame throwing pipes that lit up the scene for fire dancers below. Zepto space set up a circus stage with areal hoop performances, light hoop and poi performances, and fire dancing.

Workshops were held during the day educating campers about the natural world, practicing yoga, crafts, community driven harm reduction and crisis response, awakening fire, and much more. Workshops promoted community understanding, friendship, connectedness, mindfulness, and were all family friendly. CascadiaNow! held a workshop as well as welcomed festival goers to their booth, educating about our fabulous bioregion.

The camp was divided into villages to create a creative and interactive experience where campers were encouraged to help decorate their camp sites and contribute to the community. Each village had an element, a familiar, and themes.

Genesis was the starting point of the campsite and provided a more open atmosphere without form which let campers have a traditional camping experience or to be creative and make it whatever they wanted.

Corpus Crux was the village reserved for the core staff and production team responsible for the infrastructure and logistics with the element air and familiar eagle.

Nu Iceland, formerly named Technosis, celebrated dance, movement, and innovation with the element fire, familiar the mountain lion and themes of celebration, dance, movement, creation, and vision.

Ecotopia is grounded in sustainability and preservation with a deep understanding of nature and reverence for its surroundings and inhabitants with the element earth, familiar the bear, and themes of family, education, preservation, compassion, and reverence.

Mythica village was inspired by performance and expression of mythological tales with the element water, familiar salmon, and themes of inspiration, alchemy, transformation, and performance.

Mythica village held a parade through the campground on the second day that ended in a dance party at the River Stage. Members of all villages were invited to participate and watch the parade of mythical forest creatures, musicians, dancers, and campers. Wotan the faerie smasher ran through camp chasing white and pink clad faeries dancing in the parade.

With a sense of community, welcoming and love like no other, Cascadia NW will be an experience many will remember for a lifetime. The friendships fostered and the beauty of the forest, performance, art and music will last forever in many Cascadians hearts.

Taylor McAvoy is a Junior at the University of Washington pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. She has been a writer and photographer for the university's newspaper, The Daily, for more than a year focusing on editorial reporting and arts event coverage. She is currently vice president elect of the Society of Professional Journalist’s (SPJ) University of Washington chapter. She is also working on her own as a freelance journalist and photographer.

Twitter: @TaylorMcAvoy105