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Date: 5/2/2023
SUNDERLAND — You’ll never believe what we found!
That’s what toy maker Loren Brock wants to hear children shouting over the Wunderland in Sunderland, her project to build a fairy village among the evergreens, mossy rocks and waterfalls of the town park on Cross Mountain Road.
“The goal of doing a fairy walk like this [is that] children and adults can become reattached with nature,” Brock said. “The children then come to be stewards, in the next generations, of these beautiful pieces of land that we want to protect.”
The fairy walk and village in Sunderland Town Park will loop through the forest around the cookout facilities and gazebo, climb to a low stone cliff, and lead kids to the nooks, crannies and hollow trees where gnomes, sprites, leprechauns and pixies will take up residence. People like to make little forest figures, but in this case they’ll come out from among the trees, so houses are more important.
“We’re building them homes and inviting them to live here,” Brock said. Anything goes when it comes to fantasy housing, but the little people are good-natured. “Doing something like this is nice because these are all friendly creatures. These are nothing to fear. They’re all happy and they want to make the world beautiful.”
Brock, a recent arrival from Nantucket, where she ran a handmade toy store for 31 years, immediately needs volunteers to help define the trail and clean up winter storm damage. She also needs adult artists and crafters to build houses for the little people. Some of them have to stay put. Children often want to take home the fairy houses they make.
“No plastic,” Brock said. “Things can be as creative as you want, and weatherproof. We’ve got things an inch or two tall, right on up to a foot or two, a couple feet. We don’t have anything giant yet, but we would be open to it.”
Creators should go to the park for inspiration. Old dead trees stand hollow. Ledges of rock show interesting cracks. A waterproof pixie house could fit under the waterfall. Old rotten logs have voids at the ends and create secluded spots where they don’t reach the ground. Wood sprites, like birds, can live up high where a branch meets a trunk.
Imagination tells us where a gnome might like to sleep. The mythical beings naturally get the creative juices flowing.
“Adults who still have a sense of whimsy, [who] spend their lives working with wood and working with clay and making things, that’s what’s going to tip it from being just cute little things to something more permanent and more exciting,” Brock said.
Brock intends the Wunderland to attract enough forest people for a long-term settlement. She knows from experience, over three decades of running a toy store, that the joy of creating fairies and tiny houses often gives birth to an artistic community. A project draws people into like-minded groups who enjoy the process of discovering the look and feel of a work of art. The community then leads artists to break out of habits and self-imposed limits.
“Artists tend to be a little solitary,” Brock said. “It brings together people that enjoy one another, enjoy one another’s work, and can possibly work together on things that are unique and different…It takes you out of your confines as an artist.”
Brock moved to town during the coronavirus pandemic and soon met Sara Snyder, the force behind the River Walk. One day, while walking their dogs, Brock told Snyder about her idea for the Wunderland in Sunderland. Snyder agreed to do the paperwork among town officials. They secured the good graces of the Selectboard, got the elementary school administration onboard, then connected with Fire Department personnel, who manage the park.
“I couldn’t have done it without Sara Snyder. She’s the quiet person in the background,” Brock said. The director of the Sunderland Library, Katherine Omstot, was also instrumental. “There has not been a thing I have approached her about doing that she hasn’t been enthusiastic and positive and encouraging about.”
Installation day, when the already built fairy houses are set up and anchored down, is scheduled for June 13. The Wunderland in Sunderland formally opens on June 17.
Residents interested in crafting a fairy house should contact Loren Brock at toyboattoys@gmail.com.