When these guys say they believe in fairies, I do wish it were a joke

But alas, it isn't: these folks really did attend a festival of sorts in the hopes of "encouraging communication and cooperation of the fairy realm". And yes, it's funded, organized and attended mostly by adults.

Oh boy.

TWISP, Wash. -- In the foothills of the North Cascades, where the veil between dimensions is said to be thinnest, inhabitants of this world gather once a year to coexist with fairies in theirs.

About 250 people came to the Methow Valley June 26 through 28 from as far away as Europe and Hawaii to participate in the ninth annual Fairy and Human Relations Congress, an outdoor festival in a secluded mountain meadow called Skalitude.

A giant crop circle depicting a pinwheel-shaped sun had been cut into the high grass. An open-air tent pavilion stood at the lower end of the meadow. Farther up, white peace banners fluttered in a circular array.

"The purpose of the congress is to encourage communication and cooperation of the fairy realm," said Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski, the event's founder and organizer.

The human world is in crisis and can use all the help it can get, Pilarski said, so why not form alliances with those in other realms?

Maybe because they don't exist and you're living in a fantasy world? Oh, alright, I'll try and remain polite ... (however difficult that may prove to be).

Seriously – these guys really believe in fairies? I've heard stories about folks who actually do believe in flying pixies, but never of a full-blown outdoors festival about it ...

Since 2000, the Fairy Congress has been held all but two years at Skalitude, a retreat owned by Lindsey Swope and Will Buchanan. For two years, it was held near Hood River, Ore. Asked whether she believes in fairies or is merely sympathetic to those who do, Swope said, "I believe in it. Life is way more complicated than what we can see, hear and touch."

Hang on – that's her argument, her reason for believing fairies exist? That life and the world are more complex? First of all, how can she know that, if (as a human) she cannot, well, know of any further dimensions to the world around us, only knowing what she can "see, hear and touch"? And second, isn't that the same silly argument used for the existence of God – or any magical beings we've never seen (and cannot see)? That the world is larger than us and that we can't ever know everything about it?

Skeptics might mock the participants or dismiss them as New Age hippies, but they say their belief system is not much different from Native American animists or even Christians who believe in angels.

Well, maybe not "hippies" or even "New Agers", but "kooks" and "general weirdos", sure. Same thing as members of other faiths who actually believe they're being watched over by angels and such. Isn't it odd how these "guardians" never really "guard" us against anything, instead forcing us to rely on our own senses and instincts to keep us from screwing up?

Revelers donned wings, horns or colorful attire suitable for a euphoric Saturday night romp around the bonfire, but there was no evidence of drugs or inebriation. Voices raised only in song or laughter. The sound of drum and flute carried on the wind. Children frolicked. Adults gathered around a communal outdoor kitchen.

Good thing there weren't any drugs with children present – though one may wonder if seeing mature adults with wings or horns would be any more dignified.

One who claims to have seen a rather large deva, much like the Jolly Green Giant only without the peas, is Mary J. Getten, of Olympia, who says she can communicate telepathically with animals and fairies.

It also is possible to communicate with the "unseen realm," Getten said, but it's important to know what you're doing before trying.

"Seeing fairies changes your reality," she said.

You know what else would change your reality? Attending your nearest AA meeting immediately. You know, if you're seeing fairies and such.

"Thirty years ago, we would have been called kooks or worse," he said. Now people are more accommodating in their thinking.

Does he believe in magic?

"There is magic everywhere, Pilarski said. "We're magic. But in the sense of things happening that are out of the ordinary? Yes, there definitely is magic here."

Don't worry, you're definitely still being called kooks and worse. It's rather a given when you openly admit you believe in actual magic.