ARNOLD, Missouri – I first saw Cassidy when she shrieked in joy and surprise after hearing her raffle ticket’s number called. “I’ve never won anything in my life!” she exclaimed as she walked up to the stage at the Midgard Makers Faire in Arnold, Missouri, south of St. Louis, this past Sunday. She accepted her prize, a hand-made chafing stick from one of the fair’s vendors, and walked back to the floor with an astounded smile still on her face, even though she admitted that she didn’t have much use for the item.
I was visiting the fair with my wife and our three-year-old, and I only had time enough to shout a quick congratulations to Cassidy before my toddler barreled off back into the vendor’s area and I had to chase after him. But her infectious positivity matched the mood at the rest of the fair, where more than two dozen vendors showed off a variety of handmade goods.
Crystal Brown (left) of Herb Methodology and Tryla Brown Larson (right) of Allfather Kindred at the Midgard Makers Faire, June 16, 2025 [E. Scott]
As the name implies, the Midgard Makers Faire is primarily a Heathen event, put on by the Hammersmark Kindred of New Florence, Missouri. The wares on display ranged from straightforwardly Heathen vendors like rune sets and mead, to more broadly Witchy, Pagan, and New Age booths, to some that specialized in crocheted dolls and gaming dice. Although the vendors were the event’s main attraction, the fair also featured entertainment from the dancers Daewen and Ami Amore and the musicians the Brothers Boru.
2025 marked the fair’s fourth year and second in this venue.
“I’ve always wanted to hold this event,” said Kathryn Arielle of the Hammersmark Kindred, the lead organizer of the fair. “There are lots of events, but nothing that specifically spoke to the Norse community.” She noted there were some Viking-themed events in the St. Louis area, but she felt they were mostly commercial in nature. She and her kindred wanted to focus on spirituality. “We wanted to build our community.”
Arielle’s vision of Heathenry is, as she puts it, “loudly inclusive.” “We want to support Norse Heathenry,” she said, “but not support the history of white supremacy and separatism. People have the right to associate with whom they want, but we don’t want to associate with them.”
That stance has drawn extra significance this summer in the St. Louis Pagan community. In early June, the region’s largest Pagan event, the St. Louis Pagan Picnic, saw a disruption from several individuals wearing white supremacist and Neo-Nazi iconography. In response to complaints from some attendees and vendors who demanded to know why these individuals were allowed to attend the event, the Pagan Picnic released a statement that said, in part, “We in no way support, endorse, or encourage Naziism – and do not welcome that hate at our event. The issue is that we cannot lawfully ask them to leave if they are not being disruptive… Yes, vendors have the right to refuse service to anyone. Yes, you can be upset by their presence. However, this is an event that is open to the public and in a public space. Everyone has a right to walk through the space regardless of faith or ideology until they break the rules established for the event.”
This statement drew further criticism from Picnic attendees, who felt it suggested that the organizers were unwilling to take action to prevent Neo-Nazis from attending the event. The St. Louis Pagan Picnic later issued another statement apologizing for how the situation was handled. “The policies we have had in place up to now are meant to deal with peaceful protestors (often Christian) that we have dealt with many times in the past,” the organizers said in a Facebook post. “This experience has shown us the shortcomings of our existing policies, and we are learning from it.” The Pagan Picnic has promised to consult with the park authorities and local officials to update its policies for 2026 and beyond.
The incident was still very much on the minds of attendees at the Midgard Makers Faire. In July, Arielle posted a notice on Facebook that made the event’s policies clear. “There is zero tolerance for bigotry in this space,” she wrote, “and that includes antisemitism, racism, misogyny, or the defense of hate groups. Period.”
Arielle also noted that there would be security at the event: “Anyone attempting to harass, disrupt, or intimidate others — whether with words or actions — will be immediately removed. Our spaces are for safety, celebration, and connection, and we will not allow that to be compromised.”
Arielle told me that some vendors dropped out of the event after she posted her statement, but others came on board. “If we lost the wrong people,” she said, “we gained the right people.” I heard numerous attendees voice their support for Arielle and her vision of inclusive Heathenry at the event, including several vendors who made sure to tell me that they did not believe in folkish approaches to Heathenry.
One of those vendors was Tryla Brown Larson, who flew up from Sarasota, Florida, with a suitcase stuffed with crafted goods made by members of her group, Allfather Kindred. She described Allfather Kindred as an inclusive group of around 35 members, many of whom have a crafty side. When her sister Crystal Brown told her that she would be tabling at the Midgard Makers Faire with her business, Herb Methodology, Larson saw a chance to put her background in sales to use for her kindred. “I’m so excited to represent my kindred and finally contribute to the community,” she told me.
Her table was filled with items that would have looked at home on any Heathen’s altar, including rune sets, Mjolnir banners, and Vegvisir plaques. My favorites were a tray of decoupage seashells with images of ravens and the World Tree. Larson makes the shells herself. “Being in Florida,” she said with a laugh, “there are a lot of seashells around.”
Toby Holmes of Magpie’s Masquerie at the Midgard Makers Faire, August 16, 2025 [E. Scott]
Another vendor I spoke with was Toby Holmes of Magpie’s Masquerie, who sold a variety of hand-sewn stuffed animals – mainly an assortment of adorable food-themed bats, such as a yellow “banana bat” that came with its own peel and a “loaded baked bat-ato” piled high with sour cream and chives. (Disclosure: after the interview, I bought a red “straw-batty” for my child, who was very pleased with it.) Holmes also vends at the Pagan Picnic and the St. Louis Renaissance Faire, along with a few other Witchy events in the area – they showed me a set of bats they’d created for those events with shiny alchemical symbols painted on the wings. Although they mostly sell at anime conventions, they are pleased with the reception they get at local Pagan events.
While some of the vendors came from afar, others were local – sometimes very local. In one corner of the hall I met with Cheryl, Amanda, and Poe Libby of Eclipse Holistic Wellness, a metaphysical shop just half a mile from the fair’s venue. Cheryl genially pulled me over to her booth when she spotted me conducting interviews with some of the other participants. She described herself as “earthbound and very eclectic,” rather than strictly Heathen, with a focus on reiki and shamanic techniques. She proudly noted that she has trained many people, including Poe and Amanda. All three mentioned that they enjoyed participating in an event near their own store in Arnold, which showed that the Pagan and metaphysical communities could be found all over, not just in the city.
As my family was getting ready to leave, the organizers took to the stage and called out another raffle number, this time to give away a 3D printed figure of a gnome warrior. They paused as the attendees looked over their tickets, a hush falling on the crowded VFW Hall. And then I heard a familiar voice call out from the back of the room: “It’s me! Again!” As Cassidy walked back up to the stage, I knew I had to talk to her.
Poe Libby, Amanda, and Cheryl of Eclipse Wellness Studio at the Midgard Makers Faire, August 16, 2025 [E. Scott]
“I love crafts, I love crystals – really, I love human interaction,” Cassidy told me in the foyer outside of the fair when I asked what brought her to the fair that day. Like others I had spoken to, she told me that she loved attending the Pagan Picnic and the Renaissance Faire. This was her first time attending the Midgard Maker’s Faire, but she told me she made her father take her out to the fair after seeing the event’s statement against bigotry. “That anti-Neo-Nazi post made me want to support them.”
I asked what became of her raffle prizes. She told me she was still stunned that she’d won at all, much less twice – “I really never do win anything,” she said. “But I’m more of a gift-giver than an acceptor.” She traded the chafing stick from the first raffle in for a reiki crystal kit and then gave the gnome to Cheryl of the Eclipse Wellness Studio booth, who Cassidy said had been very kind and welcoming to her. I mentioned that gift-giving was a major part of Heathen ethics, and she seemed pleased to hear it.
“I’m actually Christian,” she said, “but Pagans are just the nicest group of people.”
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