Elfia, formerly known as the Elf Fantasy Fair, is a fantasy-themed cosplay festival held twice a year in the Netherlands.
01 · What it is
Living Tradition
Documented cultural tradition on record; family classification awaits an editor.
02 · Where & name
Netherlands
Placed on record in Netherlands.
03 · How it is doing
□□□□ (Not yet assessed)
Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
04 · Proof & reuse
2 cited sources
Every claim links to a public record below. Free to quote, teach, and share under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Chapter Takeaways
Other eventsSince the Elf Fantasy Fair proved to be a success, there have been other fantasy related events held in The Netherlands, such as the Gothic & Fantasy Beurs at De Broodfabriek in Rijswijk (Gothic & Fantasy Exhibition,…
Common Questions Answered on Record
What is Elf Fantasy Fair in plain words?
Elfia, formerly known as the Elf Fantasy Fair, is a fantasy-themed cosplay festival held twice a year in the Netherlands.
Where is Elf Fantasy Fair practised or documented?
Sources on this page place Elf Fantasy Fair in Netherlands.
What is the current condition of Elf Fantasy Fair today?
□□□□ (Not yet assessed): Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
How do I cite or share this Elf Fantasy Fair entry?
Cite as: "Elf Fantasy Fair." folkroom, https://folkroom.org/art-forms/elf-fantasy-fair, text CC BY-SA, with attribution.
Elfia, formerly known as the Elf Fantasy Fair, is a fantasy-themed cosplay festival held twice a year in the Netherlands. Besides fantasy, Elfia hosts themes from science fiction, LARP, gothic, manga, cosplay and historical reenactment genres.
It was organized in 2001 in the historical theme park Archeon. From 2009 Elfia (also known as the Kingdom of Elfia) appears twice a year, in April at Castle de Haar, Haarzuilens, and in September at Castle Arcen, Arcen. The Haarzuilens event is the largest fantasy and costume event in Europe, and attracts some 27,000 visitors every year. Elfia was created by Stefan Struik, but is now managed by his sister Helena Struik, with the support of a group of small companies.
The fair characterizes itself as a kingdom with a real flag, a border with fantasy customs officers, and royal elections. There are ambassadors appointed in seven different countries.
Previous guests of honour included Terry Pratchett, Robert Jordan, Tarja Turunen, Stanislav Ianevski, Brian Froud, Brian Muir and Christopher Paolini. The German band Faun often headlined the event, and the English lecturer Roland Rotherham regularly gives lectures in the castle's chapel. 1
Other events
Since the Elf Fantasy Fair proved to be a success, there have been other fantasy related events held in The Netherlands, such as the Gothic & Fantasy Beurs at De Broodfabriek in Rijswijk (Gothic & Fantasy Exhibition, since 2003, now Fantasy Fest), the Midwinter Fair at the Archeon, Alphen aan den Rijn (since 2003), Castlefest at the Keukenhof, Lisse (since 2005), the Gothic & Fantasy Fair in Arnhem (between 2007 and 2009), Keltfest near Dordrecht (since 2008, now near Amsterdam), the MysticFair in Rotterdam (in 2008 and 2009), Nox Obscura (in 2008), Phantasium in Eindhoven (between 2009 and 2013), Fantastic Amsterdam in Amsterdam (in 2009 and 2010) Fantastyval (between 2009 and 2014). and the Midzomer Fair (Midsummer Fair, between 2010 and 2012). 1
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Elfia (festival)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. 1
Elf Fantasy Fair is costume and fantasy festival, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 2
The source record links this tradition to 3 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. 2