Stonebridge Festivals

Stonebridge is a city that loves its festivals, and they have many each year. Most festivals have a similar style and feel, with some slight variations, depending on the theme. A hallmark of their festivals are the food stands, amusement games, shops, and stores.
A list of the festivals, their date of occurrence, and a brief description follows:

Vernal Equinox

(1st Bridge Day)
The Vernal Equinox Festival is a festival about renewal, growth, and reinvention. A lot of shops will sell crop seeds, livestock, and farming supplies. People will celebrate making it through the winter and are looking forward to what the new year brings.

Montgomery’s Circus of the Amazing and Wonderful

(24th of Parfin)
Montgomery's Circus of the Amazing and Wonderful is a large travelling circus that has been coming to the city for decades now. Montgomery and his troupe usually arrive on the 24th of Horizons Met and stay until the 28th. The Circus is run by a Human named Montgomery Fiedstoke. He has been running his circus for 47 years now and still looks as if he is 34. Montgomery is a man who loves everyone, and everyone loves him. He is a charismatic gentlemen who can sweet talk anyone and everyone, making him welcome in every city and town. The opening day of the circus is joined by a festival for some extra fun in the city.

Summer Solstice

(2nd Bridge Day) The Summer Solstice Festival is about, passion, emotions, and being true to oneself. Most people are excited about the summer starting and all that comes with that. The Summer Solstice festival is the biggest festival other than Founders Week.

The Fractioning Festival

(12th of Mirriam) The Fractioning festival is a two-day festival that starts on the anniversary of The Fractioning. The first day is spent in mourning, remembering the tragedy that was the Fractioning. The day is mostly spent telling stories about the Fractioning, or relating to friends, family, or even strangers about any hard times that they have had in the past year. Many people spend time in taverns or parks in groups, rarely moving around, just telling stories of loss, tragedy, pain, and anger, followed by a lot of drinking. The people of Stonebridge use this first day as a form of stress relief, getting all the pain and sadness out in the open so they can move on.
The second day is about joy, progress, and moving forward. Far more festive than day one, the second day has a better atmosphere, where people head to the Festival Strip to celebrate the good that they have in their lives, with the people who help make their life good.

The Artist and the Builder

(16th of Gnurich) The Artist and the Builder, also known as Creationist Week, is a week-long festival that starts on the 16th of Wisdom Rises. The festival celebrates everyone and anyone who builds, invents, or creates anything. Each day has a different focus; the Birth is art, the Youth is food, the Prime is inventing, the Elder is crafting, and the Death is for magic.

Day of Art

The Day of Art is to appreciate those with artistic talent in the city. Bards, acting companies, and performers will take to many of the different stages on the strip to perform. While all this is going on there is a large talent show that many citizens and travelers will sign up for to show what they can do. Often, acting companies, bardic colleges, and artistic guilds of many kinds will watch the talent show to see if there are any contestants that show talent and offer them a spot in their organization. The winner of the talent show, as voted by the attendees of the festival win half of all the money that was given to sign up for the show.

Day of Food

The Day of Food focuses on food. There are eating contests throughout the day, people teaching cooking techniques to any interested, and sampling of new and inventive foods has everyone’s mouthwatering.

Day of Invention

The Day of Invention showcases booths of people demonstrating their newest inventions or blueprints. There is a big a competition during this day that is sponsored by the city. Anyone entered in the competition must present a product that would improve the lives of the people living in the city. At the end of the festival the council chooses a product and that product is added to the city to help improve it.

Day of Crafting

The Day of Crafting is for people who are builders or craftsmen. Crafters will sell handmade products, or host workshops to teach their craft, as well as showing designs for future products.
The last day of the festival is for wielders of magic to show their skills. Dozens will take to the stages and entertain the crowds with their magic. Quite often recruiters at the Conclave of Magic will attend, looking for promising candidates to join their august organization.
After the festival ends a large fireworks display over the river can be enjoyed by all.

Autumnal Equinox

(3rd Bridge Day) The Autumnal Equinox Festival is a big farmers festival, where all of the farmers in the surrounding area will come into the city to sell or trade what they can to prepare for the coming winter.

Stonebridge Founding Festival

(12th of Vocerix) The largest festival in Stonebridge is the Stonebridge Founding Festival, also known as Founders Week. It takes place the week of the 12th of Hammer’s Fall, the day that Stonebridge was founded. The Festival takes place in the strip behind the river, and it is filled with food stands of all kinds. Popular stands include the Fire Genasi Stand of Spice and Heat, whose specialty is Fire Flakes; the Gnomish Stand of Sweets and Desserts, whose specialty is candy and cherry dunked apples; and the Mother’s Cry Dwarven Ale Stand, hailing from Forgehome, whose specialty is their Golden Brew ale, a large glass of Dwarven made ale that can normally only be found in Forgehome.

Games

Amusement games are also a favourite amongst festival goers, and some of these games change almost every year, but there are a few constants. The Hammer and Bell is a simple game with a simple objective; hit the platform with the hammer to send a stone high enough to ring the bell. The Minute Cube contest is a 3x3 multi-coloured cube that is on a swizzle allowing it to be mixed up, challenging contestants to solve it in under one minute. Finally, Smash-a-Worm is a game that requires players to hit small wooden purple worms with a small hammer, with the winner being the one who can hit the most in a minute.
Some of the most popular aspects of the festival are the small shops, like the Pop-Up Shop of Toys and Trinkets, where every year they have a new product that they sell,

Shops

At Laquien's Shop for Weapons and Armour they sell fine weapons and armour specializing in the wrist mounted hidden blade.
The most popular shop in Stonebridge is the famous Shop of the Future, where buyers can find unique items like the handheld flame starter, the voice amplifier, or many amazing types of fireworks.

Learning

The festival also has many tents and booths intended to teach people certain creative and innovative styles. Some popular choices are the Gnomish Tent of Clockworks, located in the back of the Stonebridge Shop of the Future, where you can spend some time learning the intricacies of building clockwork toys; the Elvish Painter’s booth where they teach Elvish style painting; or the Dwarvish Brewers tent sponsored by Mother’s Cry from Forgehome, where they teach what goes into making ale the proper way.

Amusement Rides

One the most talked about aspects of the festival are the Signature Stonebridge Amusement Rides. These rides, the peak of Gnomish ingenuity, are large structures that moves the riders in fun and exciting ways. Some festival favourites include the Runaway Minecart, a fast-paced ride filled with highs and lows; not for the faint of heart; the Drop of the Dragon, where you sit harnessed into a seat and get pulled 30 feet Into the air, and if that was not enough, at random times the seat drops, stopping just short of killing the rider (most times or the most popular ride, fun for all ages and available year round - the Mounted Tempest.

Winter Solstice

(4th Bridge Day) The Winter Solstice Festival is a large party designed to raise morale before the harsh winter hits. A lot of ale is drunk, games are played, and warm clothes and blankets are bought.

Primary Related Location

Stonebridge