Tickets run $95 per person for the Long Island Fairy Festival at [Sands Point Preserve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sands Point_Preserve), and based on last year’s numbers, plenty of Nassau County families considered that worth it.
The fourth annual event lands on May 2, running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a rain date of May 3. Wings, wands, mermaids, a creature listed on the program as Grig the Felf, and something called Oriana the Bubble Faerie will all be present on the grounds. I’ve covered Nassau County budgets long enough to know when taxpayer money is being wasted. This one’s privately funded, so I can just report it straight.
Fair disclosure: I filed a story from Camden Yards in October once, watching Cal Ripken acknowledge a crowd of 48,000 people. Fairy festivals aren’t my usual territory. But Sands Point is genuinely one of the better public spaces on this island, and an event that gets families outside on a Saturday in early May without a public subsidy attached is worth a few column inches.
The 2026 festival is the fourth. It’s grown considerably. Last year’s figures, pulled from Long Island Press, put the geographic reach at 145 communities across Long Island. Eight sponsors supported the event. Thirty community partners participated. Nearly 100 volunteers and educators worked the grounds. Ninety-three fairy house builders showed up. Forty-seven artists exhibited their work. Forty performers and technicians ran the production. Those aren’t hobbyist numbers. That’s the kind of logistical footprint that would give a municipal events department serious pause.
“This is our fourth year, and the festival keeps growing,” said Jeremiah Bosgang, executive director of the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy. “We’re seeing people come from all over Long Island to be part of something that sparks imagination and brings a real sense of wonder and togetherness.”
I’m 67, and I’ll admit I don’t have a strong framework for evaluating a meet-and-greet with the Queen of the Celestial Fairies. That’s on the 2026 schedule. So is an opportunity to learn how to connect with fairy guides. I’ve spent 15 years tracking where government money goes, so this is genuinely new terrain for me. What I can evaluate: the Ranger Grove section offers hands-on wilderness skills, which is a concrete takeaway for kids that doesn’t require any particular belief in magical forest entities.
Returning attractions include the Fairy House Walk, the Fairy House Artist Invitational Competition, the Fairy Art Exhibit, and magic shows featuring Grig the Felf. The Tooth Fairy makes an appearance. So do trolls and gnomes. There’s an imaginary tea party, hula hoops, arts and crafts, live music, storytelling, nature walks, and spring planting activities. Feasting and Foraging food trucks handle the concessions, which is honestly a strong name for a vendor at this type of event.
New this year is also a meet-and-greet with Miss New York Teen USA, which must have been an interesting booking conversation. I wasn’t at that planning meeting, but I’d have had questions.
Linda Nutter, the festival’s director, made the case for why any of this matters beyond the face paint and the costume wings. “Through creativity, connection, and time spent in nature, we’re reminding people that innovation doesn’t only come from machines,” Nutter said. “It comes from curiosity and shared human experience.” At a moment when screens pull at kids’ attention from every direction, it’s a reasonable argument that three or 4 hours in the woods dressed as a woodland creature might do something screens can’t.
The Sands Point Preserve Conservancy’s website has the full event details and ticket information. At $95 a head, it’s not a cheap afternoon. But the Conservancy’s putting it on without asking county taxpayers for a line item, and that’s the kind of accounting I can respect.
Admission gets you into Sands Point Preserve for the full run of the festival. No hidden fees that I’ve found. No public bond measure attached.