__NOTOC__ Elfia, formerly known as the Elf Fantasy Fair is a fantasy-themed cosplay festival held twice a year in the Netherlands. For the first time, 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 Haarzuilens is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of Utrecht, and lies about 12 km west from the city centre of Utrecht. It was a separate municipality until 1954, when ...

and in September at Castle Arcen,

Arcen Arcen (; ) is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. In 2010, it became part of the municipality of Venlo. Previously, it had been part of the municipality of Arcen en Velden and the seat of the town hall (). In 2001, Arcen had 1884 inhab ...

. The Haarzuilens event is the largest fantasy & costume event in Europe and attracts some 27,000 visitors every year. Elfia has been created b
Stefan Struik
but is now managed by his sister Helena Struik with the support of a group of small companies. Elfia is actually a cross-section of genres: next to fantasy, there are also themes from

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

LARP A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique featur ...

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...

and

historical reenactment Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational entertainment, educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historical uniforms and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a histor ...

genres. But most of all it is a costume event with (fantasy and historical) costume parades. Elfia also characterizes herself 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 Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

Robert Jordan James Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan," Robert Jordan" was the name of the protagonist in the 1940 Hemingway novel ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', though this is not how the n ...

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish Heavy metal music, heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. Turunen studied lyrical ...

Stanislav Ianevski Stanislav Yanevski (; born Stanislav Rumenov Yanevski, ; on 16 May 1985) is a Bulgarian actor. He is best known for playing Viktor Krum in the 2005 fantasy film ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. ...

Brian Froud Brian Froud (born 1947) is an English fantasy illustrator and conceptual designer. He is most widely known for his 1978 book '' Faeries'' with Alan Lee, and as the conceptual designer of the Jim Henson films '' The Dark Crystal'' (1982) and ...

, Brian Muir and

Christopher Paolini Christopher James Paolini (born November 17, 1983) is an American and Italian author. He is best known for ''The Inheritance Cycle'', which consists of the books '' Eragon'' (2002), '' Eldest'' (2005), '' Brisingr'' (2008), ''Inheritance'' (2011 ...

. The German band

Faun The faun (, ; , ) is a half-human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology. Originally fauns of Roman mythology were ghosts ( genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their chief, the god Faunus. Before t ...

often headlined the event and the English lecturer Professor Rotherham regularly gives lectures in the castle's chapel.

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 De Broodfabriek () is an exhibition and convention center in the Dutch city of Rijswijk. It was founded in 1996 by Henk van der Straaten

Rijswijk Rijswijk (), formerly known as Ryswick ( ) in English, is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Its population was 59.642 in 2024, and it has an area of , of which is water. The municipality also i ...

(Gothic & Fantasy Exhibition, since 2003, now Fantasy Fest), the Midwinter Fair at the Archeon,

Alphen aan den Rijn Alphen aan den Rijn (; or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Utrecht and South Holland), Oude Rijn (Old Rhine ...

(since 2003),

Castlefest Castlefest is a medieval/fantasy festival in the Netherlands, held in the gardens of Castle Keukenhof in Lisse since 2005. History During the first edition in 2005, 3,500 visitors attended the event, in 2007 the festival attracted 16,000 visitor ...

at the

Keukenhof Keukenhof (; ), also known as the Garden of Europe, is one of the world's largest flower gardens, situated in the municipality of Lisse, in the Netherlands. According to the official website, Keukenhof Park covers an area of and approximately 7 ...

Lisse Lisse () is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland in the Western Netherlands. The municipality, which lies within the Duin- en Bollenstreek, covers an area of of ...

(since 2005), the Gothic & Fantasy Fair in

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

(between 2007 and 2009), Keltfest near

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

(since 2008, now near

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

), the MysticFair in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

(in 2008 and 2009), Nox Obscura (in 2008), Phantasium in

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

(between 2009 and 2013), Fantastic Amsterdam in

(in 2009 and 2010) Fantastyval (between 2009 and 2014). and the Midzomer Fair (Midsummer Fair, between 2010 and 2012)Midsummer Fair
Aztek-TV, June 19, 2010

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Netherlands Festivals in the Netherlands Recurring events established in 2001 Fantasy conventions 2001 establishments in the Netherlands

Other events

See also

References

External links