The two-day Fairy Festival took place over the May half-term weekend when thousands of people gathered at Swanage for the magical event.

It was held above the turquoise sea on the grassy plains of the Sandpit field, bringing a sense of wonder and family-friendly entertainment together.

Swanage Fairy Festival was the first of its kind to be held at this location and included enchanting entertainment from local performers.

From fairy storytelling to live music and dancing, the hard work of the organisers even pulled out all the magical stops to include a unique mermaid show from Mermaid Cove, featuring their gigantic 10-metre mermaid tank.

Kai Coombes, co-founder of Mermaid Cove said, “This installation was a surprising addition to the festival and what made it even more exciting is it is the biggest, portable mermaid tank in Europe.”

Mermaid Cove’s professional mermaid shows left the crowd in awe at being able to see mermaids swim in the giant tank right in front of their eyes.

Included in the Mermaid Cove installation at the Swanage Fairy Festival were pirate dance parties, singing, crowd interactions, photo opportunities and Beef on the Reef (a family-friendly pirate vs mermaid game show).

There was much on offer throughout the weekend and the audiences crowded the enormous tank to experience the swimming mermaids for themselves.

As can be seen here, Mermaid Cove drew in an incredible audience over the weekend and if the audience’s reactions were anything to go by, helped to make the Swanage Fairy Festival a mer-mazing and fin-tastic success.

Here are some comments from the spectators:

”Absolutely brilliant shows, kids and adults enjoyed it equally, would love to see you guys again, my daughter has been nonstop talking about the mermaids she saw.” K M Rogers

”They were absolutely fantastic.” H Weir

”What can I say wow, wow, wow! Amazing day out today so sunny and we can’t believe how much entertainment was included for the kids including a mermaid tank.” I Roberts

”Oh what a show so professional and entertaining a wonderful team.” L Novis

With Swanage Fairy Festival successfully starting off the festival season with a bang, the organisers would like to see more events spring up in the community.

“We hope the Swanage Fairy festival can continue to bring entertainment and magic to the community for years to come with more performances and magical entertainment from audience favourites from the event,” said Kai Coombes, co-founder of Mermaid Cove.

Hosted as a not-for-profit festival by local organisers, the community event brought traders, musicians and entertainers together to provide a weekend of spectacular family fun. The organisers created this festival to give back to the community, with 20% of the ticket sales donated to local Swanage schools.

For more information visit www.themermaidcove.co.uk