Last weekend was intense. I realize that’s describing it bluntly, but that’s the easiest way to describe the crazy two days I had. It began Saturday morning with a trip to the Wizardly World of Kent festival, formerly known as “Potterfest” until Warner Bros. decided to clamp down on people having fun with their “creative license.” 33% bigger than last year, it was packed from the minute the show opened with wands out. No, literally, more wands than there were wizards to choose. Nonetheless, it was awesome. In my many years of being a Harry Potter fan, I haven’t been to any show as large of this. Coming to the show with my friend Ashley and her daughter Gracie, we ran into a whole bunch of people I knew, mostly from Oddmall. 

From there, I drove to Canton for that exact thing—Oddmall. This year a two-day event at Stadium Park, it was smaller than usual, but had a lot on the schedule. One new event for any Oddmall was a full hour-long show from Full Circle Storytelling, which had just had its third season finale show the previous Wednesday. Participating with several regular favorite storytellers, we introduced Canton to the idea of keeping oral productions such as this alive. Writing your own book or running a podcast is great, but often these pages get worn down or lost, or files corrupted, losing these tales to history. Passing down tales by ear allows our personal histories to continue for generations to come. Ending the show early, many new storytellers came up on stage to tell their own stories, including GW1 host Ken. Hopefully he will tell a longer version of his tale at a future Full Circle Storytelling show.

Sunday came around and midway through the day I left for an annual party held by a friend whom I met via his sister. I last attended this party two years ago, but it is here where I explain this post. Normally I review some piece of pop culture in my blog post—books, movies, etc. This week I am reviewing my life because I found that everywhere I went last weekend I ran into people I never would have expected to see. Two years ago at this impressive musical festival/party, I ran into several people from the Akron art scene, but was most surprised when regular Oddmall musician Michael McFarland came to the stage. This year, I was surprised by the number of random people I knew post on the event’s Facebook page. At this small get together in Mantua, what did all of these people I knew have in common that they would also know my friend Jason and attend?

Sometimes our lives are more interconnected with people than we realize, whether we see those people on a daily basis, or simply once a year. Then when we do see each other, the adventures we get into may be memorable for life. I won’t forget this year’s party and the performer’s I got to hear sing, If Michael McFarland was the best singer I heard last time, Alyssa Boyd and Cathern Dannille are the best performers I got to hear this year, thoroughly wishing I hadn’t missed a bunch of other great acts. And of course, no matter how long it may have been since I was last at their home, I never seem to leave without loads of delicious food being passed on to me by Mama Meyers.

If you ever have the chance to attend an event a friend is throwing or recommends to you, do try to check it out. You never know who you’ll run into, whether you know them or not, or what you might miss.