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Ogden residents could see something they've never seen before in their city. It's a religious festival of a different sort.
If you go to Monroe Park in Ogden this Saturday, you may run into Craig Funk.
"I practice what we would call high magic, I guess," he said.
I asked, "So I'd better watch my mouth when it comes to what I say about you?"
"Oh, no," Funk answered.
He says he still gets concerned looks when he tells people what he believes in, but for the most part, people are pretty cool about it.
"I'm usually pretty open about what I do, and the people I work with know about it," he said.
Funk won't be the only one practicing magic in Monroe Park. Hundreds of people are expected to take part in Ogden's first Pagan Pride Day. Are the neighbors buzzing with excitement? Not so much.
I asked some neighborhood residents if they had even heard about it, and they all said no. "I don't know nothing about it," said one man.
Well, even if the neighbors don't know it's happening, the Pagans do. The event had taken place in Salt Lake City, but organizers say they needed to move closer to where a lot of Pagans live.
Festival spokesperson Karen DePolito said, "A bunch of us decided that there's enough of us Pagans here in the Ogden area and points north that we merited our own festival."
So, what does one see at a Pagan Pride Festival? DePolito says they'll have typical festival-type stuff; workshops on how to be a better pagan, arts and crafts displays on how to make your own shrine, public rituals including one acted out as a play. You know, the usual.
"We also have a dance troupe. They call themselves gothic belly dancers," DePolito said.
DePolito says she's expecting a few people to look at them like they're weirdos.
"We make some people nervous. We get associated with devil worship and human sacrifice, and that's just not part of what we do," she said.
She says there will be no witches' brews made with eye of newt at the festival. There may be hot dogs, though.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
