Children festival expecting to make comeback

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

A lack of sponsors regrettably shelved the Strathmore Children’s Festival for 2015, but organizers are expecting a resurgence this year with some assistance from the community, an enlivened theme, and a profusion of fresh ideas to ensure a successful event.
The event, which officially made its mark in Strathmore in 2012, will focus on encouraging children to play through active use of creativity, imagination, social development, communication, and thinking skills, reflective of this year’s theme; Back to Basics.
The organizers have already tentatively booked Reptile Parties that were present when the festival launched four years ago, and are taking on a different approach to include local resources by offering free spots in the festival in exchange for an activity or entertainment.
“The whole point of the festival this year is to show kids that they can have fun without computer, without laptops, without video games,” said Event Organizer Marci Hira.
“It’s trying to go back to basics of physical play, learning, and education. I think this will really help promote what we have in town. I’m kind of just testing the waters this year to see how thing go, because if things go well this year, I have so many plans for next year.”
Hira introduced herself to the community with the Superhero Clean-up last year, and was asked to take over the organization of the Strathmore Children’s Festival shortly after she offered to volunteer. While she has already received some feedback and secured some donations, an expected $3,000 to $5,000 are required to secure Reptile Parties and services including face painting, a magician, and balloon animals. As over 500 children attended the event in 2014, the festival is expecting to attract more than 1,000 this year. Hira is organizing such activities as a bouncy castle, piñata, art and craft stations, info booths, obstacle course, a petting zoo, and yoga, and is targeting agencies such as ParentLink, 5 for Life, the Strathmore Municipal Library, KidsU, Macaroni Kid and Pranava Yoga.
Donations made, whether monetary or food items, are also expected to provide funds to Fuel for Schools – a program that provides breakfasts to Strathmore schools – the Youth Club, and the Wheatland County Food Bank Society.
To guarantee a successful event and available funds for the local programs, however, the organizers are still in need of approximately 10 more volunteers and donations for goodie bags for the first 100 families, and door prizes.
While Hira is busy bringing her ideas to life, she is already dreaming big for next year, when she hopes to bring an aerial circus to Strathmore, dependent on this year’s outcome. Anyone wishing to sponsor, donate, or volunteer can contact Hira at 587-897-2193. The event is free to attend but the public is encouraged to bring food donations for the food bank.
The Strathmore Children Festival will take place on April 9 at the Strathmore Civic Centre from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.