Children’s Festival to return next month to kick-start the summer holidays

Plans for the free annual Children’s Festival are underway by the team at Frome charity Purple Elephant Family Support.

The festival is a celebration of childhood, and this year’s event falls just in time to start the school summer holidays, on Sunday 27th July.

Predicted to attract around 3,000 people in the centre of Frome, the Children’s Festival begins at the entry point in the Cattle Market car park outside the Cheese and Grain and uses the room inside the venue. It then runs along the river path, throughout Welshmill Woods and also fills Welshmill Park with fun.

Highlights this year include Somerset’s own Joe Garbett Dance Company. Service manager and festival founder, Sue Willis, said, “This international touring company makes colourful, silly, playful and unifying shows that transport audiences into wild and whacky worlds. With hilarious slapstick as well as superb dance skills and tricks, the shows are about captivating chaos in a world where tents can dance. In this wholesome yet high-energy performance of ‘Get Lost’, the dance floor is a huge unfolding map designed to reveal adventures that ignite the audiences to push past stereotypes.

“The audience becomes a key, interactive part of the adventure, guided throughout by the dancers to parachute the map, tug the ropes and even hold onto their smelly shoes.”

There will also be music recording workshops in the Cheese and Grain’s Bert Jansch professional studio; stilt-walking; masks; sports tasters including archery, dodgeball and tennis; as well as accessible boccia and basketball.

Among the 30 planned activities, festivalgoers will also be able to take part in nature and wildlife-based fun, Scrapstore crafts, glitter tattoos and fabulous face-painting creations.

New for this year, the team is introducing an opportunity to connect with the animals of Twinnies Petting Farm. Known for their work providing hands-on, therapeutic animal petting and feeding experiences for those with diverse needs, the Twinnies Mobile Petting Farm will enable people of all ages, especially children, to feed, touch and interact with the animals.

Final arrangements for the remaining activities, as well as access to a map of the site, will be available soon. “Watch this space,” said Sue.

In the meantime, although the event is free, online booking is required, with donations gratefully received at the time of ticketing.

Sue said, “Everyone is invited and tickets are already going very fast. As accessing grants and funds becomes harder all the time, the only way we can be sure to provide the festival each year is thanks to the generosity of attendees and sponsors. If any individuals, organisations or sponsors would like to partner and support us both now and throughout the year, we would be delighted to hear from them.”

All details and free booking via the website: www.PurpleElephant.org.uk