Starting off with a Shrine parade and featuring about a dozen Shrine clowns the annual Children’s Festival Saturday, May 28 promises to be an extra special treat.
The Shrine presence at the festival will be part of the activities planned for the Shriners of BC and Yukon Spring Ceremonial 2016 convention taking place in the lakecity May 26-28, says local Shriner Tom Barr.
“We’d like to see as many people out for the parade and the activities in Boitanio Park as possible to shine a light on the Shrine’s continued focus on children’s health and happiness,” Barr says.
The Shrine Parade, featuring floats, trademark Shrine cars, scooters, and clowns, local dignitaries, and more will wind through the city to Boitanio Park for the annual Children’s Festival.
About a dozen Shrine clowns will be on site to join other community groups in providing a day of entertainment for children and their families, Barr says.
The Shrine Parade starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 28 and travels from Comer Street down Third Avenue turning left along Oliver Street to Eighth Avenue, then along Borland Street to the Cariboo Memorial Complex and Boitanio Park where the Children’s Festival takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
People can join the fun and follow the Children’s Festival float (the last float) to Boitanio Park for the festival, says Dawn Wall, child care consultant with the Child Care Resource and Referral Centre which is hosting the Children’s Festival with the Women’s Contact Society and help from the Shriners and local arts and community groups.
“It will be a really big festival this year,” Wall says.
She says they will have 37 booths including activities such as working with clay, painting, bubble blowing, face painting, big toys, Shrine clowns, plus local and visiting entertainers.
Among the entertainers will be the Barefoot Caravan five-piece band from the Okanagan Valley performing indigenous music from around the world in various languages and with various instruments.
Wall says local firefighters will be there with their dunk tank. And RCMP officers will also be there to play fun soccer games with the children. There will also be displays on water conservation, waste management and garden composting.
“All of the activities are free,” Wall says. “The only thing people have to pay for is the food, but we have also asked the food vendors to keep their rates as low as possible.”
She says there will be five food vendors on site. “This is a family festival and we want everyone to be able to participate in everything.”