Kidzfest returned to Kinsmen Park in Prince Albert on Thursday and the event exceeded expectations.
Crowds packed the park for the event, which featured everything from live entertainment to games and face painting. Janelle Scott, the playgrounds coordinator for the City of Prince Albert said the early afternoon crowd was well above what they expected.
“I’m assuming over a thousand or 1,200 hopefully,” Scott said.
At the near midway point of the afternoon Scott said that business had been steady.
“The lineups are long, all the committees seem pretty busy. So we’re really happy that’s for sure,” she said.
This was the 28th edition. The event was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns, but returned in 2021 with some precautions in place.
This is Scott’s first year as playground coordinator but previous experience helped things run well for organizing.
“It was awesome that I had two years to go through Kidzfest as a play leader and now as coordinator. It’s a different type of work, but still with the work of the playground program, it’s been going smoothly so far so I’m super grateful for all the staff that’s put in a lot of work today,” Scott said.
The afternoon included games, food, face painting, crafts and stage entertainment including three shows with magician Steve Harmer and two shows with comedy juggler Paul Isaac.
“Every square of the park, I feel, has something going on, and it’s just really awesome to see different things from the community all together and showing what can happen when we all work together,” Scott said.
“We have awesome entertainers from select entertainment,” she said.
Despite dark threatening skies during the afternoon Scott said that the day would not be affected.
They also had partners such as the Prince Albert Police Service and the Prince Albert Fire Department.
There was also a section of the park with special guests such as PA Outreach and the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division and others.
“I’m just definitely grateful for all of the special guests that we have. We have mental health literacy coming, we have Sask. Rivers School Division, PA outreach, Performing Arts Warehouse Dance Studio and Saskatchewan Ringette,” Scott said.
Michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
