Children’s Festival draws a big crowd

FARMINGTON - Armed with balloons and infectious curiosity, kids leapt from station to station at the Children’s Festival, intent on the next fun activity provided by the local community.

Saturday was the 30th Annual Children’s Festival, presented by the Franklin County Children’s Task Force and held at the University of Maine at Farmington. Local agencies, including Franklin Savings Bank and the Farmington Public Library, supported the event by setting up booths with various activities. There were also performance events, live local music and educational opportunities.

Deb McGrane, one of the organizers of the event said, “It’s an opportunity in the middle of winter for families to avoid cabin fever at no cost or low cost.” While much of the support of the event comes from local businesses; they don’t sell products, only promote them. Food was also provided; the Rotary Club supplies pizza for the whole event every year.

McGrane s grateful for UMF's support too. “The University is amazing,” she said. “They provide the space and the workers are great supporters. At the end of the day, this place is going to be a mess and the facilities' workers do so much cleaning up for us.”

At the Literacy Volunteers booth, Joe McCarthy, who has been coming to the event for six or seven years now, offered coloring and kirigami pandas. They also have books and a place to sit down and read. Joey Myers, also of Literacy Volunteers, said that this is her first year at the Festival. “I like it,” she said, “It’s very interesting to watch the kids. There’s a lot of activity.”

Local musician and teacher Mark Philips, who was engaging children in song with his guitar, was also at the Festival for the first time. “I wanted to contribute to the community in some way,” he said in the rare few
minutes when he wasn’t in demand for music.