The 2024 Whitecourt Children’s Festival will be taking place at the Allan and Jean Millar Centre on Saturday, May 25 and Sunday, May 26. Andrew Malmquist with the Town Recreation Department dropped by the XM105FM studios to provide details on this year’s headliners and some insight on the new sensory hour.
Activities will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and will run until 3:30 p.m., with a headline performance by Pandemonium Strings at 4:00 p.m.
“They’re a family circus/musical group,” said Malmquist. “You’re going to enjoy some of their classical instruments, mixed with different acrobatics. One of their highlights is kind of like this Top Gun guitar playing thing, I think it’ll be super fun.”
Rapid Fire Theatre will also be in Whitecourt on Saturday performing their children’s program on the road for the first time.
“They have a children’s program that they are super excited to bring out on the road. It’s kind of a first test of that series that they normally do in their venue but they’re going to bring it here to Whitecourt,” added Malmquist. “We’ve had them here in the past for adult shows. I’ve personally seen them in their venue. So knowing that they have a children’s focused show, [means] we’re super excited to see what that’s going to bring.”
Sunday will begin with the new Sensory Hour from at 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with regular activities resuming at 10:30 a.m. Sunday’s headliner, Safire, will be performing at 2:00 p.m.
“She’ll be coming on the Sunday of the event. She’s a circus performer. She’s going to do a fun little circus act that everyone in the family will enjoy”
According to Malmquist, the addition of a sensory hour this year was done to ensure all children can attend the Children’s Festival.
“On the Sunday we’re also doing something a little special. From 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., we’re going to do a sensory hour for kids that have sensory issues,” Malmquist explains. “It’s going to be reduced noise, not quite as bustling, so it’s very limited on how many attendees will be in the space. We’ll require some pre-registration for that, so when people purchase their tickets they can register at that time and we’ll keep that number very limited.”
Tickets are $10.00 each or $40.00 for a family ticket which is valid for two adults and three children. Children under two years old get in for free.
Tickets can be purchased at the Allan and Jean Millar Centre.
