The annual Airdrie Children’s Festival was planned to return this year after being cancelled last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the last weekend of May came and went without the excitement and laughter of kids partaking in the typical festivities in Nose Creek Regional Park once again.
Airdrie Children’s Festival Society board member Tara Levick said that while the goal was to bring the event back for the children of Airdrie to celebrate this year, it was not ideal to run given the COVID-19 public health restrictions in place at the time they had to make a decision.
“It wasn’t the kind of festival we wanted to run,” Levick said. “We didn’t want to cap the amount of people, we didn’t want to ticket, we were worried about sanitization, masking – all of that protocol.”
“So, to stick to our values and our vision behind the festival, we just decided to defer for another year.”
The Airdrie Children’s Festival launched in 2018, as a way to create curiosity in young children. The annual festivities typically last a few days in late May or early June and include live performances in Nose Creek Regional Park, interactive off-site workshops and fun and exciting games for local youth.
According to the Airdrie Children’s Festival’s website, the goal of the festival is to foster curiosity, ignite passion, break down barriers and remove fear, all while enriching the lives of local children. Some notable attractions that have become staples of the festival are the Children’s Village, the Inspiration Station and live performances, all of which are meant to be fun and include educational elements.
Plans are already in the works for the 2022 festival, Levick said, which will be the first one held since the spring of 2019.
She added some live acts and talent have already been scheduled for next year’s festivities and that the performers are “itching to get out and do their thing.”
When Levick brings her own children to Nose Creek Regional Park, she says they always remember it as the location of the annual children’s festival and ask her when they will be able to have the event again. She said she is looking forward to being able to host the festival again in 2022 and that there are some “big things in the works” for when it does finally return.
“I think when we do come back that people are going to be excited,” Levick said. “I think it will be a really good thing for Airdrie.”
