Kamloops Children’s Arts Festival turned the last weekend of September into a free invitation for families to make, watch and share art. The Kamloops Arts Council organized a two-day program on Sept. 25 and 26, pairing a Friday mask-making workshop with Saturday performances and activities at Riverside Park. After the weekend, Castanet reported that hundreds of families attended.
The festival opened Friday at Kamloops Art Party, where a registered workshop called “Carnival Cats & Cotton Candy” invited children to make a carnival-inspired cat mask. CFJC Today listed the workshop at 177 Tranquille Road, unit 8, from 4 to 6 p.m. The station’s preview said each registered participant would receive free cotton candy. Castanet’s recap also reported cotton candy at the workshop.
Saturday brought the public program to Riverside Park. The Arts Council listed the festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and described it as a performance day. Before the event, CFJC’s preview listed art-making stations, workshops, storytelling and music among the planned activities. Castanet’s report afterward described live performances, community booths and arts-and-crafts activities.
The Friday workshop and Saturday park program gave the weekend separate making and performance components. The Kamloops Arts Council describes the festival as an interactive experience curated for children and families. Castanet’s recap later reported that hundreds of families attended activities across both days.
Castanet reported that hundreds of families took in the free events across the two days. Its Saturday coverage described families watching magician and comedian Clinton W. Gray perform at Riverside Park. The report included photographs by Tim Petruk. The outlet did not give an exact attendance total, so “hundreds” is the scale supported by its reporting.
The festival also brought local organizations into the park. Castanet described community booths alongside performances and crafts. The Arts Council’s information for participants invites artists to lead accessible workshops, performers to share their work, and organizations to host activity booths. It also lists volunteer and sponsorship opportunities. The published recap does not say how many groups took part this year, but the booth program gave visitors a chance to encounter more than the stage schedule.
For the Council, the event is part of a recurring effort to make arts participation welcoming to young people. It describes the festival as an annual celebration that brings together artists, performers and local organizations. In remarks quoted by CFJC before the event, the Council said the activities were intended to spark joy and encourage a love of the arts among young community members. That is the organizer’s stated aim; the available coverage does not measure longer-term effects.
The Council says it holds the festival on September’s fourth weekend to align with the start of the school year and gives the event a new theme each year. This year’s format separated a hands-on Friday workshop from the Saturday park program. The schedule offered a workshop one day and a park program with performances and community activities the next.
Getting to Saturday’s program was part of the plan, too. The event page offered a free bus pass for Sept. 26. Riders could show a screenshot or downloaded pass to the driver when boarding. The offer was specific to Saturday; the page did not extend it to Friday’s workshop.
The Council also described the event as a benefit for the wider community. In a statement reported by CFJC, it said ongoing support for the festival provides an educational outlet for families and can boost business traffic and community well-being. Those are the Council’s reasons for supporting the annual gathering, rather than independently measured outcomes from this year’s weekend.
Castanet also quoted the Council’s post-event note: “We had a fantastic celebration of fun, art, and entertainment for the whole day.” That is the organizer’s reflection, distinct from the outlet’s report that hundreds of families attended.
The clearest result in the post-event reporting is the gathering itself: a free, two-day arts program that brought hundreds of families to activities in Kamloops. Friday offered a registered mask-making workshop; Saturday offered performances, booths and crafts at Riverside Park. The program made room for both hands-on art and a public afternoon of local performances and community activities.
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