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<\/a><\/p>\nThe event also features live music by local musicians and family-friendly performances as well as a calm corner designed for kids with sensory challenges, as well as additional features to be inclusive to all participants.<\/p>\n
The Dragon Deli will offer food, or visitors are invited to bring their own picnic.<\/p>\n
Beloved litter- and recycling-eating dragon mascots Rosabelle and Pebbles will also be on-hand to assist with clean up.<\/p>\n
The festival is scheduled for 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12; and 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, July 13.<\/p>\n
Admission for the event is $4 per person, and the Britt Gardens are located at 350 S. First Street in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to maintain the cost of entering the Children\u2019s Festival and it\u2019s $4 per person now, but we offer free passes (for families in need),\u201d Arnold said. \u201cWe do our best to keep it affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to organizers, the festival has brought in approximately 400,000 visitors over the last six decades, providing kids in the region the opportunity to get messy and use their creative muscles.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs parents it can look like mess; I always say \u2018bring your kids and we can make the mess and clean it up,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cSometimes a child literally spends an hour on one booth playing in a way that\u2019s fun for them \u2026 it\u2019s for the children and they can experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of the 60-year celebration, the Storytelling Guild will honor one of its first directors, Jeannette Paulson Hereniko, as she attends the event for the first time since the 1970s.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives us a chance to honor her legacy,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cShe\u2019s visiting from Hawaii for first time since 1975; she moved to Hawaii and is coming back and attending the festival.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hereniko is a film producer, community organizer and cultural advocate who played a major role in the early history of the Children\u2019s Festival. After moving to Hawaii, she went on to found the Hawaii International Film Festival as well as produce award-winning films such as \u201cThe Land Has Eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She co-founded the Storytelling Guild and served as the organization\u2019s first president, also establishing the region\u2019s first-ever Children\u2019s Festival in 1964.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe festival\u2019s theme this year is \u2018Remembering History,\u2019 leaning into the 60th anniversary and celebrating the 250th year of the Declaration of Independence, and we\u2019re remembering our beginnings,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cWithin the group, a lot of us are sentimental and reminiscing about our first time going and volunteering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arnold first got involved with the Storytelling Guild through her children and learning about the organization through its numerous storytime events and programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to stand back and watch the families and kids navigate and have fun,\u201d she said of what she looks forward to most. \u201cI\u2019m not doing it for my kids anymore, I\u2019m doing it for the community. It\u2019s fun to work together and do something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Festival is always looking for volunteers to help, especially considering the event takes hundreds of people each year to run smoothly.<\/p>\n
Those interested in volunteering can contact the Storytelling Guild at storytellingguild.org\/contact.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n