Vancouver Children's Festival

My second year helping as coordinator of the Shadow Play tent at the Vancouver International Children's Festival. Oh what fun.

 Part of my job is to get the tent set up with large white fabric for making good shadow-puppet plays on. Then, kids come in and can watch from one side as others play with pre-made (by many creative volunteers) paper puppets. This year was dinosaur themed, so there were dino-heads we fashioned to wear on your head!

This was a large outdoor puppet I made (with some help from Noodle) halfway through the festival. 

 It was fun to take the shadow play outside this way.

This was Noodle's big project... creating the structure of a large dinosaur that over the week, kids would weave the outer part, and be able to run around on its inside!

 I got to see a handful of incredible shows while I was there... Rick Scott: The Great Gazzoon (super nice, charming, charasmatic, heart-felt, fun guy)... Erth DinoZoo (amazing giant dinosaur puppets)... The local "Circus West" circus (it was meh)... Kaput (this was my favorite! So funny I watched it 3.5 times. Here's a link to Tom Flanagan of Kaput: master of acrobatic-slapstick-tom-foolery!) The next photo is what the stage looks like when he's done... and not all of his props are visible... such a mess!

The last fella above is Fred Penner... I didn't know who he was, but met him at the staff party... this is how it went. Me "So you're a children's Musician."

Fred "Yes, I've been on TV, (this and that, etc.), what planet are you on?"

Me "Well currently I'm on this planet, but previously... I'm from Washington State."

Fred "I was on Nickelodeon from about 1988 to 1992, didn't you watch any of that?"

Me "I was in high school during that time, and didn't watch TV."

(Other people come over to chat with him. He begins a story...)

Fred ..."Charlie Chaplin met the Marx brothers... (he turns to me)... you do know Charlie Chaplin? If you don't know Charlie Chaplin, I'll have to take this bottle (he was drinking a Heinekin)...

Me "And hand it to me?"

Fred ..."And break it over your head."

Me "Hm."

(He carried on his conversation with the others)

It seemed quite ironic, and mildly hilarious.

 This is the Trout house, where Noodle was staying, and where I parked Vince outside of.

Noodle and I rode our bike to the festival almost every day. This sign on the ground was so fun for me, it's like it's a "Bicycle hovering lane".

Other than boarder hang-ups, this adventure was sure a good one. Yay for Kid's Fest!

Vancouver Children's Festival!

So lucky me got invited to be a coordinator for the ShadowPlay tent at the Vancouver Children's Festival! It was a blast! I got to hang out around kids, watch them make shows with puppets, be inspired by their beautiful, curious minds and hang out with some great Vancouverites (Noodle, Niana, and Candy).

This is an example of the fun in the ShadowPlay tent!

Here's Noodle and I with the local, children's, rare, wooden zebra!

One of Noodle's project was making a double-headed weaving snake. Kids would come to her tent and get strips of fabric and weave the "skin" onto the shell of the snake.

 This is the inside of the snake, where kids were encouraged and excited to run through the colorful, compact, weaving snake belly!

A bonus to the festival was all of the baby geese! Super cute, but you can't get too close or the moms will bite! Somehow I was in the right place at the right time, and they just paraded smack in front of me!

 As a coordinator, one of our jobs was to personally add to the festivities by dressing up for theme days. This was superhero day... the majority of kids decided I was a ladybug superhero... and golly did they nail it!

 One of the many perks of the job was the ability to see any of the "stage" shows for free. There was Cirque Zuma Zuma (complete with foot juggler!), Baobab (African fable using storytelling, puppetry, masks and live music), Morgan's Journey (sweet clown show), The Queen of Colors (animated picture book coming to life through shadow puppetry, live music, painting, and video projection), The Little Old Man (a story of loneliness and friendship using rod-puppets), Sparrow (interactive toddler show), and maybe my favorite (with the queen a close second) James Hill: Ukulele Magic (just outstanding... brings "ukulele into the classroom"). What an inspiring and delightful adventure! Yay for Children's Festivals!