By Candi Enman
Staff Columnist
SOMERSWORTH—
What is the third largest island in Europe? If you were one of the thousands who attended the Somersworth International Children’s Festival on Saturday, June 19th, you likely know the answer.
The festivities of the 30th annual event began with a night before celebration on Friday with food, vendors, live music and fireworks at Somersworth High School. On Saturday downtown Somersworth’s Main Street and Noble Pines Park were filled with food, song, crafts, demonstrations, games and activities for kids and adults alike.
Live music could be found at every corner of the event. Smiling children with painted faces wearing crowns they decorated themselves led their parents and grandparents from the bounce house to the train ride to the games at the exhibitor tables. Then it was a quick stop to cool down at the misting tent, before heading up the hill to Noble Pines where they found the petting zoo and a special entertainment stage where the young, and young at heart, danced and sang along to bubblegum pop tunes.
“This is the fourth year we’ve come and it gets better every year,” said Amanda Myers. “The kids have so much fun.” She and her sister Beth teamed up to bring four children to the Festival. Amanda’s daughter, five-year old Gracie, exclaimed, “The tiger slide was fun,” while her friend, four-year old Sophia said, “I loved petting the animals.” Five-year old Xander was too shy to comment.
At the World Cultures Area children and their parents picked up their official passports and set out to meet representatives from 14 different nations, among them Morocco, Russia, Greece, Dominican Republic and Ecuador.
The goal was to visit each country to have their passport stamped. Once filled with stamps, passports were presented and entered into a drawing for a $100 Toys ‘R Us gift certificate, passes to Water Country and tickets to see the Portland Sea Dogs. And if that wasn’t incentive enough to visit all of the countries, new this year was a trivia contest. Those who answered the 14 questions correctly earned a chance to win a Strafford Farms ice cream certificate.
Before making their way into the World Cultures Area, the Fournier family of Somersworth stopped by the Friends of the Earth, Sea and Space Center’s booth to play the “ducky game” and with assistance from UNH Marine Docents, touch live starfish, urchins and crabs.
Five-year old Astrid Fournier was excited to be at the Festival, “a reward for sleeping in her room last night,” said her mother, Tara. When asked what her favorite part of the day was, Astrid replied, “the puppy balloons and the fish games.”
The Festival was sponsored by the City of Somersworth and Service Credit Union. “This was a fantastic year,” commented Somersworth Festival Association Director, Sue Gregoire. “Friday night’s celebration saw the most people ever. It was the best weather in quite a few weekends and great all the way around.” She added, “We want to thank everyone who came, as well as all of the supporters, volunteers and board members. It was fabulous. We’re ready to go another 30 years.”
(By now you’ve had a chance to Google, or maybe you knew the answer? Ireland is the third largest island in Europe.)
Photo caption: The Fournier Family attended the Festival for the first time this year (Candi Enman photo)
Staff Columnist
SOMERSWORTH—
What is the third largest island in Europe? If you were one of the thousands who attended the Somersworth International Children’s Festival on Saturday, June 19th, you likely know the answer.
The festivities of the 30th annual event began with a night before celebration on Friday with food, vendors, live music and fireworks at Somersworth High School. On Saturday downtown Somersworth’s Main Street and Noble Pines Park were filled with food, song, crafts, demonstrations, games and activities for kids and adults alike.
Live music could be found at every corner of the event. Smiling children with painted faces wearing crowns they decorated themselves led their parents and grandparents from the bounce house to the train ride to the games at the exhibitor tables. Then it was a quick stop to cool down at the misting tent, before heading up the hill to Noble Pines where they found the petting zoo and a special entertainment stage where the young, and young at heart, danced and sang along to bubblegum pop tunes.
“This is the fourth year we’ve come and it gets better every year,” said Amanda Myers. “The kids have so much fun.” She and her sister Beth teamed up to bring four children to the Festival. Amanda’s daughter, five-year old Gracie, exclaimed, “The tiger slide was fun,” while her friend, four-year old Sophia said, “I loved petting the animals.” Five-year old Xander was too shy to comment.
At the World Cultures Area children and their parents picked up their official passports and set out to meet representatives from 14 different nations, among them Morocco, Russia, Greece, Dominican Republic and Ecuador.
The goal was to visit each country to have their passport stamped. Once filled with stamps, passports were presented and entered into a drawing for a $100 Toys ‘R Us gift certificate, passes to Water Country and tickets to see the Portland Sea Dogs. And if that wasn’t incentive enough to visit all of the countries, new this year was a trivia contest. Those who answered the 14 questions correctly earned a chance to win a Strafford Farms ice cream certificate.
Before making their way into the World Cultures Area, the Fournier family of Somersworth stopped by the Friends of the Earth, Sea and Space Center’s booth to play the “ducky game” and with assistance from UNH Marine Docents, touch live starfish, urchins and crabs.
Five-year old Astrid Fournier was excited to be at the Festival, “a reward for sleeping in her room last night,” said her mother, Tara. When asked what her favorite part of the day was, Astrid replied, “the puppy balloons and the fish games.”
The Festival was sponsored by the City of Somersworth and Service Credit Union. “This was a fantastic year,” commented Somersworth Festival Association Director, Sue Gregoire. “Friday night’s celebration saw the most people ever. It was the best weather in quite a few weekends and great all the way around.” She added, “We want to thank everyone who came, as well as all of the supporters, volunteers and board members. It was fabulous. We’re ready to go another 30 years.”
(By now you’ve had a chance to Google, or maybe you knew the answer? Ireland is the third largest island in Europe.)
Photo caption: The Fournier Family attended the Festival for the first time this year (Candi Enman photo)
