Today we spent a delightful day in the small town of Almonte, at the Puppets Up! Festival.
This year they featured puppet plays from around the world! We saw plays featuring stories from the USofA, the Yukon, Taiwan and Russia, (there were many more, but we ran out of time)!
The puppeteers were amazing...it was seriously non stop action! I think every show had me in tears...they were so magical and inspired!
All through the streets were random puppet shows...they actually shut down their roads downtown and the puppets and people were everywhere!!
After lunch there's a giant puppet parade!
This ol' gal stole the show...a knitting gramma, with a "Knit On" bumper sticker on her chair!
Why yes, that is a guy dancing the "robot" all the way down the street!
And a troupe of belly dancers!
And leave it to Ruby to befriend a clown!!! This is the look on his face as he spots us in the crowd!
They had some great "sesame st" esque puppets for sale, (locally handmade)...I just couldn't help myself and got a couple...it was puppet shows all the way home! Today was a magical day! I think exposing children to live art and performance is so important and valuable for their development. Today was a day where we saw "possibilities" galore. I think I want to be a puppeteer when I grow up!
In play
xo maureen
Knitting Gramma is a hoot! I love the look of delight on the spectators' faces. Looks like a fabulous time :-)
ReplyDeleteoh man...this looks like so much fun! I LOVE town festivals...luckily, we live super close to the historic district in our town which hosts some pretty awesome annual festivals--including Musikfest; going on right now....the largest outdoor and free music festival in the country!! Loving it- but hating the traffic!! haha!
ReplyDeletelove to you both:)
Looks like you had lots of fun Maureen!!
ReplyDeleteWOW! I dream I was there too! I love performing and visual arts and also try to expose my kids to as much as possible. This is amazing. What a gift.
ReplyDeletewhat a blast!! love the knitting grandma. ;) i also love that you took some puppets home with you!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool festival, I want to live over there!
ReplyDeleteThe mushroom came from a handmade craft shop in Brecon, a mountain town. It was sooo cheap! They didn't have a sticker on the bottom. Cool eh?
Daisy xx
Totally freaky!!!! But sounds like you had ton's of fun!!!! Those puppets though. . . .
ReplyDelete~Samantha
Oh, goodness...I'm gonna BE that granny...stockings and crocs and all! Hilarious!! I LOVE that there are people out there who DO this...just for the joy and fun of it all. I used to do a puppet workshop with my Grade 5s...it was awesome. They created puppets, wrote a personality profile, built a theatre/backdrop, and a puppet play, then performed it...covered most of the bases for the arts AND language curriculum, and mostly was FUN! Today I'm going to make a new curtain for my classroom puppet theatre! Long comment...I'm just so excited!
ReplyDeleteI am so envious. I love international puppets and fairytales. I can't wait to have the time to go through all the posts on your blog in search of inspiration. I really apprecitate your comment today. It has gotten me thinking on how to increase the ethinic diversity even more. Why not really break the mold since I am a square peg in the blogging world as it it. We start Waldorf preschool next month-have any ideas on how to expand the cultural aethetics of that world-LOL mymommymakesit
ReplyDeleteLooks like soooo much fun! I wish we had something like this nearby...hmmm. Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteWe were there too for the first time this year and LOVED every minute of it. I think the kids were a bit confused over some of the puppets but I thought my son's heart would burst when he saw someone playing the Grover puppet on the street. The craft tent was also super amazing, can't wait until next year already!!!
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