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Got Kids? O+ Festival Offers Family-Friendly Fun

This year’s O+ Festival schedule is bigger and more diverse than ever. To help you plan your itinerary, we’ve asked members of the O+ Festival team for a list of their must dos. Here are some family-friendly picks from O+ Festival Partnership Director Liz Harrington:

  • PARADE – (Friday 5:30 p.m.) Meet at the Kingston Library starting at 4:30 p.m. to learn a flash mob dance routine. My 3 1/2-year-old son loves to kick off the weekend with the Mardi Gras-style parade.  Make sure you wear red, black or white and bring a parasol for some dancing in the streets! I will be sending the grandparents and our visiting friends to Sante Fe (5-7 p.m.) for the parade watching/Lagunitas Happy Hour party on their outdoor deck!
  • BIKE RIDE – MURAL TO MURAL/GREENLINE RIDE (Saturday 9 a.m. – noon) Begins and ends at the YMCA on Broadway and wraps up with a family-friendly picnic.
  • KIDS YOGA – (Saturday 2:15 p.m.) at The Kirkland.
  • BIKE RODEO+ – (Sunday noon and 1:30 p.m.) – Stop by the Fall Festival going on Forsyth Park for a free bike helmet fitting.
  • MUSICAL PLAYING ZOO – (Sat / Sun 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.) at Old Dutch Church graveyard.
  • MUSIC – Saturday’s shows at Alebrijes (298 Wall St.) — MADARKA and LEVANTA, and any of the outdoor concerts in the Somewhere Alley (behind BSP) are all great options.
  •  PUPPET THEATER AND WORKSHOPS – (Sat / Sun 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.) at Peace Park.
  • TEMPORARY TATTOOS – (Sat / Sun 2-4 p.m.) at Peace Park.
  • ANYTIME – Stop by the MURALS to see the artists working. The multi-artist exhibit, “MOTHERS OF INVENTION,” at the O+ Gallery at Tech Smiths. There will be an interactive ROAD SIGNS exhibit in BSP’s parking lot and the THE (P)OPTIMISM SHOPPE exhibit will be really cool to check out on Broadway.
  • WELLNESS EXPO+ – (Saturday 9 a.m.-2 p.m.) on Wall Street right next to the Kingston Farmer’s Market is a must hang. Kids love this one! There’s facepainting, a Teddy Bear Clinic, where he can climb in a real ambulance, and dancing in the street with POOK (the Percussion Orchestra of Kingston) and the Energy Dance Co. A group tai chi warm up followed by a demonstration of “Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention”, will start around 10:45 a.m. Plan on getting your car seat checked for safety (Sat 11 a.m.-2 p.m.) by pulling into the Fair Street loading dock between North Front Street and Schwenk Drive.