Children’s Festival of the Arts to offer free food, entertainment and art activities

Stock image, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Art activities, free food and a magic show are just a few of the attractions that will take place at the first Children’s Festival of the Arts in St. George.

Kids ages 6 to 12 are invited to bring one piece of art, whether that’s a painting, drawing, handmade jewelry, pottery or some other craft for display in the exhibit. Kids who play an instrument or sing are also welcome to perform, and a piano and drum set will be provided.

“I would love to have the kids bring a piece of art that they have done,” event director Karen Mangano said. “We’re going to display it so that kids can see what other children have done their age.”

A free lunch including hot dogs and sandwiches will be provided for everyone, and friends and family members are invited to attend.

Stock image | St. George News

Activities and entertainment will also be available at the festival. Singers from Snow Canyon High School will perform as well as a young dancer.

Local painter Caroll Riley will teach the kids how to sketch as well as help them cut out and paint life-size cutouts of themselves that they can paint however they want.

Dave Smith, a local magician, will perform magic tricks for those in attendance and may teach the kids a card trick or two, Mangano said.

The final special guest will be cartoonist Bill Fortune, whose book, “Called to Laugh: The Lighter Side of Missionary Life,” was recently published.

Read more: ‘Called to Laugh,’ new book coauthored by St. George cartoonist, explores humor in LDS missionary life

A young girl in a Polynesian dress will be at the event as a model for the children to practice their living art sketches, as well as a bagpipe player in Scottish garb.

Every participant will receive a prize for their work. Many St. George businesses contributed prizes to the cause, including The House of Jump, Laser Mania Family Fun Center, Pizza Pie Cafe and Tiki Island Broiler.

“I can’t tell you all the companies in St. George that just donated prizes for this. It’s been great, it really has,” Mangano said.

She originally came up with the idea for the Children’s Festival of the Arts as she saw children at various local festivals with raw artistic talent and wanted to create a place for them to come together.

I wanted this to be an event for the kids in the community to be able to come together and share their talents and their love of art with other kids that are of same mind,” Mangano said.

The Children’s Festival of the Arts will take place April 6 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church at 920 Tonaquint Drive, St. George.

The event is free, but participants are asked to register by emailing [email protected] by March 26 so event coordinators can prepare enough food and prizes.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews | @MikaylaShoup

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, all rights reserved.

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