With as many as 155 events in this year’s TV2 KidsFest, the City Council-run celebration is bigger and better than ever.

This year the festival runs from 29 June to 12 July.

The Christchurch City Council is the major funder of this popular festival and its Leisure Events team produces it. The booking office, through Ticketek, opens on 15 June and the brochures are available now.

This year sees the return of old favourites like The Krypton Factor and Bells to Basements. New events include Kids Cruise For Free on Lyttelton Harbour, Kick Fest com ‘n’ Box, and theatre shows such as Pinocchio, Aladdin, and Thumberlina.

The Great Pipe Dream will stretch imaginations and flex creative muscles all over the city in the culmination of a six-week process, where schools from as far away as Buller and Ashburton take up the challenge to create colourful sculptures made of recycled PVC piping donated by Connetix.

The idea came from TV2 KidsFest Trust member Henry Sunderland. “It’s to do with recycling really,” he says. “We’re making kids aware of the issues around recycling, and having fun at the same time.” ng soon The pipe art works will be on display at the Botanic Gardens Playground throughout the festival.

This year’s opening event promises chilly adventure, with Disney’s new movie Snow Dogs. In true Hollywood style, children will experience a movie premier at Northlands Mall on Saturday, 29 June.

Twenty free events are presented, in a variety of categories, and offer the opportunity for children to experience petanque, listen to stories, create wearable art, and be entertained by visiting Adelaide children’s band Ticklish Allsorts.

Children in North Canterbury will have their very own series of TV2 KidsFest events this year. Waimakariri Fun events are listed in all categories in the brochure, which goes to out schools around 1 June.

TV2 KidsFest runs from 29 June to 12 July. For more information, call 941 6840, fax 941 8267 or visit www.kidsfest.org.nz on the Web.