Eleventh TV2 KidsFest a Resounding Success

The eleventh TV2 KidsFest, which concluded on Friday 12 July, attracted a record attendance well in excess of the 55,000 achieved in 2001.

The festival is New Zealand's biggest children's festival. Aimed at kids up to the age of 12, there is nothing like it anywhere else in the country. Over the past two weeks of the July school holidays more than 150 events were presented at locations all over Christchurch.

Highlight events this year included, The Great Pipe Dream: - a large sculptural garden in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Visiting international children's band Ticklish Allsorts attracted over 1,800 children to their high-energy interactive show - it was the first time the Adelaide based -band had toured to New Zealand and their six-performance tour is something festival organisers hope to repeat within the next two years.

Ticket North & Ticket South offered many children their first train ride, and the two train-ride events were sold out with over 1,000 people enjoying the unique opportunity. Kids 4 Peace, a new event to the 2002 programme was also very popular, attracting over 500 children and their families to Cathedral Square. At the conclusion of the 90-minute show children marched through the City Mall to the Bridge of Remembrance where peace cranes made by children in Christchurch's Sister Cities were laid alongside those made by local children.

For the first time in 2002, the programme was extended to include 19 events in the North Canterbury area under the heading of Waimakariri Fun. These events, organised in conjunction with the Waimakariri District Council, were a huge hit and a programme of activities, funded by the Community Trust will feature as part of the 2003 festival.

The dates for TV2 KidsFest 2003 are Saturday 5 to Friday 18 July 2003.

TV2 KidsFest is produced by Christchurch City Council Leisure, with funding from the Christchurch City Council, The Community Trust and TV2.

For more information: call Gillian Walsh. Festival Coordinator Christchurch City Council Leisure, 941-8255 or 025 865-558