The Family Area offers endless fun with cultural arts and crafts, face painting, henna, street performances, fully booked Family Stage, a bustling Young Artist Market, and a brand-new Story Time Tent. Kids can meet princesses and superheroes, hula-hoop, twirl ribbons, blow bubbles, and explore featured booths in the Cultural Arts Passport program – collecting stamps at free activity booths, creating art, and earning a goodie bag at “baggage claim.”

Families can shop youth-made creations in the Young Artist Market, or cool off in the Story Time Tent with whimsical tales of friendship, community, and history read by local children’s authors. The Family Stage is buzzing all weekend with performances by local area schools, dance troupes, and acts, including Piccadilly Puppets with Butterfly Ballad (Fri, Sept. 19, 6 p.m.), magician Mike Gilliland of Magic with a Twist (Sat, Sept. 20, 2 p.m.), local musicians DeCeadaoin with traditional Irish tunes for kids (Sat, Sept. 20, 6:40 p.m.), Schrodinger’s Cat Improv (Sun, Sept. 21, 11:35 a.m.), Columbia Marionette Theatre (Sun, Sept. 21, 1 p.m.), and Musical Theatre Workshops (Sun, Sept. 21, 3:15 p.m.)

Street performances keep the excitement going, featuring foam sword fighting with Eastwind Village daily, a meet-and-greet with princesses and superheroes from Brown Beauty Magic (Sat, Sept. 20, 2 p.m.), Daytime Emmy nominee Lee “That Puppet Guy” Bryan (Sat, Sept. 20, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.), plus plein air painters capturing the Riverwalk throughout the weekend. With so much to see and do, the Family Area is the perfect spot for little arts lovers and their grown-ups to play, create, and explore!