Popular Children’s Festival

l CAIRNS

MORE than 12,000 people attended last weekend’s Children’s Festival in Cairns.

Mayor Bob Manning said the 10th annual festival was “a resounding success, with attendance up significantly on previous years”.

“Held over two days across the Court House Gallery, the Cairns Performing Arts Centre and Tanks Arts Centre, over 12,000 people attended more than 20 free events and two ticketed shows,” he said.

“The festival is all about giving children the chance to play, engage, create and be the stars of the show – it certainly achieved that this year.

"A heartfelt thanks also goes out to 20 local volunteers who gave of their time to support the event across the weekend."

The 2023 program was produced with 10 creative production companies, four of them local to Cairns region, with over 117 individual local artists and performers engaged.

The success of Birmba, the First Nations work locally written and produced by Merindi Schrieber, commissioned by the council and co-funded by Arts Queensland, was an outstanding highlight of the weekend, with hundreds attending the three free performances at the Tanks Arts Centre.