Login / RegisterVancouver International Children's Festival celebrates attendance boost
The Vancouver International Children’s Festival seems to have put its difficulties behind. Last year, lacklustre ticketsales almost forced the festival’s complete shutdown—but this year, the festival’s 35th, the numbers are telling a different story.
Total attendance for 2012 was up by 15 percent over last year, with more than 60 percent of the 112 mainstage shows sold out. By far the most popular show was New York Times bestselling children’s author and entertainer Eric Litwin of Pete the Cat fame, whose 14 performances all sold out. All in all, it was a welcome change of fortunes for VICF artistic and executive director Katharine Carol.
“This year exceeded our expectations,” she said in a news release. “Granville Island provided a phenomenal and accessible setting for famlies who spent the day seeing a show at one of our five indoor and three outdoor venues, taking in roving entertainers throughout the site, or producing their own work of art at our many activity stations. We couldn’t have asked for a more enchanting festival experience.”
Unlike last year, this year’s festival centralized activities to the south side of Granville Island, which kept parents and kids from having to cross heavy traffic. There were also more on-site options for non-ticketed entertainment, including face painting, sock puppet-making, claymation, shadow puppetry, a “Twist & Toddle Pre-School” play area, and a soundscape.
