Calling all kids…Hyde Park Children’s Festival every Friday in June

The Hyde Park Children’s Festival invites all children and families to this free movie might and concert, each Friday in June. Photo by Mike Sinclair.

“You don’t know how many kids there are in Midtown until you see them all together,” says Roger Coleman of the Pilgrim Center.

And one place to see a big group of them is the Hyde Park Children’s Festival, a four-Friday-night event in the summer at 36th and Gillham.

The festival, which began last weekend and continues on June 14, 21, and 28, includes a musical concert, movie, food and other activities for families each week.

The festival was held in July in past years but has been moved to June in an effort to beat the heat this year.

Coleman explains the event began in 2003. Around that time, the Westport Allen Center, which provided services to young people, merged with the Pilgrim Center in Hyde Park. The newly-merged organization looked for a children’s event and decided to have a movie night. It’s been expanded to include music and snow cones, among other things.

“The idea is to create a sense of community,” Coleman says. “We want to make it a free event for all children.”

Funding comes, in part, from the annual Pilgrim Run on Thanksgiving.

To participate, all you have to do is show up with a blanket or lawn chairs.

The Friday evening concerts begin at 7:30 and the movies start at 8:30.

This week’s special events:

Concert: Youth Rock Band

Educational Activity: Odd Ball

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