Youngsters put spotlight on how city has changed
SATURDAY marks the climax ot the 2009 Sheffield Children's Festival with Lord Mayor's Day which in addition to the traditional parade involves an afternoon of free entertainment for all the family on Devonshire Green.
This year's theme for the parade is The Changing Face of Sheffield, and schools from across the city have joined together to tell the story of Sheffield through its people and places.
The children have made large carnival structures depicting famous Sheffield landmarks, people, and key events. The children will be dressed in costumes from Tudor times to present day and they will be accompanied on their route by several marching bands.
The parade will move off from the Peace Gardens at noon and make its way to Devonshire Green where it will hand over to a music stage hosting performances and entertainment through the afternoon. There will be stalls and refreshments on offer, making it a fun day out for all the family.
Festival Manager Richard Johnson said: "This year's event is much bigger than ever before. We still have a big parade, with 20 schools, community groups and businesses taking part but it has been opened up to have a much wider reach. Much more has been invested to make the event a full day, rather than a short parade. This year's afternoon of fun on Devonshire Green builds on the success of last year's event, when we had extra activities at the end of parade in Tudor Square."
The event will have a rolling programme of activities, including stage performances and demonstrations from young people and community groups. Visitors can enjoy a pike drill demonstration and setting up of camp from Sealed Knot, cheerleading and American football demonstrations, live music, street theatre, crafts, and a climbing wall. Museums Sheffield will also be bringing their 'Museum in the Sun' along.
It rounds off this year's Sheffield Children's Festival which has seen more than 40 events in 22 venues over 22 days.
Also on Saturday, in another departure for the festival, families can enjoy a piece of international dance when Increpacion Danza present a new family-friendly show Increpa2, a winning blend of fun and Flamenco, at the Lyceum Theatre on Saturday afternoon. In the morning Increpacion co-director Montse Sanchez will deliver a family-friendly flamenco workshop.
It is a collaboration between the festival and city-based Danceworks UK who have brought Increpacion Danza over for the UK premiere of their show, Breviario, this weekend. When the company suggested also bringing their new family show, Danceworks director Annabel Dunbar approached Richard Johnson about including it in the festival. "We did business in a matter of minutes," she said.
"We felt it was such a good show, too good to miss," added the festival manager. "We are keen to introduce an international element to the festival and also build up a programme of events that people can come along to in addition to the successful participatory element based around schools."
An example of that has been the den-building sessions in the Winter Garden with environmental artists from Art in the Park which have created a colourful structure – part den, part sculpture, with tunnels and secret chambers which people of all ages can now explore.
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Weather for Sheffield
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South east
