Jornal de Leiria – Leiria Kids challenges families to camp and participate in the festival designed for children

A giant circus tent, small micro-stages and mobile mini-stages around the venue are some of the main novelties of the third edition of the Leiria Kids Festival, which will take place at Quinta do Faria, in Caranguejeira, in Leiria, during the 1st and 2nd of June.

This year it is also possible to camp at the venue, which reinforces the principles of “citizenship, sustainability, planning and coexistence”, assumes Paulo Lameiro, the curator of the festival’s programming, which features night shows.

Carousels, inflatables with water, slides, tree climbing, a mini-track at Leiria Sobre Rodas, a small animal farm, falconry, markets and a river, with several species of fish are some of the activities that the little ones can find at Leiria Kids, which this year has Children’s Day as its backdrop.

The third edition of the event also offers a water space, which allows children to take on mini-boat ‘sailing’.

Paulo Lameiro emphasizes that Leiria Kids intends to give all the protagonism to children, ensuring their involvement in some activities, revealing that the objective is for the youngest to participate in the next festival’s programming.

The curator of the Leiria Kids Festival program argues that an event for children has to be created by them. “We would like this festival, instead of being made for children, for us adults, for the children to be the protagonists. Which means that the programming has to be done by them. We have to give them the floor,” he points out.

According to maestro Paulo Lameiro, “this is an edition that opens doors so that some of the show proposals” can now be entrusted to children, such as deciding where to place a poem or taking part in one of the performances on the program, he exemplified.

The program is divided between spaces for large groups and mini-stages, distributed throughout the space.

The shows are no longer held on a stage and are now taking place in a circus tent, as a way of changing cultural practice, where the audience is no longer at the bottom and the artists at the top. “The child and the family are on the same level as the artist”, he says.

The remaining programming, which takes place centered on the farm’s threshing floor, takes place throughout the space, focusing on the story of Júlio Silva, the owner of Quinta do Faria, who provides the space for the event free of charge.

“The best source of inspiration for everything we can do is Júlio and his stories: Júlio as a child, family man, professional, music lover and dreamer”, he revealed.

At the threshing floor there will be a stage with concerts for babies, under the responsibility of Musicallymente, and will have guest artists.

So that the festival can last over time, families and children will be able to write messages or poems of peace that will be placed on a tree and that will remain in the space, mixed with the sounds of water and birds. “It’s the idea of ​​letting messages of peace float, because a word spoken by a child here will surely reach Palestine or Israel, because the power of children and words is tremendous”, says Paulo Lameiro.

The venue has a limit of 2,500 people. In recent editions, capacity has always been sold out, guarantees Catarina Louro.

The councilor responsible for major events reveals that Leiria Kids maintains an investment of around 100 thousand euros. The municipality chose to put tickets on sale starting at 12 euros, because it understands that the event “should be accessible to all children”.

Tickets for Leiria Kids 2024 are now available at the usual places, including Ticketline and the José Lúcio da Silva Theater Box Office. Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of this unique event full of moments of fun and happiness for the whole family.