Superheroines and parades

We had some great help with the Morinville Public School float in the St Jean Baptiste Festival parade: Wonder Woman and Bat Girl! With sponsorship for the cosplayers from Morinville News and a fantastic paint job from MPS School Council President, Sarah Hall, the float was a great hit!

Day 1: Success!

Wow! Over 1000 people out to day one of Carnival with another day tomorrow all your faves plus *NEW* activities for Sunday including Citie Ballet and Zoo2U: Exotic Petting Zoo. It's FREE so we can't wait to see you out. Here's some highlights from today:

TONS of people showed up to watch MPS Dance Academy
Partner Dance Connection bust out the hip hop

how to get here

Using GPS? Plug in "Ray MacDonald Sport Centre Morinville" and you should be good to go or, you know, use this handy-dandy map we made up for you (and by "we" we mean Google Maps):

Frequently Asked Questions

Couple of FAQs about the mps Children's Carnival tomorrow:

My kids don't go to Public school, can we still come? YES. Everyone is welcome and we're happy to have you.

How much money should I bring? There is NO cost to Carnival. None. Nada. Nein. Games, prizes, facepainting, bouncy castles... all free! There ARE many other events plus food trucks going on throughout the St Jean Baptiste Festival that you might want cash for but there is an ATM right in the arena lobby

What ages is the Carnival appropriate for? 1-14 (plus adults ;))

Can I buy food when we're there? You bet! MPS is hosting a delicious fundraiser bbq just outside the Carnival doors in the lobby of the arena.

Any other ????? give us a shout at mpespfa@hotmail.com

rain or shine!

Well, it's pouring rain in Sturgeon County but it's gonna be nothing but sunshine in rainbows INDOORS for Carnival! All children's events, activities, and performances are TOTALLY FREE. While you're here you can also grab lunch indoors at the MPS fundraiser bbq (check out the menu here). Can't wait to throw open the doors at noon tomorrow when Dragon Scales rock the main stage.

nom nom nom

Just outside the doors of Carnival, in the arena lobby you'll find our hardworking minions volunteers furiously cooking up DELICIOUS Angus cheeseburgers, among other things. All proceeds will go to support the purchase of a full set of hand chimes for the Morinville Public School music program. Why make lunch when you could let us do it for you AND support the arts in Morinville?!

Kid at heart

Well folks, I JUST got home from setting up Carnival and it's looking great. I can't wait to start loading it up first with community partners and food, then with all of your shining faces! We did receive some bad news today: the 501st Legion: Vader's Fist will no longer be attending. HOWEVER, we received tons of good news to sooth the burn. First we learned that Wonder Woman and Batgirl will be walking with the MPS (Morinville Public School) Carnival-themed float in the St Jean Baptiste parade, starting at 10:30am. Then they will be joined by two of our favorites: Captain America AND Black Widow! I am totally geeking out over here.

And to add to the fun, we were contacted by the Festival Society to see if we wanted an extra bouncy castle with a climbing wall and a slide... um, YES. Yes we do, thank you very much. I am not ashamed to say, left alone in an empty arena with an inflated bouncy castle, I totally climbed in. Yup. Pretty proud of my completely adult behaviour tonight ;)

See you Saturday,
Leah Elzinga
MPES PFA President

Our sponsors are THE BEST

One last time, from the bottom of our hearts, we wanted to give a shout out to our amazing and generous sponsors. Putting on a two day event for hundreds and hundreds of people for FREE is no small feat and we couldn't have done it for four years now, without the generous support of our community, near and far. Thank you SO MUCH.

Say hello to our little friends

Did you know that besides the superheroes, and ballerinas, and carnival games, and exotic animals, Carnival is proud to host SEVENTEEN Community Partners?! You bet! Non-profits, community groups, athletic groups, and dance troupes; they're all welcome and it wouldn't be Carnival without them. Come on out and REALLY get to know your community and the people that make it awesome! Here's the full list for Carnival 2015 (SO PROUD)

Feathers, furs, and scales... oh my!

Back for the third year are Zoo2U, generously sponsored by M.A.P. Group of Companies. This isn't your ordinary petting zoo: these folks bring out birds and reptiles and other cool animal friends and teach the kids all about them. It's a true learning experience for the kids, and one of our most popular activities every year. Don't miss them, Sunday ONLY, 11-2pm!

Get with the program...

Less than a week until the open of SJB Festival and MPS Children's Carnival! Here's the program for Carnival. Note that since this year's event is two days, some activities and performers are here one day or the other, so plan accordingly (ie just come both days, lol!) EVERYONE is welcome, and ALL kids events, activities, and performances are FREE.

So proud to announce that the Carnival has a new Emerald Dragon Sponsor: the Government of Canada through their Celebrate Canada intitiative.

Community Partner: The Ripple Connection Support Centre

We were so happy to meet the Ripple Connection Support Centre back in April, and happier still that they have taken us up on our offer to be one of our newest community partners. Located in Barrhead, the centre provides services and resources throughout the area. They are a drop-in centre where people can connect with other families and individuals living with mental illness. Their objective is to relieve conditions associated with mental illness b providing life managements skills through education and nutritional programs, social networking, and referral services to assist families and individuals to become and remain more independent in the community. Needless to say, they are doing good, valuable work, and we are proud to support them.

Community Partner: Morinville Art Club

Carnival has always had a happy relationship with artists, working with them to help us create our games and paint faces. This year we're "shopping local", bringing in the WONDERFUL Sarah Hall and the Morinville Art Club as our Community Partner! The Art Club has generously volunteered to provide face painting for FREE. Did you know that Morinville has both adult AND youth chaperts of the club? You bet! Make sure to bring your little artists to meet the Art Club, and better yet, sign them up.

Credit: Lucy Roy, Mornville News

Community Partner: Edmonton Twin & Triplet Club

The Edmonton Twin and Triplet Club (ETTC) was founded in January 1968, as a local support organization for parents of multiple births (twins, triplets, quadruplets, etc.). The ETTC strives to give support to those parents expecting multiples and to those parents who have multiples at home. For more information please check out our website, www.ettc.ca, or find us on Facebook. 

As a chapter of Multiple Births Canada, we are pleased and excited to hold the 2015 Multiple Births Canada National Conference - Live, Laugh and Learn. For parents, grandparents, guardians and teachers, this conference is open to all wanting to join this 3-day Parenting Celebration! For more information and to see our list of keynote speakers and workshops please visit www.ettc.ca.

In a hip hop state of mind

So excited to hear about the hip hop crews coming to Carnival on Saturday! To get in the mood check out these cuties showing us (and Ellen) what's UP!

JUST ANNOUNCED...

As the great poet Snoop Dogg once said, Hip Hop makes the world go 'round. In that spirit we're excited to announce that not one, not two... but SIX hip hop groups from Dance Connection will be breaking it down on the main stage, 2pm Saturday June 20th!!! Dance Connection as long been a fixture in Mo-town and we can't wait to see what their partnership with the newly announced Morinville Public School Dance Academy is going to bring to the stage come 2015/16!

fun announcement coming...

tomorrow evening... stay posted for details on an as yet unannounced performance for Saturday!