Children from across Sydney, representing communities from all over the world, came back for the Childen’s Festival after a two and a half year hiatus due to COVID.
Children, as young as three, sang, danced, played music, patted farm animals, jumped on rubber castles, had their faces painted, paraded in costume and played games together in Sydney’s Pyrmont Park, Darling Harbour.
Volunteers from over forty youth community groups worked on the festival, including those from the NSW Scouts.
Ballerinas, folk dancers, young warriors, musicians and singers all charmed the large audience in the park throughout the day.
A multicultural choir sang the National Anthem while an impeccable performance by the Kalymnos Creative Dance Academy charmed the crowd.
The founding president of the Festival, Thuat Nguyen, welcomed the crowd to the 36th festival.
“We believe that children are a starting point in building social cohesion and therefore this festival is one of the best ways to create harmony in our community, to enrich the Australian culture and to make everyone feel proud to be Australians,” Mr Nguyen said.
He said that 35 Children’s Festivals have been staged in Bankstown, Canterbury, Marrickville, Campbelltown and Sydney, which attracted over a quarter of a million participants and inspired thousands of volunteers, “particularly the young people, to do the good things for the community” .
“The enthusiastic participation of more than forty community youth groups in the 36th Children’s Festival – many boys and girls from NSW Scouts – and a big crowd of festival-goers, right after the pandemic, demonstrated that a new cultural tradition has emerged which is ‘playing together and living in harmony’ – as pursued by the Children’s Festival over the last 23 years.”
Dr Stepan Kerkyasharian AM, deputy chair of the Australia Day Council, launched the Festival
Addressing the audience he said that ” these wonderful children are Australians but they are sharing with everyone else talent, culture and skills that they have learned from their parents and grandparents who come from another part of the world.”
“This broadens our national character and makes us all true citizens of the world,” Dr Kerkyasharian AM said.