Here’s a ‘catch up’ on what has been a busy year to date, with the Christmas season beginning very soon. 2011 started with our 7th tour of Arizona/California, with performances in Yuma, Arizona City, Tucson, Casa Grande, Hemet, Palm Desert, El Centro, Winterhaven, Mesa and Apache Junction, sometimes several in the same area. Shows were for both young and senior audiences, so lots of variety. As usual the tour ended with a couple of our special St. Patrick’s shows, which are always great fun to perform.
Back to Alberta, and a special marketing event for Nagel Tours, with whom Mary is associated as an occasional Tour Director; plus the first ever Lethbridge Children’s Festival, (where we met Shrek and Fiona!) Heavy snow didn’t keep the crowds away, but made for a huge turnout. Back to St. Albert in time for Easter, and our regular Easter Monday at the Zoo. A school or two in May, plus our special time at ‘A day out with Thomas’ – in Heritage Park, Calgary. Always fun with thousands of ‘munchkins’ in all directions. End of the month and into June came the ever popular Northern Alberta International Children’s Festival (30th anniversary!). Five days of great interaction with many other performers, thousands of children, and mostly good weather.
The rest of June was busy with shows in Sherwood Park, Grande Cache Music Festival, Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village (Pioneer Days for school groups), plus the grand re-opening of the John Janzen Nature Centre.
July was equally busy, with several events at Fort Edmonton Park, which we always love, as well as a private function for the Zoo, and a short library tour for which we wrote special songs for this year’s theme ‘Splash’. Also our first performance for Leduc Streetfest.
The high spot of July was being invited to represent Canada in the International show at Vent Haven Ventriloquist ConVENTion, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. The second time we have been so honoured and an attendance of 538 from all over the world; the largest ever!
Much of August was spent with family and friends; both in the U.K. and on the west coast of Canada. At the end of the month we returned to the 2 day Fort Edmonton Harvest, and a big family picnic for all the Realtors in the Edmonton area (year 3). September saw a weekend of shows at Kidsfest Family Expo, plus Free Access Day for the city of Edmonton, where we performed for the Zoo in the morning and Muttart Conservatory in the afternoon; followed by Mary taking a tour group to Minot, North Dakota, for the Hostfest early the following day. Lots of acts and a full bus, as always.
Now it’s October; we had a function for Strathcona County Library last Friday, a day at the A.T.A.A. showcase on Saturday, and a fundraiser which we organized through St. Albert United Church on Sunday night, which will enable over $6,000 to be sent for a project in Southern Sudan/Ethiopia.
This weekend is ‘Spooktacular’ at Fort Edmonton Park where nobody will recognize us; then only a couple more events before the Christmas season gets under way on November 12th. We hope all of you who are reading this are having a great year too! Talk to you soon…
Tags: children's performers, Irish music, kid's entertainers, magic, music, peter and mary, puppets, senior's music