GlobalFest

I was a guest blogger on Family Fun Calgary this week! So excited about that. Melissa, one of the co-founders, and I met because our sons went to school together. We were lucky enough to go to GlobalFest with the kids. Here is my post.

We went to GlobalFest for the second night which was the Philippines night to host. It was our first time to the festival and I had looked all over the GlobalFest site trying to figure out what exactly the evening would entail and what I should expect. I found that the site was not laid out all that well for someone who is just getting introduced to the festival. I just read Leslie's blog pot about their trip to GlobalFest and wish that I had read it before we went so we would have known better what to plan for a bring.
We started off the day rather early - my kids bedtimes are normally between 7 and 8 p.m, so we knew that it was going to be a long evening - I was hoping for luck to be on our side and them to not have any major meltdowns and we made it through most of the evening without them. We got to the Subway Soccer Centre early and were on one of the first shuttle buses to Elliston Park. We actually were there before the gates opened at 6 p.m. so began the evening right away. We meandered our way over to the South side of the lake and reserved our spot on the hill with the girls' Chariot. While we were there we caught the first performance from the Venezuelan group "Pasos de Venezuela". The women did such a wonderful job and their costumes were beautiful. My children all enjoy music and dancing, so they all clapped and cheered after each song.
At this point we were getting hungry so we went to the OneWorld Cafe and International Bar. There was many choices there for ethnic foods - my husband and I loved the meals we got and our daughters enjoyed tastes of different foods they had not eaten often. For those of you with picky children - bring food along. My son, who is a picky eater at the best of times, did not eat a lot.
After supper we went and explored the OneWorld Village. We were given a "passport" for the children to ask questions at the different pavilions and get to know information about that culture or the language that is spoken in that country. I was the one who asked most of the questions and learned a lot, so it was a good for me as well. They also had activities at some of the pavilions for the children to participate in and the people who were hosting the booths were great at interacting with the children, which I loved. I think one of my children's favorites was the booth where they got to drum with the gentleman from Nigeria.

R playing one of the instruments at a pavilion

The kids lounging at the Egypt booth

Nigeria pavilion - the drums were a favourite. Couldn't get a good pic of A - she was moving so fast.

At this point it was getting late and we had not even gotten to the Kiddie Corral yet. It was on the opposite side to where we came in and I never really thought about it and then when it crossed my mind it was too late. My children do not like face painting, so this was OK for us, but if your children need play time or love the face painting and other activities in the Kiddie Corral, you may want to go there first. We managed to get the last round in one of the bouncy castles before they closed up shop, so it was OK for us.
We headed back to our "seats" in the south seating bowl and lucky for us there was a wonderful couple who had an extra jacket to put down on the ground to sit on. We are in the middle of a move right now, so my normally organized brain that remembers everything was not on the ball. (Ha ha! My husband is laughing hard right now :) It was hot on Sunday and I had not thought ahead to how cool it would be after the sun went down. Good thing the girls had some extra clothing in their backpack, but my son and husband and I had none. We all cuddled though on the jacket and once the fireworks started everything about the evening was worth it.
They were amazing! Amazing! I have seen pyro-musical performances before, but this one was incredible. Afterward the couple who lent us the jacket had said that they have gone for every night of GlobalFest for the past 3 years and that night was the best one they had seen yet. My favorite song part was to "My Prayer" by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli - there was a continuous waterfall of fireworks for over a minute that was reflected in the lake that was incredible.

If you want to check it out for yourself, Trico put up a video on YouTube here.

It ended a little late and by the time we were able to get out of there, get on the bus and get back to our vehicle it was 10:45. As Leslie said the busing was a little disorganized, so it took awhile. My son was having a meltdown about how tired he was and I was exhausted as well after the long day.
Helpful hints to add to Leslie's -
- take a look at the map when you arrive and plan out your evening. We never did this, so missed out on some of the event.
- don't bring a stroller - too many people around, it just adds to the confusion and slows the speed at which you can move. If we hadn't been moving and had them packed I would have brought our hiking backpacks for the girls to make it easier.
- bring LOTS of water - it was a hot day and my husband and I felt a little dehydrated and water was expensive. I had brought water bottles for the kids, but forgotten ours.
All in all we loved GlobalFest, but I would say the next time we go to GlobalFest as a family will probably when my children are a few years older and able to cope with the late evening. I may be able to convince my husband to make it a date night though next year. :)