Friday, May 31

6:00 PM–9:00 PM

Start your summer off right and visit the Ordway for the official beginning of the Flint Hills Family Festival Family Weekend! With music, dancing, activities, and food, there is something to please everyone in the family.

Special morning feature

NOOMA, an opera for babies

Tickets start at $5 10:15 AM & 11:30 AM

Friday night headliner

Davina & the Vagabonds

Tickets start at $40 7:00 PM


Free to attend

Outdoor performances

Families dancing at the Flint Hills Family Festival's 2023 Strings & Salsa Night. Photo by Laura Alpizar.

On Friday night, the park surrounding the Ordway comes to life with free, family-friendly acts! Bring your whole family for New Orleans-inspired jazz music and live DJing, awe-inspiring stilt artists, face-painting, and more!

Festival MC

DJ Huh? What??

6:00–9:00 PM Flint Hills World Music Stage

Jack Brass Band

6:20–9:00 PM Flint Hills World Music Stage

Hijinks Stilts

6:00–9:00 PM Walkaround artists

Markus Clegg Magic

6:10 PM, 7:00 PM Rice Park


Free to enjoy

Activities

Volunteer leading an activity at the 2022 Flint Hills Family Festival. Photo by Laura Alpizar.

Learn and create at the Festival! During the Flint Hills Family Festival weekend, Rice Park—just across from the Ordway—bustles with fun, free art-making activities, educational games, and more.

ArtStart

Wings for Wishes

Rice Park

Write your wish on a butterfly or dragonfly and decorate it with markers and doo-dads. Then put your Winged Wish on the blue sky wall and let your hope sail skywards.

ArtStart.org

Bell Museum

Rice Park

Hands-on nature-themed art activities and specimens for participants to observe.

BellMuseum.UMN.edu

Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center

Rice Park

Experience Minnesota’s native wildlife as you meet some of CNC’s live animal ambassadors! Get up close and personal as you paint, draw, or color each live animal. Naturalists will share each animal's life history.

CarpenterNatureCenter.org

Children's Theatre Company

Rice Park

Make your own monster mask! Kids can use crayons, paper plates, and tactile multi-media materials to make a monster face.

ChildrensTheatre.org

Flint Hills Resources

Rice Park

Design and color a drawstring bag and show off your unique artistic skills and then use it to hold the other arts and crafts collected throughout the festival.

FHR.com

Hoang Anh Vietnamese Dance Group

Rice Park

Celebrating the Year of the Dragon, design a Vietnamese conical hat/nón lá, and craft a colorful dragon puppet.

HoangAnhDanceGroup.Wordpress.com

India Association of Minnesota

Rice Park

Experience India’s art with Henna, Saree draping, Rangoli/Mandala, and lamp painting.

IAMN.org

MathHappens Foundation

Rice Park

Come help us build the 3D Shape Museum by designing, assembling, and naming your own three-dimensional shape.

MathHappens.org

Mounds Park Academy

Rice Park

Create your own button and have a masterpiece to wear and take home!

MoundsParkAcademy.org

Nritya Kalakshetra Academy of Performing Arts

Rice Park

Learn for yourself aspects of Indian culture with Henna for hands, practicing kolam arts, using Mudras to share a story, and rhythmic syllables through counting.

@NrityaKalakshetraAcademy on Facebook

The Ordway

Rice Park

Create underwater creatures and seashells, color a Disney’s The Little Mermaid coloring sheet, and learn more about all the “under the sea” fun coming to the Ordway in December 2024.

Face painting and balloon art with

Rainbow Party Arts

Rice Park & Landmark Plaza

Fun and fast face painting by award-winning artists.

RainbowPartyArts.com

Trần Thị Minh Phước

Rice Park

Celebrating the Year of the Dragon, design a Vietnamese conical hat/nón lá, and craft a colorful dragon puppet.

PhuocThiMinhTran.Wordpress.com