Friday, May 29

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.

Let loose with Rock and Roll Playhouse

Rock out to Beyoncé & Soul Sisters For Kids at a free outdoor performance beginning at 6:00 PM

Enjoy high-flying thrills by Cirque Mechanics

Circus-themed spectacle TILT! takes the stage at 7:00 PM—with tickets for just $8

Buy Tickets

Dance into the weekend with Soul Ballroom and Salsa del Soul

Start with a demo by the experts of Soul Ballroom, learn a few steps of your own—and then put it all together to the irresistible music of Salsa del Soul!


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 spectacular performances, live DJing, wandering puppet artists, face-painting, and more!

Festival MC

DJ Huh? What??

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

Beyoncé & Soul Sisters For Kids presented by

Rock and Roll Playhouse

6:00 PM–6:45 PM Flint Hills World Music Stage

Free salsa lesson & demonstration with

Soul Ballroom

7:05 PM–7:35 PM Flint Hills World Music Stage

Salsa del Soul

8:00–8:50 PM Flint Hills World Music Stage

On stage at the Flint Hills Family Festival. Photo by Laura Alpizar.
Youth pose in front of large "St PL" sign representing Saint Paul at the Flint Hills Family Festival 2025. Photo by Laura Alpizar.
Child participating in crafts at the Flint Hills Family Festival 2023. Photo by Laura Alpizar.
Child at the Flint Hills Family Festival. Photo by Laura Alpizar.
NOOMA, an opera for babies at the 2025 Flint Hills Family Festival. Photo by Laura Alpizar.

Free to enjoy

Activities

A youth jumps during an outdoor activity at the Flint Hills Family Festival 2025. 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.

Arti Chandak Henna Art

Henna Body Art

Age: 5–10 Rice Park

Henna is a body art that can be done on all ages and is all-natural. It can feature very different, freehand creative designs, and will last 7–10 days on average.

Author Trần Thị Minh Phước and Hoàng Anh Vietnamese Dance Group

Dragon & Fairies: Vietnamese Culture Through Folktales & Legends

Age: 5–10 Rice Park

There will be books, authors and artists, a dress up station, fun and interactive games, Vietnamese cultural and educational artifact displays, and Art By Nhat focused on Vietnamese culture and history. Visitors will meet and read the stories of the legendary characters the Moon Lady, and Tam and Cam from the Vietnamese Cinderella. Children and their families can craft a golden carp: a sacred creature in Vietnamese mythology that symbolizes perseverance, transformation, and good fortune.

PhuocThiMinhTran.Wordpress.com HoangAnhDanceGroup.Wordpress.com

Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center

Critter Painting Party

Age: 5–10 Rice Park

Experience some of Minnesota’s native wildlife up close with some live animal ambassadors! You can paint, draw, or color the animals you meet.

CarpenterNatureCenter.org

Children's Theatre Company

Literacy, sound, and rhythm with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

Age: 5–10 Rice Park

Particpants will search and find letter beads to spell out their names, then use them to make a shaker egg to explore rhythms to go along with letter sounds and syllabels. Led by CTC Teaching Artists, this activity is flexible and accessible to all ages.

ChildrensTheatre.org