Participants get their displays ready for Children and the Arts in Peterborough

 Volunteers Terry Reeves, right, and Denise Zimmer at the Big Puppets workshop. 

 Volunteers Terry Reeves, right, and Denise Zimmer at the Big Puppets workshop.  COURTESY PHOTO CHILDREN IN THE ARTS

Volunteers Denise Zimmer, right, and Amy Therriault making bird puppets at the Big Puppets workshop. 

Volunteers Denise Zimmer, right, and Amy Therriault making bird puppets at the Big Puppets workshop.  COURTESY PHOTO CHILDREN IN THE ARTS

Volunteers at the Big Puppet workshop. 

Volunteers at the Big Puppet workshop.  COURTESY PHOTO CHILDREN IN THE ARTS

Terry Reeves with one of her creations, the Pirate. 

Terry Reeves with one of her creations, the Pirate.  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

Three of Children and the Arts’ Big Puppets – Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Malala – outside their home in Terry Reeves’ garage. 

Three of Children and the Arts’ Big Puppets – Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Malala – outside their home in Terry Reeves’ garage.  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

The sixth grade at The Well School displaying their exotic birds for Children and the Arts. 

The sixth grade at The Well School displaying their exotic birds for Children and the Arts.  COURTESY PHOTO BY SARAH ELDREDGE

Eighth graders at The Well School painting a “big heron.” 

Eighth graders at The Well School painting a “big heron.”  COURTESY PHOTO BY SARAH ELDREDGE

Eighth-graders at The Well School putting the base coat on the “big heron” for Children and the Arts. 

Eighth-graders at The Well School putting the base coat on the “big heron” for Children and the Arts.  COURTESY PHOTO BY SARAH ELDREDGE

Eighth-graders work on the heron at The Well School. 

Eighth-graders work on the heron at The Well School.  COURTESY PHOTO BY SARAH ELDREDGE

Exotic birds stacked and ready for Children and the Arts. 

Exotic birds stacked and ready for Children and the Arts.  COURTESY PHOTO BY SARAH ELDREDGE

A Well School eighth-grader works on the bird-themed “mug board” in the art classroom. 

A Well School eighth-grader works on the bird-themed “mug board” in the art classroom.  COURTESY PHOTO BY SARAH ELDREDGE

A display of waterfowl created by the fifth grade at The Well School. 

A display of waterfowl created by the fifth grade at The Well School.  COURTESY PHOTO BY SARAH ELDREDGE

Second-graders at The Well School painting the parrots they will carry in the Children and the Arts parade May 18.

Second-graders at The Well School painting the parrots they will carry in the Children and the Arts parade May 18. COURTESY PHOTO BY SARAH ELDREDGE

The Well School second grade with their parrot puppets. 

The Well School second grade with their parrot puppets.  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

The Well School’s second grade displaying their parrots for Children and the Arts.

The Well School’s second grade displaying their parrots for Children and the Arts. STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

The fourth grade at Pierce School in Bennington and Principal Alisha Hansen-Proulx (rear) pose next to the “Bird of Many Feathers.”

The fourth grade at Pierce School in Bennington and Principal Alisha Hansen-Proulx (rear) pose next to the “Bird of Many Feathers.” STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

Pierce School fourth-grade’s “Bird of Many Feathers” puppet for Children and the Arts 2024. 

Pierce School fourth-grade’s “Bird of Many Feathers” puppet for Children and the Arts 2024.  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

Puppets by Pierce School students all ready for Children and the Arts. 

Puppets by Pierce School students all ready for Children and the Arts.  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

Fourth-graders at Antrim Elementary School display their birds. 

Fourth-graders at Antrim Elementary School display their birds.  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

Antrim Elementary School first-graders show off their completed birds. 

Antrim Elementary School first-graders show off their completed birds.  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

By JESSECA TIMMONS

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Published: 05-15-2024 12:09 PM

Around the region, hundreds of  volunteers, including teachers, artists, children and parents, are getting ready for Peterborough’s Children in the Arts Festival. 

The festival starts in downtown Peterborough at 9 a.m. Saturday, with the grand parade starting at noon from Peterborough Elementary School. For the first time, this year’s parade will be led by the ConVal High School Marching Band.

Now in its 29th year, Children in the Arts is a region-wide community effort. Area schools, including public and private schools, preschools and day care centers, as well as children’s organizations, are invited to walk in the parade, displaying artwork around an annual theme. This year’s theme, “Birds of a Feather,” will showcase all things avian. 

“We are super excited about our theme this year, because all the elementary schools in our district cover birds in their curriculum. Our  teachers love to have that crossover between science and the arts,” said Tina Kriebel, chair of the 2024 Children in the Arts Committee. 

Students and volunteers from The Well School, Dublin School, Mountain Shadows School, Dublin Christian Academy, Pine Hill, Robin’s Nest Preschool and Happy Valley School will all participate in Saturday’s event. 

This year’s performances include live bird demonstrations at three separate locations downtown. Kriebel noted that for the safety of  the live birds and their handlers, the Children in the Arts Committee requests people not bring dogs to festival. 

“We really, really ask people to please not to bring their dogs to the event due to the live birds shows,” Kriebel  said. “This is the one day we focus totally on the kids. Unfortunately,  every year at Children in the Arts, there is an incident between dogs and kids, or between two dogs. We understand people love their dogs, and most of us have dogs, but this is just not a good event for dogs. There are loud noises, small children. There is dancing, and there are puppets, which are fragile. For the safety of the birds, and for everyone at the event, we ask people to please, please leave their dogs at home on Saturday.”

As part of the celebration, the “No Egrets: Artwork by a flock of ConVal High School Students” exhibit opened at Peterborough Town Library on May 3. 

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“We have a wonderful collaboration between PES and the high school, where the younger children tell a high school artists what they would like to create, and the high school student helped create it,” Kriebel said.

“No Egrets” features artwork created in the 2D Studio Art, 3D Studio Art, and ceramics classes taught by Karrie Mitschmyer, Ben Putnam and Carolann Tebbetts at ConVal High School. 

Kriebel said that one exciting addition to this year’s parade is “the return of the Big Puppets,” a Children in the Arts tradition. The Big Puppets were the inspiration of longtime Peterborough resident Terry Reeves, who was one of the founders the Children in the Arts Festival, along with Jeanine Connelly, Nancy Brown, Laura Hanson and others, in 1995.  According to Reeves, the Big Puppets have been a part of the parade for 26 years. 

“We realized we really needed new volunteers who knew how to make them, so this year we formed a Big Puppet subcommittee and held workshops to get started,” Reeves said. 

Reeves, Denise Zimmer and Amy Theriault held several Big Puppet workshops this winter, creating the frames of “big birds” for each of ConVal’s elementary schools.

Over the years, Reeves has created a “Heroes and Heroines” series of puppets, including the Dalai Lama, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Einstein, Malala Yousafzai and Gandhi.

“We used to have George Bush Sr. and (Bill) Clinton together, when they were doing their goodwill world tour,” Reeves said. “It gets harder and harder to do politics.” 

At The Well School, which has participated in Children in the Arts since the very beginning, art teacher Sarah “Ra” Eldredge has been working each class to create different classifications of birds. Second grade is making parrots, fifth grade painted waterfowl, sixth grade made exotic birds such as flamingos and the eighth grade is creating a giant heron.

“At our first Children in the Arts parade, we had 75 puppets. The next year, we had 150,” Reeves recalled with a smile. “It is just amazing to see what it has grown into now.”

For information about Children in the Arts 2024 go to childrenandthearts.org.