KIDS Fest 592 this year is taking on an altogether different theme: “Under the Sea” which Director Natalya Thomas-Small has been using to engage young minds on the importance of preserving their environment.
The event today (Sunday) at the Promenade Gardens in Georgetown will serve to continue Thomas-Small’s idea through sea-theme costumes and others that promote using the environment with care.
Kids Fest, which was started in 2017, caters for children within all age ranges and the goal, according to Thomas-Small, is “to provide a participatory, hands-on access to the arts suited for children and the involvement of their family[sic]; creating memories and growth.”

Thomas-Small had always nurtured a childhood dream of going to Disneyland, and as she noticed a shortage of local family-oriented events, she decided, ‘Why not bring Disney Land to Guyana instead?’ And that she did with the introduction of Kids Fest 592 in 2017, which encompasses music, dance, fashion and pageants, games, and more recently, impromptu speech and spelling Bee competitions.
The usual kids’ pageant is the main attraction for this weekend’s event. “This weekend is all about the children having fun; all about the family. We have a lot of activities planned…I’m excited to see what this year brings in terms of the costumes, talents and so forth,” Thomas-Small shared, noting that the excitement is also a result of some of the big names in the fashion industry participating.
In harmony with the theme for this year, an awareness walk was held with the children last week from the Seawall Bandstand to the Promenade Gardens Bandstand, which also saw the support of the EU Ambassador to Guyana Fernando Ponz Cantó coming out to lend support to the initiative.

The walk helped to bring awareness to the importance of preserving the environment and the children who took part in the pageant and their supporters came out on the seawalls to participate in a clean-up exercise.
“We’ve never had this theme; it’s all about protecting the environment, protecting the beaches and preserving the sea animals. I would love to see a beautiful, clean environment in Guyana. So in doing so, I engaged the young minds in getting involved in this. We’re expecting to see really big sea creatures in their costumes, along with other sea-theme costumes,” Thomas-Small said.
Prior to the pandemic in 2020, she had hosted Kids Fest with a ‘wonderland’ theme that included such activities as vending, a bouncy castle, puppet show, pageant and tea party. Mascots were also present from Mr Bunny Rabbit and Alice in Wonderland with her friends.

“I would love Kids Fest to become a household name. I would also love to build an amusement park to bring a world of possibilities to children,” Thomas-Small had said in a previous interview.
Kids Fest, according to her, aims to work with a variety of quality children’s brands and entertainment companies to put on the festival, which is usually held outdoors. “The demand for quality children’s entertainment and activities in Guyana far exceeds the availability of such events,” she observed.
By putting on the show, she said children are encouraged not only to dream, but to experience what childhood should be like. “Kids Fest 592 would like to further family involvement throughout the community and to excite our area youth’s senses and creativity through arts. The goal of Kids Fest is to celebrate the beauty of being a child.”

Furthermore, Kids Fest 592 is a platform that allows kids to express themselves and help them find their passion and explore it further. “The concept is to bring Disney Land and children’s wildest imagination alive. Kids and their families are greeted by princesses and superhero characters while they walk through the festival, giving them a storybook feel,” Thomas-Small explained.
The goal is to celebrate the beauty of being a child and having fun – a right all children should have. It’s about family, community, education, adventure, and excitement for every child. A talent section is usually included where the children can dance, perform magic, show off their karate skills and so forth. There is also an interview section.