Families of all ages in Dartmouth have a new event to take part in this weekend. FamFest Atlantic is taking place at Alderney Landing, featuring plenty of family-friendly activities, as well as local food and entertainment. Organizer Allegra Swanson says the festival was started as a way to get more children and youth engaged in live music. “We kept seeing fewer opportunities for kids and youth, especially with some of the cuts that have recently happened with programs and schools, there are fewer opportunities for kids to experience high-quality performance that is geared towards young people,” said Swanson in an interview with CTV Your Morning Atlantic’s Crystal Garrett. “We felt like it was an opportunity to create something meaningful where every step of the way we have youth, kids, parents, adults all considered together.” Swanson says as a parent herself, she understands many factors can get in the way of bringing kids to see live music, and the festival took measures to make it easier for parents. “My kids are four and seven, we need to have shorter sets, we need to have the headliners go on a little bit earlier, we need to have other things on site, we need in-and-out privileges, if you want to go home and get a snack for your kids and then come back, you want to put the little one down and come back with your older kid, we want to make it as easy as possible,” she said. George Woodhouse is part of the band The Public Service which is one of the many musical acts set to perform over the weekend. He says he wouldn’t be performing if it wasn’t for some of the shows he saw when he was younger. “Every year we put on an all ages show in Dartmouth, where we all live, and we all remember how important it was to go to a show when we were young, and if we didn’t have those experiences I wouldn’t be sitting here and we wouldn’t get to play FamFest this weekend so we know those kids are out there,” he said. Woodhouse adds the best part of doing all-ages shows is seeing the core memories being made. “When our band is playing and you see kids who are kind of awestruck in the first few rows and you’re like, ‘Are they having a good time?’ but you realize they’re creating a core memory because our live music industry isn’t necessarily built on giving kids those experiences until they’re age of majority, so when we have the honour to play to young people but also to older folks that are our age or older, it just feels right,” he said. FamFest Atlantic kicked off Saturday afternoon with events taking place until 9:30 p.m. The festival continues Sunday with events from 1 to 7 p.m. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
