For one special weekend in June, many of the world’s most talented performing artists will come together in St. Paul as Flint Hills Resources and the Ordway present the Flint Hills 2010 International Children’s Festival.
International artists will dazzle children and families with puppetry, dance, music, drama, and acrobatics. Performances will provide an opportunity for children to experience a range of diverse cultures through the world of performing arts.
World-Class Performances Dazzle and Delight
The Flint Hills International Children’s Festival is an opportunity for children and families to experience the joy and wonderment of the performing arts. The festival’s outdoor performances are free, and indoor performances on Ordway stages cost only $5.
Festival Schedule
June 5–6, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Ordway.org/festival
The Friendship Forest garden filled with plants, pansies, ponds, and fountains
Live performances on outdoor stages
Hands-on arts and activities
Entertainers and artists
Butterfly garden
Arts exhibitions
ARTmoves Parade
- Saturday, June 5, at 1 p.m.
- Families are invited to participate in the parade with decorated bicycles, tricycles, strollers, wagons, and more.
- There will be a designated decorating area in front of the McKnight Theater on Saturday morning.
Shangilia Youth Choir of Kenya with J.D. Steele
- Saturday, June 5 at 11 a.m.
- Saturday, June 5 at 3 p.m.
- Sunday, June 6 at 3 p.m.
Shangilia Youth Choir of Kenya with J.D. Steele
- Saturday, June 5 at 11 a.m.
- Saturday, June 5 at 3 p.m.
- Sunday, June 6 at 3 p.m.
Goodnight Moon and the Runaway Bunny
Mermaid Theater of Nova Scotia
- Saturday, June 5 at 10 a.m.
- Saturday, June 5 at 12 p.m.
- Sunday, June 6 at 10 a.m.
- Sunday, June 6 at 12 p.m.
Short Stories
Teatro Hugo & Ines
- Saturday, June 5 at 2 p.m.
- Sunday, June 6 at 2 p.m.
- Sunday, June 6 at 4 p.m.
Students, Schools Experience International Arts
Leading up to the Festival Family Weekend, more than 15,000 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade will experience performing arts during Festival School Days. These students will see musical and dramatic performances representing cultures from around the world, and participate in performing arts workshops featuring Latin American, African, Indian, Mexican, and Japanese influences.
In addition, many schools will participate in the ARTcontest, a poster contest; the ARTwalk, a public display of young artists’ work in downtown St. Paul; and ARTbuilds, in which students design and build large sculptures from donated cans and boxes of food. These projects and other student-driven residencies with teaching artists will be on display throughout St. Paul during the Festival Family Weekend.
Ordway’s Main Stage Comes Alive with Dance and Song
Shangilia, a youth choir from Nairobi, Kenya, will be one of the featured performances of the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival. Comprised of former Kenyan “street children” who now attend a performing arts school of the same name, Shangilia will blend traditional African music and dance with acrobatics and colorful costumes. The choir will perform three shows on the Ordway stage.
The Shangilia performance group will perform under the direction of singer, director, and composer J.D. Steele. They will be joined onstage by the MacPhail Community Youth Choir (MCYC), which is also under the direction of Steele.
Shangilia was formed in 1994 after Kenyan filmmaker Anne Mungai featured a group of children in a film for Unicef. While filming the children, Mungai discovered they had natural theatrical talent and creative flair.
Through their performances, Shangilia youth demonstrate how performing arts can empower children to increase their self-confidence and worth.
Other indoor stage performances during the festival include Goodnight Moon and the Runaway Bunny and Short Stories.
Flint Hills, Ordway Celebrate 10th Anniversary of Festival
The Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery in Rosemount is one of Dakota County’s largest employers, with more than 900 full-time employees and 200-2,000 contractors working on-site most days. Pine Bend is the upper Midwest’s leading producer of transportation fuels and one of the cleanest and safest refineries in the United States. Since 1994, Pine Bend has reduced its air emissions by more than 60 percent, while surpassing requirements to produce cleaner-burning transportation fuels that have helped improve Minnesota’s air quality.
