The West Liberty Children’s Festival kicks off in earnest on Saturday, Sept. 16, with a couple new puppetry acts and double the balloon twisters, according to Monica Leo, puppeteer and managing director of Eulenspiegel Puppet Theater Company.
It is the 26th year for the festival, sponsored by the Owl Glass Puppetry Center, which makes it one of the longest running festivals in the State of Iowa, according to Leo.
“There are some festivals that are older, but they died off over the pandemic,” she said. “Our’s survived, and we are very thankful for that.”
Along with two balloon twisters, this year’s Children’s Festival will have puppetry acts traveling all the way from Chicago and St. Louis.
Matthew Owens is new to the West Liberty festival, but made a name for himself over the pandemic through doing puppet shows from his window in Chicago, according to Leo. Dan Romano from St. Louis is heading up the Blackberry Puppets Troupe. This will be the first time for both acts to perform at the West Liberty Children’s Festival.
“We’re very happy to welcome all our new puppeteers to West Liberty,” said Leo.
While the festival for children starts on Saturday, there will be a puppet slam at 7:30 pm on Friday for adults and older kids, showcasing puppeteer acts and shorter pieces directed at a more mature audience. They will also host a puppeteering workshop after school that Friday for anyone to come and make a simple horse puppet for free.
Whether that will be at the Eulenspiegel Puppet Theater Company or at the West Liberty Public Library, Leo isn’t certain of yet. The puppet slam will be at Ron De Voo Park.
“The puppet slam allows our guest puppeteers to do short pieces and stuff they normally wouldn’t do,” said Leo. “We keep ours pretty much at the PG-13 level, while other puppet slams can get pretty mature — it allows puppeteers to try out new pieces and do more avant gaarde stuff.”
The West Liberty Children's Festival will be held on Saturday, Sept. 16. The Children’s Festival on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by the Latino Street Festival and will yoke with Latinos Unidos and the Latino Community.
“Last year's festival was tons of fun with ongoing performances by storytellers, musicians, puppeteers and dancers, food and activity booths, and an excellent turnout,” said Bill Koellner, fundraising chair for the West Liberty Children’s Festival, in a press release.
The Latino Festival will be from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., featuring several bands. In addition, the whole festival will offer face painters, balloon twisters, strolling puppeteers, musicians, bubble stations, painting easels, and all sorts of children’s activities. On the stage in Ron-de-Voo Park, you can watch puppet shows by artists from all over the United States.
Support by businesses has helped make the Children’s Festival successful and provide opportunities to children at no cost to them. There are no other festivals of this nature in the area, and it is a great learning experience for children. The purpose of this letter is to request that you help sponsor this great community event. Your sponsorship will be recognized in our promotions along with that of the other sponsors. The Latino Festival is sponsored by separate funding.
Send tax deductible donations to PO Box 71, West Liberty, Iowa. Checks should be made payable to Eulenspiegel/West Liberty Children’s Festival. Eulenspiegel is a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax ID 42-1343458.
“Your support makes the West Liberty Children’s Festival a great annual event, which celebrates the children in all of us,” said Koellner.