Children’s Festival to be held Saturday at Marathon Park in Wausau

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) -Looking for a free way to entertain your kids this weekend? For nearly 50 years, the Wausau and Marathon County Parks Recreation and Forestry Department has hosted an annual children’s festival.

It’s a free day of events for families and kids in the Wausau area. This year includes two petting zoos, bouncy houses, and booths with arts and crafts and activities for kids to enjoy.

Toddlers up to tweens are encouraged to attend.

“The Kiwanis Club will be doing cards for Memorial Day for veterans. And then we have others such as the Noon Optimists doing their woodworking shops, and we have to face painters and just a variety of different activities that people are putting together for this event,” said Recreation Superintendent Mark Dorow.

He said this year, the Children’s Festival is expanding to add more activities for kids. The event is free and families can stop by at any time.

He explained construction at Marathon Park will not directly impact the Children’s Festival.

“I’ll be putting out a map for everybody on our Facebook page that will show where they need to park. But other than that, everything will be able to run as normal during the event. There will just be some construction around the park that you’ll have to navigate,” said Dorow.

Peyton’s Promise will be collecting change at the Wausau Children’s Festival on May 13 for it’s Change for Good campaign. People are asked to bring their spare change to donate. Monetary donations allow Peyton’s Promise to purchase the exact items they need. People who donate at the Children’s Festival will receive a raffle ticket.

The Everest Optimist Club and Taste of Manila will be at the Children’s Festival with food available for purchase.

The Children’s Festival is Saturday, May 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Marathon Park in the ice arena.

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