Pickathon’s Inventive Family Programming
Just One Month Away From the Best Weekend of the Summer
Every year, we delight in bringing new, inventive kids and family programming to Pickathon, but this year will be better than ever! Since we’re creating all new Neighborhoods at Pickathon, families this year will be gathering in the brand new Coyote Corner Neighborhood, just up the hill and into the woods from where the Treeline Stage used to be. In these elven glades, you’ll be welcomed in by the artwork of much-loved Portland cutout artist Mike Bennett (you might know him from his recent Dinolandia installation downtown!). Mike’s planning to create wooden cut-outs for every Pickathon mascot, all the way back to 2006, so you’ll see some familiar faces! The cut-outs will be life-size too, so bear-sized bears, rabbit-sized rabbits… With Mike’s cutouts and Cedarwood Waldorf School and Learning Landscapes Design firm working to design this entirely new space for families at Pickathon, expect fun surprises this year!
Because families are our priority at Pickathon, tickets for kids 12 and under are still FREE when attending with family and teens 13-16 are 1/2 price when attending for the weekend!
Tickets Available Here
We’ll also have returning favorites coming to the Coyote Corner Neighborhood like the Trackers Earth program! Here, kids can role-play through the land of imagination as ninjas and spies or wizards and elves, complete with a foam-arrow archery range and wilderness survival school. Trackers Earth takes kids on guided tours through the forests and fields of Pickathon, culminating in a festival-wide zombie hunt! Family yoga with Shawna O’Neal will provide a pleasantly relaxing way to start your day with a fun, healthy, and thoughtful series of movements. Music Together of Portland will lead morning family music groups, and My Voice Music will provide classes like uke lessons, a family jam, and a talent show to build on your child’s natural enthusiasm for music and movement. New this year, Friends of Noise will help introduce kids to the behind-the scenes world of music festivals, putting youth engineers on sound for the Coyote Corner Neighborhood stage and bringing new youth performers to the festival.
Speaking of performers, we have a whole slate of performers (including GRAMMY winners and nominees!) who’ll be playing at the Coyote Corner Neighborhood this year, including New York singer-songwriter Joanie Leeds, beloved Portland icon Nikki Brown Clown, a new collaborative project from renowned reggae musician Aaron Nigel Smith and folk-rocker Red Yarn, children’s jazz artist Lori Henriques,, violinist/looper/vocalist Joe Kye, Pacific Northwest singer and ecologist Jessa Campbell & the Saplings, and lots more!
Here’s Pickathon’s Family Programming Lineup:
