• Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share via Email
Kid A’Riffic 2023 Debuts at Fountain City Park 
The fourth year of Kid A’ Riffic Fun in the Park kicked off Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at Fountain City Park! 

Kids play with a beach ball in the open space of Fountain City park with Kid A'Riffic sponsor tents in the background.

Shirin Pagels moved to the Knoxville area in September 2020, and this is the third year her family has been attending Kid A’Riffic. They've made it a mission not to miss a single one.

Knoxville Police Officer Shelley Clemons has seen Pagels’ daughter, Abby, grow over the past years of attending Kid A’Riffic. They have built a comfortable relationship with one another and have an annual tradition of taking a picture together while playing with bubbles.

A mom takes a photo of her daughter blowing bubbles

“Something like this I love because it’s free,” Pagels said. She is the mother of four kids, and it can be hard to find activities that don't stretch the budget. Kid A’Riffic offers plenty of free, fun games and activities. One of the series' sponsors, B97.5, joined the fun and provided free ice cream for all the children. 

Knoxville radio station B97.5FM is a sponsor of Kid A'Riffic.

The Knoxville Arts Center is one of several City departments on site at Kid A'Riffic to providing a fun activity for the children. They provided game boards that children could decorate and color using paint sticks. The game boards would then be used to play an abstract game called Achi, originating from the Asante people of Ghana.

“It’s cool to see all the kids come in and create their own designs and run around,” said Meg, a new Art Studio Assistant with the Knoxville Arts Center. It is Meg’s first year attending Kid A’Riffic, but the Knoxville Arts Center had been participating since the family series began in 2019.

Knoxville Arts Center staffers Meg and Kelly display their crafts.

The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame is making its first appearance this year at Kid A’Riffic. Kristina, Operations and Retail Manager with the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, provided children with a design-your-own jersey color sheet activity, as well as information cards of women’s basketball history and $1-off admission ticket coupons.

Kristina with the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame stands behind a table while kids draw their own jerseys.

On Wednesday, June 14, 2023, at Chilhowee Park, Kid A’ Riffic hosted touch-a-truck opportunities with a fire engine, police car, helicopter and public service utility vehicles!

Check out the remaining Kid A' Riffic schedule below: 

• June 21: Safety City of Knoxville, 165 S. Concord St.
• June 28: Fort Kid, 1049 World’s Fair Park Dr
• July 12: Ijams, 2915 Island Home Park
• July 19: Lakeshore Park, 5930 Lyons View Pike
• July 26: World’s Fair Park


Angeline Chen is a 2023 Summer in the City intern with the Communications team. 
Posted by ptravis On 26 June, 2023 at 4:02 PM  

 
Content Alert Subscription
    RSSSpaceBlog Feeds
    RSSSpacePodcast Feeds