Joyful Children's Day Offers Free Admission, Extended Hours, Special Programming

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The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine is excited to announce the seventh annual Joyful Children’s Day, a special celebration of children and families for the Maine community with free admission, special programming, and extended hours of 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. Friday, October 4th, at 142 Free Street in Portland. Funding that supports eight musical performances throughout Joyful Children’s Day has been generously provided by the Onion Foundation.

During this event, children and families from all over Maine benefit from exposure to a variety of arts, literacy and interactive educational programs. 

Free admission on Joyful Children’s Day provides all families with access to a place dedicated to learning through play.

Special musical performances this year include:

10:15 AM--Amanda Panda

11 AM--Piano and Bones with Kafari

11:30 AM--Irish flute and guitar tunes with Nicole and Bethany

12:15 PM--The Maine Squeeze Accordion Ensemble

1 PM--Earth Jams with Matt Loosigian

5:30 PM--Middle Eastern Music and Circle Dancing

6:15 PM--Middle Eastern Music and Circle Dancing

The first Joyful Children’s Day took place in the wake of the devastating events at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. On Friday, January 4, 2013, the Maine community answered the call to create a joyful day for Maine families, in honor of the children of Sandy Hook Elementary and children everywhere.

Today, Joyful Children’s Day focuses on giving children positive, community-based, enriching, and joyful experiences to help combat trauma, stress and fear. The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine invites the community to honor and welcome all children.



Frequently Asked Questions from Visitors:

Q: How long is the performance? Do we have to stay the whole time?

A: Like most of our programming, it's absolutely fine to stay for one tune and then go back to playing or visitors can stay for the whole performance. Our musicians are used to young audiences and know that sometimes you just HAVE to go play on the firetruck.

Q. Are the performances free?

A. Yes! Thanks to a generous grant from The Onion Foundation we are able to offer these performance free of charge in celebration of Joyful Children's Day.

Q. Are there other music events at the Museum & Theatre?

A: Yes, check for our ukulele classes for ages 5-9 (stop by the Front Desk for more information); we will have LIVE music at the next few $2 First Fridays, and our Main Stage productions feature live music accompaniment and are even sometimes musicals. And this January, we are staging the beloved musical, Elephant and Piggy!

Arielle Walrath