Will’s Kids event brings art to 300 South Shore youth

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It was a beautiful day for the arts as the second annual “Will’s Kids” art fair took place at Valhalla Tahoe on Friday, August 4th. The event drew three hundred local youth and their families to see a free performance of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival’s D.G. Menchetti Young Shakespeare Program. The Young Shakespeare Program takes the mainstage Shakespeare performance from the annual Sand Harbor festival and condenses it to a one hour version accessible for children. This year was the slapstick romantic comedy, Love’s Labour’s Lost. The interactive program featured a cast of both professional actors and local youth talent, as well as a live band to enhance the children-focused performance. Youth in attendance also had the opportunity to meet the actors after the show.

Following the Shakespeare performance, the Will’s Kids festival brought local youth non-profits together to provide fun arts and crafts projects. These included Live Violence Free with a dream catcher booth, Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe with face painting, Tahoe Youth & Family Services with bead bracelets, the El Dorado County public library with a make-your-own-nature-journal craft, Tahoe Arts Alliance with a rock painting activity, and more.

The free event is the result of a collaboration between the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, the Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, Live Violence Free, and Tahoe Youth & Family Services, to bring the arts to youth while simultaneously promoting youth-centric non-profits and social services on the South Shore. The event nearly tripled the attendance from the previous year’s art fair.

Food and refreshments were provided by local popsicle vendor, Sweet Spokes, as well as the Boys and Girls Club. The event is expected to return to the lawn at Valhalla Tahoe for a third year in the summer of 2018.