This year, the festival is proud to announce its new website. Visit www.houstonchildrensfestival.com to purchase your tickets, and online buyers will receive a $2 discount off the regular ticket price of $12. The upgraded website provides more detail regarding the entertainment schedule, games and interactive activities, food and beverage as well as information on Child Advocates, the beneficiary of the festival.
This year’s festival will also feature the three-time nominee for the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award “Favorite TV actor,” Jack Griffo. Known for starring in the Nickelodeon series The Thundermans , where he plays Max Thunderman, the twin brother who strives to become a supervillain. Griffo first made appearances as an extra in 2011 on the television series Kickin' It and Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures . He followed-up with several guest appearances on television series such as See Dad Run and Jessie .
Griffo will be at the festival on Sunday, April 2, in the McDonald’s Dream Discovery Zone located in Sam Houston Park. He will appear on the McDonald’s stage from 1:30 – 3:00 pm for two public Q&A sessions, as well a public autograph session where general admission ticket buyers will have the opportunity to receive an autographed photo. To enhance your experience, the festival will offer a limited number of “Backstage Passes” that will allow you to “go backstage” to meet and take a photo with Griffo. These Backstage Passes will go on sale at 10:00 am Wednesday, February 8, 2017, online at www.houstonchildrensfestival.com.
The McDonald's Houston Children’s Festival, presented by Baker Hughes, and was selected as “one of the world’s 300 unmissable events” by Frommer’s Travel Guides. Celebrating its 29th year in 2017, it is one of Houston’s signature events and has developed into one of the primary fund-raisers for Child Advocates. With a projected annual attendance of over 50,000 people, the festival celebrates nearly three decades of proven success for sponsors, the community, participants and most importantly, for Child Advocates and the abused and neglected children it serves.
The Houston Children’s Festival was born in 1988 and was originally known as the “Children for Children Festival.” Attracting a crowd of less than 5,000 people the first year, the goal was to create a family festival that would serve as the vehicle to educate the public about child abuse and the mission of Child Advocates. For the first few years, the festival was located across from the George R. Brown Convention Center, where Discovery Green Park is now located. When the festival continued to grow and needed a bigger home, it was moved to the Greenway Plaza area and occupied two large, thenvacant lots next to what is now Lakewood Church. After a two year stint at Hermann Park, the festival found its current home in downtown Houston in 1999. It was during this time that Mayor Bob Lanier saw the exceptional value in this event and designated it “The Mayor’s Official Family Celebration.”
