Children’s festival returns next month

The Markham-Milliken Children’s Festival returns Saturday, Sept. 6 at Aaniin Community Centre and will feature a variety of fun and free activities and live entertainment for the whole family to enjoy.

Those free activities include STEM and interactive activities, sensory tables, a building block area, Toddler Town, arts and crafts, storytime and all-day scavenger hunt at Aaniin Public Library, recreation trailer, a magic show, science show, animal education show and more.

If you’re looking for access to rides and inflatables, you’ll need to purchase a Play-All-Day Pass. New this year for pre-purchase only is the limited Millie’s Play-All-Day Bundle, which includes a Millie plush toy.

There will be a variety of food options available for purchase at the festival, including barbecue meat, churros, cotton candy, curry chicken, tacos, egg bubble waffles, onigiri, sugarcane juice and more. Take a reusable water bottle to fill up outside at the water refill station or inside the community centre.

There’s no parking at Aaniin Community Centre on the day of the festival except for designated accessible parking spots. There will be road disruptions from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.: 14th Avenue and Vanni Avenue will be one way with vendor and resident access only; from Vanni Avenue to Middlefield Street will be one way with resident access only; and there will be no left turn at Mumbai Drive and Middlefield Street.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Free parking is available at Milliken Mills Community Centre at 7600 Kennedy Rd., where you can access the free shuttle service to and from the Aaniin Community Centre at 5665 14th Ave. Free shuttle services will run from Milliken Mills to Aaniin and back every 30 minutes. The first bus departs Milliken Mills at 9:30 a.m. and the last bus departs at 6:30 p.m. The first bus departs Aaniin at 10 a.m. and the last bus departs at 7 p.m.

Photo courtesy of the City of Markham.