Source: Dove Cameron
The 28th Annual McDonald’s Houston Children’s Festival is bringing the popular actress Dove Cameron, known for playing a dual role as both title characters in the Disney Channel sitcom Liv and Maddie, to this year’s festival. Dove also starred in the Disney Channel original movies Cloud 9 as Kayla Morgan, and Descendants as Mal, daughter of Maleficent. Dove will be meeting her fans on Sunday, April 24 between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on the McDonald’s Stage located in Sam Houston Park. This year, the festival has added a limited number of backstage meet and greet passes where you can take your photo with Dove. These tickets will go on sale at 10:00 AM Wednesday, March 23, 2016, online at www.houstonchildrenfestival.com.
Fans will have the opportunity to receive an autographed photo from Dove for free with festival admission. General admission tickets are on sale now at www.houstonchildrenfestival.com.
28th Annual McDonald’s Houston Children’s Festival
What: The McDonald’s Houston Children’s Festival presented by Baker Hughes is the largest children’s festival in the United States and will be celebrating its 28th year in 2016. The Festival has raised over $5.2 million dollars over the past 27 years for Child Advocates, Inc. (www.childadvocates.org)
Where: Downtown Houston in the area surrounding City Hall, Houston Public LibraryPlaza, Tranquility Park and upper Sam Houston Park.
Date: Saturday, April 23, 2016
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Time: 10:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.
Activities: The Festival excitement includes Disney celebrities, costumed characters as well as Ten Big Family Adventure Zones, five stages of entertainment and over three hundred fun activities.
Tickets: www.houstonchildrensfestival.com
About the McDonald’s Houston Children’s Festival
The McDonald’s Houston Children’s Festival, presented by Baker Hughes, was selected as “one of the world’s 300 unmissable events” by Frommer’s Travel Guides. Celebrating its 27th year in 2015, 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 over two 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, then-vacant 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.”
About Child Advocates, Inc.
Five thousand children languish in foster care because of life-threatening abuse and neglect. In Harris County alone, there were 35,729 reported cases of child abuse in Harris County in 2013 and 6, 535 confirmed cases of child abuse. Child Advocates recruits, trains and supports volunteers assigned by a family court judge to the cases of these children. Child Advocates’ volunteers contact caseworkers, interview parents, ensure necessary medical care, look out for educational interests and make recommendations in court regarding the permanent placement of the child. Most importantly, they serve as a “constant” person for that child to count on during a very tumultuous time. Child Advocates has served over 17,000 children since it began in 1984. In 2013 Child Advocates provided advocacy for 2,018 abused and neglected children in Harris County and trained 219 new child appointed advocates. And in 2013, 750 Child Advocates volunteers collectively gave over 65,000 hours of their time working on 1,116 cases. The Houston Children’s Festival has become a cornerstone event for Child Advocates and to date has raised over $5.2 million dollars to assist Child Advocates in this critical mission.
