BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – The 29th annual Beckley’s Kids Classic Festival kicked off with Kids Day at New River Park.
Despite the rain, kids and their families came out to a picnic shelter to watch the Cincinnati Circus.
After being forced to carry on the tradition with a drive-thru circus in 2020 and a cancellation of the event in 2021 due to the pandemic, everyone was excited to bring back an in-person show this year.
“It’s great to be able to be in-person again and we just hope that people will come out and enjoy the activities throughout the week,” Beckley Events Director, Jill Moorefield says. “We just love celebrating the youth in our community and celebrating fun things to do for our families.”
The Cincinnati Circus is a traveling entertainment group based out of Cincinnati, Ohio.
They amused the crowd Monday with balancing acts, magic tricks, and fire juggling. Because of the rain, the performers had to reshape some of their acts due to safety concerns. However, they still got to achieve their main goal— motivating and entertaining the kids.
“I feel like a lot of kids have a lot of activity inside of them and seeing that there’s just not, you know, like only jungle gyms when you grow up. Because, a lot of people, when they’re adults, the only way you can think of working out is at the gym, but seeing that you can do circus performing, you can do anything and it still applies, you don’t have to lose that childlike joy, I think that’s really powerful,” says a performer with the Cincinnati Circus, Madison West.
Other fun activities were also a part of the event, from lots of games to even the arrival of kids’ character favorites like Superman.
The Home Run Derby that was scheduled for Monday as part of the festival was postponed until this Sunday, September 10, 2022 at 4 p.m.
