Spark! festival

Mesa is a pretty awesome place to live if you have to live in the Valley of the Sun. The Mesa Arts Center is actually on the radar nationally for artsy and performing folk. The facilities are top notch whether you are taking a class or seeing a show. I also like how they put on free events like this festival for the public.

There were street artists.

J really liked the butterfly lady.

One artist was doing some fancy chalk drawings

Some different art displays were scattered about.

They also had various performances happening on different stages. This one was called Erth: a Dinosaur Petting Zoo which had some amazing puppets and puppeteers. We were too far away to really see much.

We moved farther back so J could climb the sweater clad trees for a better view.

But she got bored and decided spinning around the street light was more fun.

Until the T- Rex came out, then she used her amazing toddler powers to find a new spot closer to the dinos.

The T-rex is being lulled to sleep by back scratches

 After that we went indoors for a bit and J was entranced by a floor you can see through.

I loved the flower sculptures hanging in the courtyard.

They had a place where you could make musical instruments out of recyclable materials (think coffee can drums, cardboard box guitars) but J didn't want to wait in line when there was a fountain to explore.

At this point I figured the whole outing was for her entertainment so we might as well do what she wanted to do, which was play in the water feature like the other kids.

It took all of my self control not to hover as she traversed the slippery wet tiles surrounded by head-cracking cinder blocks. All this covered by rushing water made the "DROWNING HAZARD!" alarms go off in my head, but I took my shoes off, stayed near, and just let her discover the world.

And she did just fine. She got water in her eyes without crying (a grand victory if bath time is any indicator), slipped a little and caught herself several times, and had the time of her life.

Of course I was ready to be done from shear anxiety so we followed this marching band to the next stage.

They are called the Squonk Opera and did a non traditional music show.

J was bored fast though so we went to a booth where kids could eat snacks and draw pictures

At this point, we had spent 3 hours in the 90 degree sun and were ready to call it quits. It was well worth the time, especially since it was free.