‘Laughter and smiles and play’ at the 17th Annual KidsFest

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice on May 9, 2026

The 17th Annual KidsFest may have brought a record crowd to Roanoke Island Festival Park. (Photos by Kip Tabb)

At the Home Depot table, kids worked on plants and building skills. (Photos by Kip Tabb)

Kids scrambled to run under the cloth as it came slowly back to earth. (Photos by Kip Tabb)

Jack Lathom gets ready to catch the bad guys as Sgt. Duwayne Gibbs of the Dare County Sheriff’s Department looks on. (Photos by Kip Tabb)

Lo Wisnosky builds a castle with volunteer Julie Marynowicz. (Photos by Kip Tabb)

Perhaps as many as 2,000 people participated in this year’s KidsFest. (Photos by Kip Tabb)

 

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice

It would be hard to imagine a nicer day for the 17th Annual KidsFest, the springtime celebration of the joy of discovery for the youngest among us. Hosted by the Children and Youth Partnership for Dare County (CYP), the 2026 version brought at least about 2,000, people to Roanoke Island Festival Park on Friday, May 8.

The event included 65 booths and tables filled with things for kids to do and toddlers were running from booth to booth, filling the air with bubbles, putting stomp rockets into the air, learning how to build things, and much more.

“A lot of efforts go on behind the scenes to pull this event off every year. The whole community has come together to help us make this possible… It’s just awesome to see the whole community come together to pull this off and celebrate with us,” said Sara Sampson, CYP Executive Director.

It was, at times, difficult to tell who was having more fun at some of the exhibits. The bubbles especially seemed to bring out the kid in parents. Over at the Home Depot table, there were plants to work on and construction materials for kids to work on, but parents crowded around the table as well.

“It feels absolutely fabulous, when you wake up on a beautiful sunny morning, and everybody gets here, and there’s nothing but laughter and smiles and play. And that’s really what it’s all about, is play,” CYP Education and Program Evaluation Manager Carla Heppert told the Voice.