Kidsfest is the Winnipeg International Children's Festival, four days of circus, puppetry, music and hands-on workshops on the open field at The Forks. It has run since 1983. Parents searching for it in the autumn usually want the same handful of things settled before they book anything, so here they are in that order.

When is Kidsfest in 2027?

The 2027 dates are not posted yet, and kidsfest.ca is where they land first. What is settled is the shape of it. Kidsfest runs Thursday to Sunday in the first half of June. The 2026 edition, the 44th, ran June 11 to 14; 2025 ran June 5 to 8. If you are booking flights or time off a long way out, hold the second week of June and confirm once the dates go up.

Where does it actually happen?

On the CN Stage and Field at The Forks, the grass apron beside the river where the big outdoor events go, with indoor programming at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People at 2 Forks Market Road on the same site. The practical consequence of that layout is that almost everything is outdoors on open ground. There is no roof over the field and very little shade on it.

What does a ticket cost and what does it cover?

One festival ticket admits you for all four days, not one, and Kidsfest charges the same price for an adult as for a child, which catches people out when they price a family of five. Children under 24 months get in free. Schools and daycares book at a flat ten dollars a ticket with one free supervisor pass for every eight bought. Recent editions have priced general admission in the mid-teens per person; the figure moves year to year and the ticket page carries the current one.

Weekday or weekend?

They are two different festivals. Thursday and Friday belong to school groups: in 2026 those days ran 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., the field was thick with matching t-shirts and class lines, and performers played to an audience that arrived and left in blocks. Saturday and Sunday ran 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and are the family days, busier at the gate but easier to move through at your own pace. With a toddler, take the weekend. With a nine-year-old who would rather not queue, a Friday afternoon after the buses pull out is the quietest hour of the four days.

How do you get there without parking?

Route 38 Salter runs into The Forks seven days a week, and the stop on site is #10907. If your route does not come in, get off on Main Street at Broadway by Union Station and walk in from there; a cluster of downtown routes stops within a couple of blocks of that corner. The Forks has paid lots, and they fill on a June weekend well before the field does, so the car is the slow option on the Saturday rather than the fast one.

What should you bring?

Sun gear, mostly. Hats, sunscreen and more water than you think, because the field is open and a workshop tent is shelter for twenty children, not two hundred. Bring something to sit on: the seating is the grass. The Forks Market, a short walk across the plaza, has indoor washrooms, a food hall and air conditioning, which matters more by two in the afternoon than it does at ten in the morning. Evening is not the problem here. In the second week of June the sun in Winnipeg does not set until about 9:25, so the afternoon is long and bright and nobody leaves in the dark.

Where should you stay for Kidsfest?

Our three-bedroom home is in Crescentwood, south of the Assiniboine River. The Forks is ten minutes away by car, 3.9 km, which on a festival weekend buys you the thing families actually need: a nap window. You can drive back at one in the afternoon, put a small child down for an hour in a quiet house, and be back on the field by half past three without having written off the day.

Kidsfest lands at the front of Winnipeg's summer calendar, and June rooms near the centre of the city go early. Our Airbnb listing shows which dates are open.

Before you go: Kidsfest sets its dates, daily hours, lineup and ticket prices fresh each year and posts them at kidsfest.ca. Check there before you book travel around a particular day.