Kid-Friendly Delights at Assabet Craft Beer & Food Truck Festival

To call the Assabet Craft Beer & Food Truck Festival family friendly would be an understatement. While the Labor Day weekend event includes local craft brewers and a variety of food trucks, just downhill from the main festival is a dedicated Carnival Games area, including games, crafts, an obstacle course, and face painting, an area that attracted 200 children last year.

“We had 10 carnival games available last year and plan to add 3 new games this year,” said Leah Abraham, who planned and leads the Carnival Games section of the festival. “Watching the glee on children's faces when they completed a marble maze or won a duckie race was wonderful. Being the moles in the kid-size Wak-A-Mole game was a favorite, as was trying to bop siblings’ heads with the foam noodles. Kiddos also found the ‘pop bottle stand up’ excellent fun - especially if they were able to beat their parents at getting the bottle upright.”

The area also has a playground for younger children, and there will be an obstacle course for ages 6 to 12.

Face painting will be led by Abraham’s daughter, Meredith Jablonowski, as it was last year. While the face painting team will have specific images, if families bring an image their child wants, face painters will do their best to recreate it.

For the craft, Aimée Ledwell will lead kids in painting a mural of Turtle Island. Turtle Island, according to diverse Indigenous narratives, symbolizes the sacred land upon which the Earth rests.

While general admission is a $5-$10 donation per person 13 and over, there’s no fee for children 12 and under. Tickets will be sold for the games and face painting. Ticket donations are a suggested $1 each. Crafts and full face painting are two tickets each and games are one ticket each, with a small face painting design also offered for one ticket. The playground is free to play on, as is the obstacle course.

The festival will take place on Saturday, Sept. 2, from 12 to 4 p.m., rain or shine, at First Parish Church of Stow & Acton, 353 Great Road, Stow. Along with the children’s Carnival Games area, the event will include four local craft beer brewers, four food trucks, ice cream from New City Microcreamery, and music from local 90s cover band Sugar High. For more information, visit facebook.com/AssabetCraftBeer.