With Play Wild and Free was our rallying call for this year’s festival, we threw ourselves headfirst into producing a weekend adventure where families could lose themselves in exploration and wild abandonment.
Just So is a unique festival, where layers of programming allow families to find something new around every corner; from campfire tales and crafting to family yoga and DJ sets in a secret woodland treehouse…
Festival goers become curators of their own experience, taking part in three days of creative, often ridiculous, and always playful programming!
Highlights
Energetic adventurers had a festival to remember! We learnt a long time ago that the simplest concepts can produce the best results, with Bail Out! down at Marauder’s Cove being a particular highlight; anyone who was in the Scouts or Guides might remember this hilarious game, where tubs of water are passed between players with the aim of filling a bucket of water…
This highlight was closely followed by the giant egg and spoon race at the annual Just So sports day, acrobatic performances that took our audiences’ breath away, and some good old cutting and sticking in the all new making area – ‘Colourado’ – where faces for the Just So school photo were lovingly brought to life.
The Glimmering
Moments of collective wonder is a cornerstone of the festival, and this year, as night fell, beautiful performative puppets came to life with ‘The Glimmering’.
Appearing simultaneously all over the site, families came face to face with a giant, glowing bear, a hovering cloud dweller and several other ethereal, larger than life characters!
We often find this mid-point of the festival is when audiences are well and truly immersed in magic and make believe, making our Saturday evenings extra special.
Parents have shaken off the stress of putting up their tents, children have settled into the freedom the festival provides, and the atmosphere becomes something that is hard to describe. Some might call it magical; we like to call it what happens when the human spirit is allowed to play wild and free.
One parent summed up the feeling of connectedness perfectly:
We were all in the moment… I’ve never seen such a large group of parents and children together, with not a phone in sight!’
And as one parent reported back, their adventured-out child on the way home gave us the ultimate feedback…
I love Just So, it makes my heart feel very happy
For more information and tickets to Just So 2024, visit the website – we would love to see you there.
