Galiba Children’s Festival

The great forest is always a popular venue for those attending the Debrecen Flower Festival, in part because of its convenient location next to the city center. As usual, there will be programs here during the week of the Debrecen Flower Festival. One of the most important ones for families with young children is the Galiba Children’s Festival, which is gaining popularity with each passing year.

While the annual flower festival inspires all, prior to 2012 it did not allow for the participation of the very young, which is why the idea of giving young children their own festival arose. The idea of providing kids with a taste of the pleasures of carnival and festivities.

Since 2012, the Galiba Children’s Festival has run alongside the main event. It includes a youth flower festival parade, where kids from kindergartens, grade schools, amateur dance troupes, and various non-government organizations have prepared their own small floats and join the carnival procession.

There are 72,000 young people living in Debrecen city, and they are very important for the future of Debrecen. The Galiba Festival provides families with free but high-quality programs to enable even little children to enjoy the experience of being in the community and getting ready for a celebration.

As the Debrecen Flower Festival has grown into a carnival week over the years, the Galiba Festival, the little sister of it, has also become a multi-day festival.

Program – Galiba Children’s Festival 2019

Thursday, August 15
Opening day

Taking place at the Kids’ Playing Park of Békás Pond

• 3.00 p.m. – There will be no trouble at all! …it is just the opening of the festival with the performers on stilts of the ORT-IKI
• Puppet and Street Theatre: the show “Kökény Matyi”
• 4.00 p.m. – “Ludas Matyi “– a school comedy; starring on stage the Alföld Children’s Theatre Group and Főnix Student Theatre Group (DMK) celebrating their 40^th and 35^th anniversaries
• 4.30 p.m. – Concert for the little ones – TRIO Harmony Debrecen
• 5.00 p.m. – “A rátóti csikótojás” (The Foal Egg of Rátót) the performance of the Alföld Children’s Theatre Group and Főnix Student Theatre Group (DMK)
• 5.30 p.m. – “Tiszta, színes világ” ( A clean and colourful world), an eco-play for children – Kuckó Művésztanya (Kuckó Artist Community)

Friday, August 16^th
“Arany-osan” – Performances of the works of Hungarian poet János Arany

Taking place at the Kids’ Playing Park of Békás Pond

• 3.00 p.m. – “Toldi” – the legend – the history
• The picture show of Gábor Boka
• 4.00 p.m. – János Arany: “Jóka ördöge” (The Devil of Jóka) -performed by CsaVar Theatre from Slovakia
• 5.30 p.m. – “Mindegyik albumot szeretjük” (We love all of the albums)
• The family concert of Rutkai Bori Band

Saturday, August 17^th
the day of the shows of Vojtina Puppet Theatre

Taking place at the Kids’ Playing Park of Békás Pond

• 3.00 to 5.00 p.m. – Vojtina performers and their friends on stage
• 3.00 p.m. – “Szerencsés János avagy az ördög három aranyhajszála” (Lucky John, or the three golden hairs of the devil)
• 4.00 p.m. – The show of Magician Balázs Kiss – Nagyerdei Open Air Theatre
• 5.00 p.m. – “Földlakók” (Earthlings)  – The family concert of Hahó Band at the Kids’ Playing Park of Békás Pond 
• 6.00 p.m. – “Az élet és a halál vize” (The waters of life and death)
• The puppet show of Gyöngyi Écsi

Sunday, August 18^th (Geese Day)

Free access to the Amusement Park of Debrecen,
and with longer opening hours.

Taking place at Debrecen Amusement Park

• 9.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m.  – Shows presented  by RollerBrosHungary: Rolling day – a family and sports day sponsored by Decathlon
• 9.30 a.m. – “Ilyen-olyan libafajták” (Geese of all types) – the geese of Debrecen Zoo
• 10.00 a.m. – That is how he could look like – a Ludas Matyi lookalike show around the statue of Ludas Matyi, with different “Matyi trials” for the lookalikes
• 10.30 a.m. – Ludas Matyi dance show
• 11.00 a.m. – Waldorf 100 – 2019, the Year of the Bees
• 11.30 a.m. – “Mimóka”: the show of pantomime artist Csaba Méhes
• 1.00 to 4.00 p.m. – Galiba groups on the Galiba stage
• 3.30 p.m. – The marching of push scooter riders starting from the entrance of the Amusement Park

The arena of Nagyerdei Stadium

• 5.00 p.m. – Galiba march with the performers on stilts of DuoTrio Street Theatre upfront,  with red-nosed clown doctors and the still following Galiba groups; arrival point at the Amusement Park.
• 6.00 p.m. – “A rézerdő lakói” (Creatures of the Brass Forest) – Csaba Méhes and the Brass in the Five at Debrecen Amusement Park
• 7.00 p.m.  – Awarding ceremony at Debrecen Amusement Park

Monday, August 19^th
“Vegyen ön is mosómedvét!” – A day with classic Hungarian tales

Taking place at the Kids’ Playing Park of Békás Pond

• 3.00 p.m. – “Talányos mese” (An Enigmatic Tale) – performed by László Gulyás, a travelling musician
• 4.00 p.m. – Vitézi mókák (Medieval soldiers’ games) with the show on stilts by the Langaléta Garabonciások Group at the Nagyerdei Open Air Theatre
• 5.00 p.m. – Mosó Masa mosodája (the Laundry of Masa the Racoon) – the concert of Veronaki Band

Tuesday, August 20^th
Galiba festival is also filled with flowers

Taking place at the Kids’ Playing Park of Békás Pond

• 1.00 p.m. – Eszter Kárász and the children’s music band “Eszter-lánc”
• 2.00 p.m. – “Betyárparádé” (Outlaws’ parade) – the street show of Garagulya stilts
• 3.00 p.m. – Spotlight on magical dogs – the show of Magician László Szemerey, “Samy”

Photo credit: Debreceni Virágkarnevál