Each year multiple churches and various businesses in the Guthrie, Oklahoma area join together to host a Children's Festival known as the "Back Yard Bash". 

The heart of this effort is to link arms with others in our community to provide a fun and safe environment for the children of Guthrie and Logan County so they might enjoy free food, music, inflatable toys, carnival games, give-a-ways and Bible stories.  Ultimately, we hope to sow seeds about the Lord Jesus Christ and encourage children and their families to become connected to a local church.

Teams of volunteers make the Children's Festival a possible.  They pack up tables, chairs, sound equipment, and many other things and transport all of it toward downtown Guthrie to an open area owned by the City of Guthrie called Cottonwood Flats.  There they set up tents, carnival games, food, animals, music stage, inflatables and many activities for children and their families.

2005 was the first year for the Children's Festival which exceeded our expectations with 1,338 people attending the 3-day Tues-Thur evening event.  Since then, we have seen the festival become a rally point for our region.  People of all shapes, color, and backgrounds come together to sow the love and Word of God.  Between the 2010 and 2011 festivals, many churches joined with 39 businesses to serve almost 5,300 children and adults over a Friday night and all-day Saturday venue. 

The 2012 festival is around the corner and Everyone is invited to participate. The dates are Friday evening (July 27) and Saturday evening (July 28).  For more information or to participate, send a e-mail to coordinator@childrensfestival.info.

As reported on Klove.com