Attention News/Assignment Editors

ALMONTE (Town of Mississippi Mills), July 30, 2010 – Spend a weekend in Almonte at the Puppets Up! International Festival and you’ll feel like you’ve been around the world in two days. For the sixth year running, Puppets Up! will welcome puppet troupes from around the globe and they, in turn, will deliver 54 world-class puppet shows in tented or storefront theatres in downtown Almonte.

Puppets Up! runs August 7 & 8 and the festival venue is open between 9:30 and 6:30 each day.

Almonte’s main thoroughfare, Mill Street, will also offer tons of free family-friendly street entertainment provided by clowns, balcony puppets, musicians, face painters and street entertainers. Children of all ages can also learn how to make their own puppets at the kid’s craft tent.

Once a day, puppets of every shape and size, along with musicians, celebrity parade marshals and street entertainers, come together on Mill Street for the famous Puppets Up! parade. The parade starts each day at 1:45 p.m. and ends at 2:15 p.m.

On Saturday evening, in the Almonte Old Town Hall, Puppets Up! offers an adults only cabaret performance — Puppets…Unstrung! — that features the talents of all of the visiting troupes. This year, the cabaret will include an auction of puppets made by some of Canada’s best-known puppeteers.

Almonte and its businesses are also ready to deliver lunches, snacks, cold drinks and a shady spot to sit and enjoy a spectacular view of the Mississippi River and its thundering waterfalls.

For a snapshot of what to see and do at Puppets Up! check out The Guide to the Puppets Up! Festival posted on our web site at www.puppetsup.ca. The full festival schedule is posted there too, along with a map. The guide includes recommendations about performances based on children’s ages. All venues and the festival shuttle bus are wheelchair accessible.

Lots of signage will lead visitors to both the festival and ample free parking. For detailed driving instructions to the festival, maps and parking (including handicapped), see the directions page on the web site.

Puppets Up! is presented by the BMO Financial Group and BMO Nesbitt Burns. The festival is endorsed by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and is strongly supported by a growing list of local businesses, media and individuals.

For more information on performances and festival tickets visit www.puppetsup.ca or call 613-256-3881. Become a Puppets Up! fan on Facebook too!

The world awaits you at this year’s Puppets Up! festival!

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Throughout the festival, media can report to the media office on site at the Almonte Old Town Hall to collect their credentials and information kit.

Media Contact:

Susan Wright
(613) 730-2020
(613) 314-2021 cell
e-mail: susan@suzwright.com
www.puppetsup.ca