There will be a kiddie concert and mosh pit at Forest Fest this year, thanks to popular children’s entertainers Bobs and Lolo, on the McLean Mill Nikkei Tent stage at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 30.
“We would like to see everyone on their feet,” Lolo, aka Lorraine Pond, said. “We will do a mix of our songs that kids will be familiar with from Treehouse TV, also some new songs from our new CD, Connecting the Dots, which has just been nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award,” she said.
“It’s all original songs that we have written about connecting kids to the natural world. We’ve got a song on there called The Log Song, that will be perfect for Forest Fest.”
Pond and childhood friend Robyn Hardy, aka Bobs, have developed a show that makes education fun for children from kindergarten to grade six.
They play regularly at elementary schools across North America, to children from kindergarten to grade six. Bobs and Lolo material is designed to fit in with the BC Ministry of Education’s standards for Science, Language Arts, Music and Physical Education.
The pair’s collaboration began at a girl guide camp when they were about eight years old.
“We did music throughout high school together and studied piano with the same teacher, so we thought this was a neat way to move our interests into a career,” Pond said. Pond majored in kinesiology and has a background in environmental education. Hardy has a background in teaching and linguistics.
Although both now live in Vancouver, the Nanaimo natives are excited about coming home to Vancouver Island.
The duo loves Port Alberni.
“When we were at the community school there a couple of years ago, we felt we were being adopted into this little family,” Pond said.
“Everyone was very welcoming. People brought us bag lunches. We know there’s a young community in Port Alberni and we are looking forward to connecting with families there.”
Pond recently became a parent herself. Baby Anisa, will be in the audience at Forest Fest with her Dad in tow.
Advance tickets for Bobs and Lolo are available at Echo and the Rollin Art Centre.