The West End Children's Festival was founded in August, 2006 by a group of twenty-seven children who shared a common desire to bring their community together. In order to build a community center in Boston's West End neighborhood a community collaboration was formed involving; The West End Civic Association, Downtown North Association, Councilor Michael Ross, and numerous West End residents. What began as a neighborhood "block party" soon made history by attracting over one thousand visitors in its first year and close to two thousand in its second! Both years, the community came out in droves: children, parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors, merchants, all enjoying the festivities together, building a memory, sharing a laugh and celebrating nothing more than each other!

Every penny raised goes toward multi-generational programming at the West End Community Center, which benefits the West End and beyond.

The West End Children's Festival is one of the only festivals in Boston that offers guests all games, activities, workshops, food, etc. completely FREE of charge. This means that you can bring the kids out into the neighborhood or into the "big city" for the entire afternoon, do arts & crafts, watch performances, play games, win prizes, eat lots of food, among so much more, and not spend a penny! As expensive as this city is, that's quite an opportunity for families!

This year, we are expecting an even larger crowd and with all the free activities, strong support from the business community is crucial. So far the response from both the business and residential community has been encouraging, however, we need all the help we can get to make this festival enjoyable for families from all over Massachusetts.