Cardboard Carnival

The Cardboard Carnival took place on the Healdsburg Plaza in August 2025.  Through TrueWest Film Center, I was invited as an arts partner to lead the morning session for a week long camp.  Collectively, we came up with the idea that we would work toward for a public event just a block away on the Plaza.  The theme of "Cardboard Carnival" was voted on democratically.  Giving them maximum freedom and support, small groups designed and built parts of the carnival.  There was an interactive basketball arcade game, a slot game that shot a coin in two different directions through a box, a large whale with bubbles, a castle, and a Riddle Box where a boy hidden inside the box would give riddles to visitors who had to listen closely to his clues.

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What made this a success was giving young people the opportunity to interact safely with the public through their own creations and imagination.  We even had a police officer tell us about our rights and what we could and couldn't do in public space.  Visitors who happen to be there for the event loved seeing what we had created and remarked on the positivity that was added to our public plaza.