The Utah Arts Festival's children's area, called Planet Discovery, can be compared to, well, a tossed salad.
"We kind of took our children's art yard and tossed it up in the air," said Robyn Nelson, executive director of the festival.What they got when it all came down was a mixture of hands-on activities with a dash of performing arts for any child, from toddlers to pre-teens.
This is the first year the festival tried something so extravagant for its children's display.
Organizers figured they had to do something new. In celebration of its 20th year, the festival is letting kids 12 and under in for free. Festival organizers expect attendance to hit 10,000 for kids alone.
Renee Fitzpatrick, coordinator for Planet Discovery, said the attendance on Thursday was phenomenal.
"It was already fairly crowded at 12:15," she said.
Planet Discovery is a collage of tents and a stage set up in the southwest parking lot of the Triad Center. Organizations as varied as the Utah Museum of Art and Jurassic Playsand have booths and areas where kids can create art and learn about their history and their environment.
"We have never had all of these different organizations," Fitzpatrick said. "All of these organizations have educational outreach programs during the school year. Because there were all these cultural institutions in place, we thought we ought to invite them down here to do their stuff."
Their stuff is about as varied as the children attending the displays.
A display ran by ZiNj, an oversized natural history magazine for kids ages 6-14, offered kids an opportunity to make their own cave art. The Utah Museum of Natural History had a box where kids could unearth dinosaur bones.
Children weren't the only ones learning. At the Hansen Planetarium's human sundial, a woman who was with her children stood at a spot determined by her height, hoping to tell the time of day by the end of her shadow.
"It looks like it's about 20 minutes after 11," Hansen Planetarium's Robert Bigelow told her.
"No," she said, looking at her watch, "it's 12:20."
"Now wait a minute," Bigelow said with a smile, "didn't you set your watch ahead in April? This shows the real time."
There are a few pieces of art that are being created by participants. Planet Discovery added a twist to the standard kid's fish pond. Everything pulled out of the pond will be hung by the kids on a small wooden scaffold and donated to Primary Children's Medical Center.
Other pieces of art in progress include a papier-mache stegosaurus and a weaving wall where kids can weave fabric into a chicken-wire fence. Bank One is planning on putting one of these pieces in the lobby of one of its branches.
Fitzpatrick said that participating organizations are working out well.
"Everybody's really amazing," she said. "All of the (organizations) who have joined together to make things happen have just been fabulous."
The festival runs today from noon to midnight and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. Planet Discovery closes both days at 9 p.m.