Finley Clark, 3, and her friend Molly, 4, were delighted by an original performance of "The Emperor's New Clothes" at the Salt Lake City Main Library's Puppetry Festival March 3.
All the puppets in the play were made of household utensils.
"I liked the puppet made of a plunger," Molly said, adding that she also liked the wooden spoon and wisk.
Kathleen Clark, Finley's mother, said the girls were excited to continue their puppet fun at home by making paper bag puppets handed out at the festival.
Finley and Molly were only two of the hundreds of children and families who attended the fifth annual No Strings Attached: Puppetry Festival held at the Salt Lake City Main Library March 3-4. The featured guest for the festival was Bruce Chesse, founder of the Oregon Puppet Theater and an internationally recognized puppeteer.
Mary Ann Heider, one of the librarians in charge of the event, said it started five years ago when the new library opened. The festival is significant in exposing children to the art of puppetry.
"Puppetry encompasses so many different arts across the board. It's not just for children or adults," she said. "(The art) is thousands of years old and dates back to ancient China. It encompasses the arts, and it encompasses bringing literature to life in a very unique art in a very unique way. It's suitable for all ages."
Heider also thought the variety of local performers the festival draws is significant. Groups including the Utah Puppet Players, Goldentouch Puppets, Paradise Puppetworks and even the Library Puppet Players put on puppet shows at various times during the two-day event.
"What's really unique or what I think is really nice is that we have local puppeteers involved," Heider said. "We have puppeteers coming in from all over the state."
Chesse taught a Performance Techniques workshop for teachers, librarians and others who work with puppets on Saturday morning, as well as a sock puppets workshop for children in the afternoon.
"Creativity knows no bounds. It doesn't matter if you're wealthy or impoverished. It's the experience of allowing you to create," he said in the Performance Techniques workshop. "Puppetry is empowering to kids, because they can do something (with the puppets)."
Puppetry can be used to deal with any subject matter and gives a person an outlet to do something they wouldn't do in normal circumstances, Chesse said.
It wasn't the art of puppetry that drew Pleasant Grove resident Lindsay Budge and her daughters Abigail, 4, Lily and Grace, both 2, to the library but simply seeing a puppet show.
"It's something I thought would be fun for the girls. They've seen a show before and loved it, so they were so excited to come," she said.
Meisha Blackwell of Salt Lake City said her children also loved "The Emperor's New Clothes" show. She liked exposing them to such a creative art form.
"(Puppetry is great for kids), because all kids love to see adults use their imagination," she said.
E-mail: twalquist@desnews.com