Over 2,000 grade school kids are expected to perform at this year’s annual Peach Blossom Festival. 

The festival will take place Thursday, March 12 and Friday, March 13.

 According to Brooke Chau, the publicity lead for the festival, grade school kids from elementary schools across the Valley are expected to flood the Fresno State campus to present poetry and literary works. 

The festival is organized by Fresno State’s communication department. When the festival first began, it was run by the department’s professors. Currently, the festival is fully run by Fresno State students under the supervision of Christina Wells, the director of the festival. 

In the past, the festival has seen up to 6,000 kids present on campus.­

A recent press release stated that the festival was created to allow kids the opportunity to perform and give them a positive experience on a college campus. 

Kids can participate through large or small groups or perform individually. The schools are not ranked against each other, but each performance is judged on a scale ranging from fair to superior. 

Chau said, “Seeing a college campus and students studying and working hard towards their goals, they’re really going to get a lot out of that.” 

“I think for a lot of them this is their first time being on a college campus,” Chau said. “So it makes college, that may seem an unreachable thing, become more reachable.”

“The children that attend are from all areas of the Central Valley and may someday be students here,” said the Peach Blossom Festival website. 

The festival proves to be a valuable experience for the numerous Fresno State students who volunteer each year as well. 

Volunteering with the festival provides Fresno State students with experience, networking opportunities, new friendships and the chance to give back to their department. It also reminds college students that they worked hard to get to college, that younger students admire and look up to them and they are an example to the next generation of students. 

Overall, Chau said that the Peach Blossom is important to the school for many reasons. 

The festival is expected to help bring extra revenue into the campus through food sales, but more importantly, the festival is valuable to the campus because it brings a sense of community back into Fresno State.

Many students who attend the school now, some even volunteering with the festival, once participated in the festival while in elementary school, Chau said.  

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the festival, according to Chau, is that young students are coming from all around the Valley wanting to be a part of Fresno State. 

For more general information and scheduling on the festival, contact the program director at (559) 278-4419, email: [email protected]­