The Osmond Girls to Celebrate the 5th Annual Princess Festival

June 6, 2012 - PRLog -- Pleasant Grove, Utah  June 1, 2012 – The 5th Annual Princess Festival will launch on June 19, 2012 at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi Utah.  The gates open at 10 AM.  Each day at 12:30, The Osmond Girls, comprised of Rebecca Osmond and her three daughters Susannah, Sarah and Sasha will perform a musical show for the visitors to the event.   (Rebecca is married to Mike Osmond, a member of the Osmond 2nd Generation and son of  Alan Osmond.  The three daughters are great nieces of Donny and Marie. )  The Osmond Girls will sing music especially written for the Princess Festival celebrating the theme “More than a Princess”. The performance is reserved for the estimated 1,000 daily guests and will take place in the central square at the Children’s Discovery Gardens at Thanksgiving Point five days a week for two weeks June 19th-30th at 12:30 PM.
The Princess Festival, a value-oriented fairy tale experience for young children, will also highlight the stories of 40 local children who, facing personal hardship, are examples of courage and acts of service.  Parents and friends have submitted nominations, sharing the stories of these children.  (They can be viewed after June 10th by going to www.princessfestival.com  or  to the Festival’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/princessfestival. )   Video stories of these children will be shared throughout the month on these sites and at the event.  (A  principal focus of the Princess Festival is to empower kids to care about others, do service and make a difference in the world.)
Originally conceived as an interactive fairy-­‐tale experience, the Princess Festival is specifically designed for boys and girls ages 3-­‐10 to enjoy a fun adventure while reinforcing good values of courage, kindness, friendship and service. 68 Actors, dressing the part as classical and new fantasy characters, guide the young visitors through multiple stories where they participate in helping these magical characters deal with situations and challenges.
The show will include the daily arrival of a local area Beauty Queen who will be arriving for the mid-day performance in a horse drawn Cinderella Coach   Adorned as a Queen of Everley they will be emphasizing the message “finding the magic within” which is the ability to face and deal with one’s problems in a positive way.
Dr. Sterling Bone, a Professor at Brigham Young University and Utah State University together with Tracy Sulz, a collaborator from Oklahoma State University, is conducting a study with the Princess Festival to determine what the perception of “being a princess” is for girls and their parents.  The initial findings of the study are scheduled for review in the near future.  In contrast to the New York Times best selling author, Peggy Orenstein asserting that the princess movement was a “glass half empty ( Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture ),  Ron Hatfield, the co-founder of the Princess Festival has stated, ”Being a Princess is not very clearly defined beyond the stereotype mentioned by Ms. Orenstein.  There appears to be great opportunity to more clearly define what a Princess should be and do, and then use the strong attraction of the children as a teaching and shaping opportunity.”
With 8  children and 43 grandchildren, Ron also realizes many parents are looking for alternatives to the perfect fairy-­‐tale image portrayed in typical Princess stereotypes. Even sociologists, Liz Grauerholz and Lori Baker-Sperry, point out in a Purdue University study, “Fairy tales about pretty princesses winning Prince Charming are more harmful than parents might think.” The creative team behind the Princess Festival has drawn characters that share some personal challenge and imperfection. This, along with the problem-solving element of their stories, makes the point that princesses and fairy-­‐tales do not have to be perfect to have a happy ending. Perhaps this type of fairy-­‐tale adventure can be more relatable to kids.
Festival Show dates and times:
The Princess Festival has created its own family of Princesses, it’s own product lines, music, animation, books, and performances.  These are all coordinated in connection with existing classical princess favorites with careful effort to avoid conflict with existing trademarked and copyrighted properties.  The Princess festival interactive performances include, Princess Ilissa, Princess Mila, Princess Sonrisa, Rumplestilskin, the Twelve Dancing Princess and more..  The event runs Tues-Saturday (10 AM – 4 PM). New shows begin every 20 minutes.  More details on times, tickets, and location can be found at www.princessfestival.com.


Local Affiliations:
The Princess Festival 2012 is affiliated with America’s Freedom Festival Provo, The Timpanogos Story Telling Festival, SCERA, Lehi City, and the Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The Princess Festival was founded in 2008 by the Hatfield Family to help support local and international charities such as In Our Own Quiet Way, which creates clean water sources in African communities. The Festival has drawn over 30,000 attendees at their Lindon and Thanksgiving Point events.

I f you would like more information, or to schedule an interview with The Osmond Girls or Festival founder, Ron Hatfield, please contact Ron Hatfield (801) 830-­‐0911 or   email  ron@princessfestival.com.