Sock It To Me! puppet pop-up by SpringWorks will be at the Grand Trunk site

Stroll along Downie Street to the pocket park to create sock puppets at this free pop-in event presented by SpringWorks.

SpringWorks, in association with Provocation Ideas Festival (PIF), will feature a new fall pop-up playtime for families and friends Oct. 4 and 5 at the historic Grand Trunk site, where it will transform into a pocket park. If you missed World in a Weekend last summer, this is your chance to get in on the wildly popular free sock puppet making workshops.

This new collaboration between SpringWorks and Provocation Ideas Festival is sponsored by the City of Stratford and is meant to be a conduit in which ideas and possibilities begin to percolate.

“I think the general idea is to get people curious, interested, excited, positive with possibilities of what that area of the city could evolve into. It’s in public lands, public properties, like parks and market squares, where people can come together in community, in a welcoming place,” said Eileen Smith, executive director of SpringWorks.

The pop-up, Sock It To Me! will be located at the pocket park that is located between the YMCA and the bus depot across from Bradshaw Lofts on Downie Street. Additionally, there will be ten tents on site for Trophy X Dream Weavers, as presented by PIF.

Making sock puppets is one of the most popular workshops during World in a Weekend, where attendees can create a puppet using a sock provided or bring their own socks that seem to be calling out for creative imaginations. There will be all sorts of fabrics and decorative art supplies on hand to turn each sock into an animated creature.

“We will have our little puppet theatre there so that your children can tell stories with their sock puppets and or other creature puppets. We’ll have our play puppets there. Just go for a fall walk and hang out with us for a while and help the dreaming of what that place can turn into. It isn’t that far from downtown. Functionally, it is downtown,” said Smith.

Creativity, imagination and play leading to ideas of what the potential could be for the Grand Trunk site is the motivation of the day. There will be chalk for artwork on the tarmac or hopscotch for all ages to play, hula-hoops and table games.

“The beginning is people understanding how close in the heart of the city this place is. It is only two blocks away from Market Square. October is still nice enough for Al Fresco dining too,” she concluded.

Sock It To Me! is to be held Oct. 4 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, or to donate to Springworks, visit its website at springworksfestival.ca.