Squamish families looking for a fun weekend out this spring now have something to look forward to. Tickets are on sale now for the 2nd annual Buddy and Friends Children’s Festival at the Railway Museum of BC.
The festival runs Saturday May 2 and Sunday May 3, 2026, offering a full weekend of performing arts, culture, adventure, and learning, with trains running all day and gates opening at 9:30 am
Kids and adults alike do the regular museum activities like riding the BC-21 Budd Rail Diesel Car, or the Mini-Rail Train, or hop on “Big Red,” the CN Maintenance-of-way Track Speeder, but the weekend will be filled with plenty of other activities and performances.
The Creative Corner workshop offers puppet building, mural painting, and other activities kids can take home, while the Canadian Toy Train Association will have a large electric train layout on display, complete with a controller so children can drive it themselves.
The festival also brings an impressive lineup of talent to the museum grounds. JUNO Award-winning Al Simmons headlines the bill, a performer often described as a “one-man cast of thousands” who entertains with zany songs, prop comedy, and homemade inventions. He’ll be joined by fellow JUNO Award winner Norman Foote, a Vancouver-based family entertainer celebrated for his outrageous props, offbeat humour, and his latest album “Shoe-fly,” a collection of wild songs for the young at heart.
The Myrtle Sisters, a Vancouver trio of Candice Roberts, Nayana Fielkov, and Kat Single-Dain, will delight audiences with harmonies, tap numbers, and family antics with their inventive “Can-do Band” made from pots, pans, and odds and ends.
There’s plenty more to look forward to. Physical comedian and juggler Mike Battie brings three decades of festival experience to the stage, while Ira Pettle, a Second City Conservatory graduate recently named a Whistler Champion of Arts and Culture, combines music, comedy, and improv. And keeping it local, Squamish’s own rising star Jaeda Willson-Rymer takes the stage, a singer-songwriter well known throughout the Sea-to-Sky corridor who captures audiences of all ages with her vocal talent and spirit.
Another attraction of the weekend is the Nylon Zoo. Angela Brown, known as the “Ta Daa! Lady,” brings her colourful inflatable sculptures and costumed parade to the festival site, including a giant salmon you can actually walk through, where fantasy entertainment and education come together.
Local talent also takes the spotlight on the Local-Motion Stage, featuring the Squamish Academy of Music, Cam Salay and the Brackendale School of Fun Arts, among others.
For tickets and full festival details you can visit the website.
