kubi Children's Literature Festival: Blue lights flashing into adventure

At the end of June 2025, the kubi – Kufstein Library for Science & Leisure held its fifth children's literature festival. Under the motto Adventure with Blue Lights, a varied program was created in collaboration with students from the part-time bachelor's degree program in Sports, Culture & Event Management at the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol, combining the joy of reading with shared experiences. The event introduced children to the topic of reading in a playful way and also offered them the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of our everyday heroes. To this end, the library was transformed into a world of reading opportunities, craft stations, interactive workshops, and puzzles, in keeping with this year's motto. 

280 young readers attended the festival

Around 180 pupils from elementary schools in Kufstein and the Hans Henzinger School came to kubi – Kufstein Library for Science & Leisure to complete the individual stations. The following day, another 100 children visited the festival with their families. Together with the organizing team, students from the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol, and numerous volunteers, the young visitors, aged six to twelve, were able to work their way through the various craft, reading, and puzzle stations and learn about reading and the everyday working lives of our everyday heroes.

A special highlight on Saturday was the emergency services - police, ambulance, and fire department - who gave an insight into their daily work in interactive workshops on site. In keeping with this theme, a teddy bear clinic offered children the opportunity to try out first aid measures. At the can throwing station, they could extinguish an imaginary fire and test their accuracy at the same time. With the help of the police, they went on a hidden treasure hunt in the library.

In addition to the interactive workshops and stations, Tyrolean children's book author Katja Bluba read from her latest book, Swimming is Magic. Alongside a raffle with fantastic prizes, guests enjoyed Hitzefrei organic ice cream from Tyrol, which provided a welcome refreshment in the summer temperatures.

The aim of this event is to introduce children to the kubi – Kufstein Library for Science & Leisure in a fun way and show them how exciting and varied the world of reading can be. “It is a great pleasure for us to see how much fun the children had on both days of the festival. For us, this is also a sign that the hard work of the past months has been more than worth it,” says Christine Erhardt, project manager of this year's kubi Children's Literature Festival.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

On the occasion of the anniversary, the organizing team also set itself the goal of obtaining the Green Event Tirol Star award. This award is given to events that are planned and implemented in a particularly sustainable and environmentally conscious manner. With this certification, the kubi Children's Literature Festival 2025 was officially given recognition as an environmentally friendly event.

We are delighted that our anniversary edition was received so well by visitors this year. As with any project, certain situations require flexibility and a willingness to compromise. However, we always managed to make the best of it with the help of teamwork. By organizing this event, we had the opportunity to organize a larger event while still in our degree program, and each team member was able to gain valuable experience for their future careers," the team members provide a description of what they learned from the project.

The team at kubi – Kufstein Library for Science & Leisure is already looking forward to next year's children's literature festival and invites all children, families, and kubi fans to be part of this event again in 2026.

Links:

• Sports, Culture & Event Management | pt

This article was written by students of the part-time bachelor's degree program in Sports, Culture & Event Management as part of their practical project.