Last September, more than 500 people gathered at Broadway Park West to celebrate the opening of Ann Arbor’s newest riverfront park. This September, organizers expect an even larger turnout as Bubble Fest returns with expanded entertainment, interactive science activities, live music, and food—all while remaining completely free.
Hosted by the Lower Town Riverfront Conservancy, the second annual Bubble Fest takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, at Broadway Park West. The family-friendly celebration is designed to introduce more residents to the Huron River waterfront while creating an accessible event that welcomes everyone.
“Our job is to make sure the park is well cared for, well programmed, and genuinely open to everyone in this community,” said Alex Milshteyn, president of the Lower Town Riverfront Conservancy. “Bubble Fest is one of our signature free family events, and my role is to bring together the sponsors, partners, and performers who make a day like this possible. The whole goal is creating a day that feels welcoming for every family that comes through the park.”
The event’s centerpiece was chosen with accessibility in mind.
“This is our second annual Bubble Fest. We wanted an event with no barrier to entry,” Milshteyn said. “Bubbles are free, they are universal, and they do not require a ticket, a skill, or a certain age to enjoy. A two-year-old and a grandparent have exactly the same reaction to a giant bubble drifting over a lawn. That felt like the right way to introduce our brand-new park to the community because the whole point of Broadway Park West is that it belongs to everybody.”
The inaugural festival exceeded expectations, drawing hundreds of visitors, many of whom had never visited the park before.
“The first Bubble Fest was part of our opening celebration in September 2025. More than 500 people came to the park, most of them visiting for the first time,” Milshteyn said. “The lesson our team took from that year is that families will show up in real numbers for something free, joyful, and easy to get to. This year we built the schedule, the entertainment, and the food around that expectation from the start.”
This year’s celebration expands on that success
“It is considerably bigger this year,” Milshteyn said. “We are bringing in Detroit Circus with roaming bubble artists, along with a face painter and a stilt walker who doubles as a contact juggler. We will have four Bubble Kings stationed around the grounds and a giant bubble created in the middle of the park. The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and the Leslie Science and Nature Center are both joining us with activities, Matthew Altruda of Tree Town Sound is handling music all morning, and we will have food from All City Dogs, Wander Bowls, and Washtenaw Dairy.”
Broadway Park West’s riverfront location helps make the festival unique. “It is open lawn right on the Huron River, which means kids can run and parents can actually see them,” Milshteyn said. “The setting does a lot of the work for us. Bubbles need wind and open sky, and the river corridor gives us both. It is also close enough to downtown and to the neighborhoods around Lower Town that families can walk or bike in, which changes the feel of the day.”
For the Conservancy, Bubble Fest serves a larger purpose than simply entertaining families for a few hours.
“Our vision is a riverfront that people use every day, not just on special occasions,” Milshteyn said. “Events like Bubble Fest are how people discover the park in the first place. Someone comes for the bubbles in September and then remembers the park in April when they are looking for somewhere to take the kids on a Saturday. We are building toward that alongside our capital work, including the Tim and Laurie Wadhams Pavilion, so the park has both a reason and a place for people to gather year-round.”
Milshteyn believes free public events have become increasingly valuable for building community connections.
“There are fewer and fewer places where people who do not already know each other end up standing next to each other,” he said. “A free event in a public park is one of them. At Bubble Fest, nobody is checking who belongs there. Parents talk while their kids chase the same bubble.”
Introducing more residents to Lower Town and its riverfront remains another important goal.
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“Lower Town is one of the nicest parts of Ann Arbor, and a lot of longtime residents have never spent an afternoon on this stretch of the river,” Milshteyn said. “Last year the majority of our Bubble Fest attendance was first-time visitors to the park, and that is exactly what we are after. If someone leaves knowing that this waterfront exists and that it is open to them, the day did its job.”
Families attending for the first time are encouraged to arrive early and plan to stay awhile.
“Come at 10 a.m. when the gates open and the Bubble Kings are already running,” Milshteyn said. “Around 11 a.m. everything is going at once, four bubble artists roaming, the stilt walker circulating, the science activities in full swing, and the giant bubble going up in the middle of the park. Bring a blanket, plan to stay for lunch, and let the kids get a little damp.”
Looking ahead, the Conservancy hopes Bubble Fest becomes a beloved annual tradition while supporting a growing calendar of programming at Broadway Park West.
“I would like Bubble Fest to become one of those events families simply assume is happening every September,” Milshteyn said. “Beyond that, we have built out a full season of programming for the park, including weekly yoga and pilates, children’s storytelling, and larger signature events through the year. The goal is a park that is busy in every season, and Bubble Fest is one of the clearest expressions of what that looks like.”
