Bambino Loco

Bambino Loco: Payaso Loco's playful universe for families

Born from the imagination of the association Payaso Loco, Bambino Loco is a young audience and family festival that takes over the streets and spaces of Pré-en-Pail-Saint-Samson every spring, in the heart of Mayenne. This festive event, designed for both children and adults, offers an immersion into a thematic universe renewed with each edition, where games, performances, and creation blend in a warm and participatory atmosphere.

A rich program of shows, games, and workshops

The Bambino Loco program is structured around several pillars that are the signature of Payaso Loco:

• Live performances: street theater, circus, storytelling, puppetry, and musical performances adapted for young audiences, offered by invited companies and the association's animators.
• Giant wooden games: a true specialty of Payaso Loco, which has a collection of old and oversized games from its toy library. Skill, strategy, and cooperative games are available for free throughout the festival site.
• Creative workshops: making wooden toys at the Atelier de la Sardine Volante, face painting, temporary tattoos, writing imaginary postcards, botanical and astronomical explorations.
• Parades and activities: costumed parades, dances with pirates on Pirate Island, adventure trails, and fun challenges for the whole family.

Themes that stimulate the imagination

Each edition of Bambino Loco is built around a unifying theme that guides the programming and scenography. Among the themes explored in previous editions:

• Back to the Future: time travel and wacky inventions.
• Adventure awaits!: encounters with explorers of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, discovery of stars, plants, and percussion, dancing with pirates, and rescuing forest animals.

These themes create a common thread between the different activities and immerse families in a collective narrative where everyone becomes an actor in the adventure.

Strong local roots

Bambino Loco is part of the local development dynamic driven by Payaso Loco since its creation in 2000. The association, located at 2.4 rue des Rosiers in Pré-en-Pail-Saint-Samson, manages a toy library with nearly a thousand references, open four days a week, and carries out 100 to 150 outings annually to schools, colleges, retirement homes, and other festivals in the region. Bambino Loco is the annual highlight of this local cultural action, bringing together local residents and visitors in a spirit of intergenerational and intercultural sharing.

A friendly and accessible festival

True to the associative and popular spirit of Payaso Loco, Bambino Loco focuses on friendliness and accessibility. A refreshment bar and on-site catering allow the celebration to continue, while the entrance fee remains low to encourage access for as many people as possible. The festival welcomes several hundred participants at each edition, confirming its role as an essential event for families in northern Mayenne and the Normandie-Maine Regional Natural Park.