Festival de Colempce - Le Chadron Magique

Le Chadron Magique: an enchanted festival for children

In the heart of the hamlet of Colempce, on the banks of the Gazeille in Chadron, Haute-Loire, the Festival de Colempce “Le Chadron Magique” was for several years the only festival in the department entirely dedicated to children and families. Supported by the association L'École de la Nature, founded in 1996 in Le Puy-en-Velay, this summer event transformed the village into an enchanted place where nature and performing arts mingled in a bucolic and magical atmosphere.

A rich and varied program for young and old

The festival offered an eclectic program mixing clowning, ventriloquism, circus, musical tales, burlesque theater, acrobatics, sound inventions, magic, puppets, and young audience concerts. The shows took place on four different stages—indoors, on the stage overlooking the Gazeille, and under the big top—with performances lasting 45 minutes to an hour, offering a double reading to enchant both children and their parents.

In parallel with the shows, numerous free activities punctuated the days: wooden games, face painting, donkey rides, family craft workshops, a barefoot trail, apple juice making, and outdoor painting workshops. A “Magic Arts” workshop, hosting about twenty young people aged 6 to 14 for a week, culminated in the creation of an opening show combining dance, circus, and video.

Memorable editions

Under the name “Le Chadron Magique,” the festival had five editions from 2017 to 2021, hosting renowned artists such as Henri Dès (2019), Steve Waring with his daughter Alice (2020), and La Fée Mandoline (2021). The children's singing competition “Ça en voix!” became an emblematic event of the festival, with about twenty young singers competing in a festive final. The 2017 and 2018 editions had hosted Star 80 and Michaël Jones as headliners, respectively, before the festival fully affirmed its young audience identity from 2019 onwards.

An exceptional natural site

The Colempce site, nestled on the banks of the Gazeille in a preserved green setting, offered an ideal setting for this rural festival. L'École de la Nature had been based there for about fifteen years, developing environmental education activities, discovery classes, and nature stays for children. The festival benefited from the support of 23 schools, 2 nurseries, 3 leisure centers, and 2 music schools in the region.

From fixed to itinerant

In October 2021, L'École de la Nature left the Colempce site to resume its initial itinerant operation. Under the name “Tinyac”, an ephemeral village composed of nine tiny houses, the association continued its cultural and educational activities in the territories of Emblavez, Meygal, and Mézenc, with the project of alternating host communes each year. Director Jérôme Liogier and Victor Mouleyre led this transition to a new model of cultural intervention in rural areas.