Dadstastic Day 2023 Roundup

On Sunday 11th of June, Leeds Dads took over Leeds City Museum and Millennium Square for Dadstastic Day. Ordinarily, we would hold it on Father’s Day which falls on 18th June this year, but Leeds 10K will be in Millennium Square next weekend so we got to be the first day of Men’s Health Unlocked’s Northern Man Festival instead!

It was a flaming hot day with 2,500 people in attendance. It is always wonderful to see so many Dads, Grandads and other male caregivers engaging with their children and enjoying our activities all year round, but there is something extra special about the mix of our current members and those new to Leeds Dads. The big screen in Millennium Square showed a slideshow of pictures from our Dad Walks, free Soft Play Sessions and Breakfast Clubs this year – some pretty moving memories.

Here’s what people had to say about Dadststic Day 2023:

Let’s hear it for our activities!
A very big Leeds Dads thank you to all of our volunteers, it isn’t easy being on your feet all day in 30 degree heat when you have 2,500 people to show a good time. We appreciate you! And for keeping everyone entertained, we thank :

Leeds Libraries for bringing the Story Bus and Leeds Playhouse for their storytelling drawing sheets

Maynard Flip Flap for showing us that when it’s hot enough outside to fry an egg outside, it’s fun to watch him catch one on his head

Awesome alterntive rapper Wilko Wilkes for facilitating Rap for Dad workshops (and then showing us all how it’s done!)

Scraptastic for hours of fun turning scraps of waste into animal art

Active Leeds and Get Set Leeds Local for what had to be the hottest tennis court in Dadstastic Day history!

King Monk Studios for helping us upcycle vinyl records and turn them into art, creating wonderful keepsafes

The Hamara Centre for generously providing face painting, henna tattoos and making a rainbow menagerie of balloon animals!

Number Train for their exciting pre-school maths activities

Northern School of Contemporary Dance for getting us moving joyfully with a fabulous mix of choreography and improvisation in our Family Dance Workshop

Uncle Grandad and Aunty Di Di for creating a magical shady spot for children to sing and dance along to some classic nursery rhymes

Oakwood Film Academy for their immersive green screen experience – who knew you could ride a rollercoaster without feeling queasy!?

Bad Dad Bubbles for bringing that giant bubble magic, always a favourite on Dadstastic Day

Impact Gamers for introducing us to RO81N to the robot!

Valentina’s Collective Arts for helping children create some truly extraordinary carnival headdress pieces

Artist Paul Digby for his Figurative Clay workshop where children of Leeds sculpted an extraordinary collection of clay heroes.

And last but not least, Simran our wonderful Dhol player for drumming her way to our closing party where Boomchikkaboom raised the roof as she’s been doing for over 10 years of Leeds Dads events! Thank you Faye for braving the heat!

Let’s hear it for our special guests.
YOU! All the parents, carers and kids that make Leeds the most child-friendly city in Britain. Speaking of which, we love you Child Friendly Leeds and Leeds Childrens Services for all your support and were glad to see Amanda Ashe of Leeds Childrens Centres.

We were also honoured to welcome Councillor Fiona Venner, who does so much for Leeds Dads and said:

MP Alex Sobel and Councillor Gohar Almas (both former Leeds Dads!) also came down, and so did our quite frankly amazing Mayor and Reclaim the Night pioneer Al Garthwaite with deputy Mayor Angela Gabriel.

Thank you to Sanjeed Chida and Butterflump for the photography and videography.

A final thank you to The Co-Op for donating fruit snacks for our free lunch bags.

Support Leeds Dads
#DadstasticDay is free to attend and always will be.
If you would like to donate to Leeds Dads, however, please text DADS then a number to 70085.
(Example DADS 2 would be £2, DADS 5 would be £5 – max donation is £20)

One great suggestion this year was to incorporate some food and drinks stalls into Dadstastic Day. So help us to fund it for next year!

See you all next year!