The high net, suspended in the heavens, sends a chill down everyone's spine. With joyous shrieks and collisions, it's the very spirit of the children's festival. (Huang Shih-chi)

For ten years the Ilan International Children's Folklore and Folkgame Festival has been a pilgrimage destination for people from Taiwan's other counties and cities. And with ever new water games, local and international children's performing troupes that continue to improve in quality, and an exhibition hall for home, educational and fun products, the festival has become a grand summer-holiday occasion.

In contrast to the majority of counties and cities, which hire in outside PR or arts management companies to stage their events, this old-established festival is still a thoroughly "home-grown" affair, being entirely handled by the Ilan County Government's Lan-Yang Cultural and Educational Foundation.

So how on earth did this self-confessed "motley crew," a collection of people from all walks of life, manage to create a paradise for children?

As spring draws to a close in April, people start bringing out over 100 quilts to dry in the sun at National Ilan University, the international dormitory for the festival. Ilan's farmers' associations are designing special menus according to the cultural backgrounds and religions of the countries of the invited troupes. College students are being interviewed for jobs as goodwill ambassadors and festival workers.

"The children's festival is already part of the rhythm of many people's lives in Ilan," says the chief organizer of the sixth festival and current senior executive officer of the Council for Cultural Affairs, Jean Lee.