Shakori Hills (2008)
If you’re one of those folks who used to go to festivals in the BC era (Before Children), this is the season where you start thinking back to the good old days of outdoors live music, bonfire-roasted marshmallows, beer spilled on your sleeping bag and not-finding-your-tent-anymore at three o’clock in the morning. But we’ve grown up, moved on, and little kids and rowdy festivals don’t mix well. Or do they? If you want to Continue reading
This article was written in 2012. In 2013, the event takes place on Sunday, 4/14/2013; everything else is the same.
Well Touch-a-Truck sounds pretty cool, but it is actually an understatement: This more “touch a truck, armored vehicle, bus, backhoe, digger, helicopter day”.
The event takes place in Chapel Hill, on University Mall. Have a look at the slide show from 2011. Your kid sitting in the driver seat of a back-hoe? See an ambulance from the inside? Look up-close at a helicopter? A boy scout troop is organizing this and they think that “[…] young children ages 2-6 are especially thrilled by this event […]“. I couldn’t agree more! (And as they point out, kids and adults of all ages are welcome.)
University Mall, Chapel Hill, NC, 12p-4p. $5 for everybody over 2.
The annual North Carolina Science Festival starts today. Make sure to visit at least one of their events. The website has an event calendar, and you can narrow down results by date, county, topic, etc. The UNC Science Expo and the grand opening of the new Nature Research Center in Raleigh will be the regional highlights.
The original article below is from 2012; everything should be the same in 2013 except for the new date Apr-6 and some minor corrections.
Chatham Orange (oops) County does have its share of eclectic characters, and Clyde Jones is one of them. Clyde however, has the pretty unique distinction of having his own event, that annual ClydeFEST which is held for the 11th time in 2012 12th time in 2013. If you’ve never heard of Clyde, here an (older) video about him:
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/8196961]
As you can see in the video, ClydeFEST is not some high-brow art happening. This is an event for kids! The website of the Chatham Arts Council who organizes this event annually says that “ClydeFEST is an all day Kids’ Carnival Folk Art Festival of Art, Games, Music, Magic, Clowns, Hula Hoops, Local Food, and loads of other fun and excitement.” In addition, there are several performers scheduled on the stage, and food and drinks for several vendors will not be in short supply either.
ClydeFEST takes place in Bynum; Bynum is where 15-501 crosses the Haw river, and once you’re in Bynum, you can’t miss it. To get there, take 64 West and then 15-501 North, or 40 West and 15-501 South.
FIRST Robotics Competition
Every year in Spring, high school students around the world are in full-on geek mode as they prepare for the FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST is a non-profit that encourages kids interest in science and technology.
This weekend hosts the regional finals at Dorton Arena. Building, programming and controlling the robots is decidedly stuff for high school kids, but watching the competition is fun for the entire family. WRAL has a video from last year’s event.
FIRST Robotics Competition by North Charleston, used under the CC-BY-SA license. (This photo is from last year’s event in Charleston SC.)
Karolina Sobecka, Sniff. Courtesy of the artist. (Currently on Display at CAM Raleigh.)
First Friday is always a good idea to expose to the kids to some art and downtown happenings. Born Digital (including the digital dog pictured on the left) is still up at CAM, I wrote a review about it last week. There is a high school art project on display at VAE, that could be interesting: Students from Garner High School created an art project in one of those movable storage container (PODS) and it is sitting outside VAE in a parking space. (Upcoming First Fridays will feature different schools in the same space.) The main highlights are two events that are probably too close together time-wise to catch both:
First, Invisible is doing a performance at CAM at 7:30p. I’ve seen the Greensboro-based group once live in concert, and it is mesmerizing for the young and old. My best description would be ‘steam punk synthesizers’. Think an old piano triggering little hammers that bang on found objects. Amazing to see and hear. They will perform The New Obsolete. (Below is a video of an older project.)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/18959055]
Second, Morning Times is hosting the Morning Times Market (many artists, including Johnny Swank who I like), and the Pickle Mamas will be “fire hooping” with the Raleigh Drum Circle. It is schedule at 8pm, so you probably have to make up your mind: Warehouse District or Salisbury and Hargett. Either way, the kids will enjoy it. (No rain expected, but dress warm enough the be outside.)
If Barbie is not your thing, then how about Monster Jam! Who hasn’t seen the giant trucks smashing old junk cars in a dirt-filled arena. (And who hasn’t phantasized about having one when someone has just cut into traffic in front of them.) Did you know that Grave Digger, the most iconic of the Monster Trucks is from North Carolina? And is celebrating its 30th anniversary? Perhaps not the most spiritual and peaceful way to spend Easter Saturday – but at least you’ll know who crushed the eggs, I mean cars. Cheapest seats+parking for one adult/one child: $40. PNC Arena. Tickets and details here.
The image above is by Tammy Powers, obtained from Wikimedia Commons.
Love her or hate her, Barbie is here to stay and does not get tired. In this latest installment she is a successful surfer and mermaid. The movie is rated appropriate for age 5 and up at Common Sense Media, in my view by far the best movie rating website for kids & media. Read their review for details.
After seeing the movie at 10 in the IMAX, stay for the Barbie Bash where you and your child can make “surfer fashions” and “wearable mermaid accessories”.
On 3/31/2012 we went to the Open House of the College of Veterinary Medicine at NC State University that I wrote about earlier. The event was very, very well organized, and I would say it is interesting for anyone 18 months old or older, and we will keep this on our radar for the coming years.
Our 2-year-old liked that his teddy bear with an old and nasty burn wound did finally receive proper medical treatment. He also enjoyed seeing the mares with their 6-week old foals, and observing how a cow gets milked.
I found it surprising that he recognized many of the skeletons on display throughout the building. Horse, Lion, Cat, Giraffe, were all studied with great interest. The only one that left him puzzled was the elephant; I wonder if that is because the trunk was not visible. (No bones about it!).
But the parents also got to see many interesting sights, some of them still lingering long after dinner: A documentary about animal parasites was shown while we waited for the teddy bear surgery, and I saw way too much of it. Some animal got spayed in the glass-walled OR, but I didn’t look closely enough to see if it was a cat or a dog. And yes, I went to see the fistulated steer. By my self. And only from far.
If you missed it, come back next year. We will, knowing that other displays will become age-appropriate and a return visit will not be boring. Original post here.
This just in: Yesterday, I came across a Hula Hooping event at NOFO, the store/restaurant at Five Points, but I could not find enough information on NOFO’s website to feature it. Thankfully, a Daddy Weekly subscriber just notified me about that very event, so here goes a quick add-on to this Saturday’s busy roster: If you’re not into frogs and cows, head north to NOFO for lunch, fun and a Hula Hooping contest! Dolly Dozier, a local children’s book author is there and signs her new book “Peggy Noodle Hula Hoop Queen“. From 11a-2p. NoFo @ The Pig.