Category Archives: Action

Independence Day 2012

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Here some ideas to celebrate Independence Day:

Best fireworks for kids: First, if you can’t wait until tomorrow (or want the kids to see the fireworks and sleep in the next day), don’t be uppity and head out to Garner tonight. Their fireworks are earlier, the symphony is playing, and it is probably less crowded than “The ‘Works” in Raleigh tomorrow. Garner Independence Day Celebration, 5p-8p, July-3rd.

Best neighborhood parade: If you’re lucky enough to live in University Park, you have your very own Independence Day Parade right in your heighborhood. Firetrucks and Locopops; need I say more? University Park Independence Day Parade, 9:45am, July-4.

Best children’s parade: A bit out of the way, but specifically dubbed a children’s parade: Wake Forest Independence Day Children Parade, 10:30am, July-4.

Best parade that includes a splash-down from a fire truck: The Apex festivities include karaoke, inflatables and street performers in the morning and end with a parade and an opportunity to “cool off under the spray of the Apex Fire Department’s fire hose“. Town of Apex Olde Fashioned Fourth of July, activities 9a-12p, parade 12:00pm, July-4.

Best “let’s turn Independence Day into a three-day-festival”: As every year, Durham is hosting the Festival for the Eno with tons of activities. Festival for the Eno. Wed July-4, Sat. July-7, Sun. July-8.

And of course, there is also the Independence Day Celebration of the City of Raleigh which, following the overall trend, has moved from the fairgrounds to downtown and will take over Fayetteville Street and surrounding areas. Everything will be there, from a Reading of the Declaration of Independence to Arts Vendors to Circus to Music to Beer Tasting to, of course, at the end, Fireworks. This year, the Rotary Club will release 100 firefly lantern as a special treat at 9:30pm just before the fireworks. The ‘Works, 11am-10pm, July-4.

Also note that while the downtown museums (Science, History, Marbles) are open, the Art Museum is closed.

Fireworks Finish Up Raleigh Wide Open by abbyladybug, used under the CC BY-NC license

 

Kirby Derby (6/23/12)

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I assume that by now, everybody has heard of Kirby Derby, the annual event in the Kirby-Bilyeu neighborhood featuring men in dresses, experimental soapbox designs and a deadly 90-degree curve at the bottom of a hill.

Kirby Derby is for sure the best soap-box race I’ve ever been to, and the surrounding events (a pinecar derby, a drag [queen] race and a parade) turn this into one of the most exciting small-neighborhood block parties across Raleigh.

The schedule of events is as follows:

4:00 Pinecar classic (a race for small boy-scouts-style pinecars)
5:30 Parade of all participants (drag race and Kirby Derby)
6:00 Drag race (as in drag queen, not as in dragster)
6:30 Kirby Derby (usually two runs and a final)
party with bands after that

Now mind you, while the Kirby Derby is decidedly a family event and while fans of all ages are welcome, all ages can have fun, including adults. If running drag queens, gory soapbox crashes and the occasional brown bag are too edgy for you, you might want to find an alternate program. But if this is all within your level of tolerance, you will have a wonderful Saturday afternoon that everybody will remember long after.

The event takes place in the Kirby-Bilyeu neighborhood, off of Western Blvd., where it intersect with Pullen Road. Check out the website for details.

Garbage Truck Rodeo (6/23/12)

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No, this is a not a pun on a food truck rodeo. The Road-e-o is a competition for garbage truck drivers. As their website states, “Contestants representing public and private waste collection agencies will be competing […]. Drivers are required to maneuver competition vehicles through a preset course […].” The event is organized by the NC chapter of SWANA (Solid Waste Association of North America) and takes place at two locations, the South Wake Landfill at 6130 Old Smithfield Road in Apex, and (closer) at City of Raleigh’s Wilder’s Grove Operations Facility at 630 Beacon Lake Drive in Raleigh.

It is officially a two-day event for the participants, but the main competition takes place on Saturday from 8a-4p. This is the NC regional. The winner and runner-up ill continue on to the National Championship in Kentucky.

My son went through a phase of fascination with garbage trucks, and after seeing a ton of fire trucks last weekend, we need to pay the garbage trucks some respect!

Raleigh Fire Truck Parade (Raleigh Fire Department Centennial) (6/14/2012)

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Thanks to go out to the loyal reader who sent in this event. Suggestions for posts are always welcome!

The Raleigh Fire Department celebrates its 100th anniversary this weekend, and what better way to do so than inviting a bunch of kids! How do you get the kids to come out? Fire trucks. Big ones. Old ones. Steam-engine driven. Hand-pulled. Remote-controlled (to play with). And speaking of play: a Kids corner with a bucket brigade game and toy fire truck races.

Here’s  a suggested itinerary for the day: Get to your preferred spot along the parade route early for the best view. The parade starts at 10am on Hillsborough at St. Mary’s. It will travel along Hillsborough to the Capitol and continue down Fayetteville Street to the parking lots in front of the Performing Arts Center.That also where the fire trucks (properly called “apparatus”) will be on display along with the Kids Zone, a Pumping Exhibit and the usual stuff like food vendors, and, of course, a huge birthday cake.

At noon, the antique steam engine driven fire engine will be demonstrated, and other ‘pumping displays’ (I assume that means splashing water in laymens’ terms) will happen before and after.

Did you know the Raleigh Fire Department covers on average 100 incidents per day? Show them your support and go celebrate their 100th birthday. More information can be found at rfd100.com

Elmo is coming! Sesame Street Live (6/1/2012-6/3/2012)

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Who doesn’t love charming and cute little Elmo. “E-E-Elmo is coming to Raleigh! Hee hee hee ha ha ha!” Sesame Street Live brings the well known characters from Sesame Street to a stage near you, and they will be at the PNC Arena this weekend.

The show is “Elmo’s Super Heroes” (with “fun lessons on healthy habits” that will “turn your children in super heroes, too”) and shows start at the following times:

Friday, Jun-1: 10:30am
Friday, Jun-1: 7:00pm
Saturday, Jun-2: 10:30am
Saturday, Jun-2: 2:00pm
Saturday, Jun-2: 5:30pm
Sunday, Jun-3: 2:00pm

Tickets (from about $20-$40) are available at ticketmaster. Helpful information for parents can be found here.

Memorial Day and Marbles = Bubbles! (5/28/2012)

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Call me old school, but Thanksgiving is not about the turkey, and Memorial Day is not about the beach. I believe – no matter your political perspective – that teaching about the meaning behind our holidays is something we should aim for as parents. Now explaining that we give thanks for the harvest is understood at a very early age. But how do you explain the gruesome, complicated, heroic memory of the Civil and other wars to a little kid? Marbles has the answer: With Bubbles! And patriotic pinwheels! And a 21-soda geyser salute!  I do think that this gets something across, if only that there is a lot of red-white-and-blue and that this day is not like other days. You can save the discussion about veterans and flags on half-staff for later; if they are interested, it just might be because they have realized that this is a special day at a very early age.

First Friday: Circus and Art (5/4/2012)

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CircusSPARK Parade

CircusSPARK Parade

This is another First Friday where the warehouse district is drawing all (our) attention. You may hesitate to bring your children to a “PBR-inspired art show”, especially once you realize that it doesn’t stand for Parents Best Reasoning, but simply Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Fire Performance

Fire Performance (CircusSPARK)

But read on. The PBaRt event on Martin street also features several street performances. First on, at 6:30 and 8:00 is Cirque de Vol, the newly opened/opening Aerial Acrobatics Studio in Hue. (Note: They have circus camp and kids yoga!) Finally, if your kids last until 8:30 they can see a fire performance by the CircusSpark team.

In addition to the abundant regular food options in the area, Baguettaboutit will be at CAM and Klausie’s Pizza at PBaRt.

Capital City BMX race (4/29/2012)

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838 BMX

Go 838!

Did you know that there is a BMX race track inside the belt line? If you think the sport of BMX racing went out with Monchichi and Aerobics Leotards some time in the late 80s, you are mistaken. BMX (unlike Monchichi and Aerobics) is alive and kicking the pedal. And while there are adults and even professional riders using this course, there are races are for all age groups. (I wasn’t able to find out what their specific groups are, but the youngest nationally sanctioned age is “under 5”, and some of the photos on website show kids that could fit very well in this group.) [I heard back from Capital City BMX.]

Capital City BMX has riders as young as 3 and as experienced as 65, but most are somewhere between 8 and 15. Also, BMX is certainly not just for boys, and a professional woman BMX rider recently held a clinic at the course. According to CCBMX, about 1/3 of the riders are girls.

But just watching the race is fun for every age, and probably a good way to determine if that sport is something for your youngen – or for you!

Sunday, registration at noon, racing at 1pm. (There are races most Sundays.)

The track is located in Lions Park at 516 Dennis Ave, Raleigh, NC 27604. (Between Capital Blvd and Raleigh Blvd, 5 minutes NE of Downtown Raleigh) Lions Park is a nice but little known park, so if you get tired of BMX you can always head over to the playground, which has a pretty awesome play structure.

Update: I edited the age group and the gender ratio after CCBMX replied to my last-minute inquiry. They also shared that will add strider bikes this year for the under 4 crowd. Rest assured that The Daddy is very excited about that and will keep you posted on that topic in a future post!

838 by Scott, used under the CC BY-NC-SA license

Grand Opening of the Nature Research Center (4/21/2012)

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Finishing touch on the Daily Planet Theater of the Nature Research Center

If you’ve been in downtown Raleigh lately, you’ve surely seen the construction of the Nature Research Center. the new wing of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. (Some views Before, During, and After). I had the privilege of participating in a behind-the-scenes-tour (#instawalk) last week with David Kroll (the museum’s Director of Science Communications), and I have to say: If you’re raising kids in Raleigh you will spend a lot of time at this place in coming years. The Nature Research Center is Continue reading →

Touch-A-Truck (Sun 4/15 2012 12p-4p)

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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.