Longleaf Festival at Harris Lake County Park

Posted on April 12, 2013 by daddyweekly

Harris Lake is a beautiful park, albeit a bit of a drive from (downtown) Raleigh. (~25 minutes) This Saturday, they celebrate their Longleaf Pines, and they have about 60 acres full of them. The Festival features hayrides through the longleaf preserve, entertainment, crafts, live animals and even a fire engine. Since this is not hipster downtown, but rather the rural fringe of Wake County, food will not be provided by some fancy food trucks, but catered by Chick-Fil-A. (So you might want to bring your own kale chips and alfalfa sandwiches.)

The festival takes place this Saturday, April 13, from 11a to 3p at Harris Lake County Park.

Longleaf Pines by Chris M Morris, licensed under the CC BY license.

Theater, Old or New (Mar 2013)

Posted on March 1, 2013 by daddyweekly

There are multiple options to see a play this weekend, two of which we’ll look at in detail. The newest addition to the Raleigh theater scene is Storybook Theater, playing at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in its inaugural season! Rapunzel will let her hair down this weekend, and Winnie the Pooh and Dora the Explorer will follow later this year. I’m curious about this new venture and what it will bring.

On the other end of the old/new spectrum is Raleigh Little Theater, built in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration, and has seen stars like Ava Gardner and Andy Griffith perform on its stage. They are performing Snow White, but perhaps in a different version from what you know…

Raleigh Little Theater Rose Garden by Smythe Richbourg

Darwin Day (2/16/2013)

Posted on February 15, 2013 by daddyweekly

A high of 48 and a chance of rain means the weather is perfect for a visit to the museum. The Science Museum is hosting Darwin Day this Saturday, with a variety of presentations and a large number of displays from various area schools and universities. Some if sounds more geared towards adults, but then there is certainly something for the younger generation (Earthworm Race? Caterpillar Experiment?) as well. Plus, at 1:30 and 2:30, there are two Meet the Animals presentations.

Darwin Day, Sat 2/16, 8a-5p, NC Museum of Natural Sciences

Charles Darwin 1880 by Elliott & Fry [public domain] via Wikimedia Commons

African American Culture Celebration (1/26/2013)

Posted on January 25, 2013 by daddyweekly

Every year, the NC Museum of History celebrates African American Culture in its many facets. From R&B performances to craft demos and even acupuncture, everything that can trace its roots to the African continent is present.

The celebration takes place this Saturday from 10:30a to 4:30p at the NC Museum of History. For kids, there’s “a scavenger hunt, hands-on craft, and more”. On top of that, the vast selection of music performances, and the cooking demos will allow to adequately celebrate this years’ theme, Defining Freedom, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Thomas Day Statue 2 by Universal Pops, used under the CC BY-NC-SA license

Jack Tales: Appalachian Adventures! (Jan/Feb 2013)

Posted on January 18, 2013 by daddyweekly

Like last year, the teen theater ensemble Storytellers To Go is touring area libraries with their performance of old appalachian folk tales by acting, puppetry and interactive storytelling. We enjoyed their blackbeard play last year, and will try to catch this one as well. This weekend they are over in Knightdale, not too far out of the way, and their future appearances are listed below:

East Regional Library: Saturday January 19, 2:00pm
Cameron Village Regional Library: Saturday January 26, 3:00pm
Halle Cultural Arts Center Of Apex: Saturday February 2, 2:00pm
NC Museum of History, Museum Auditorium: Saturday February 9, 2:00pm
Southeast Regional Library: Saturday February 16, 2:00pm
West Regional Library: Saturday February 23, 2:00pm

Ironing Board Sam (1/12/2013)

Posted on January 11, 2013 by daddyweekly

I had a feeling that a musician performing at the Museum of History might be something special, but I was impressed when the top Youtube result when searching “Ironing Board Sam” yielded a video recording of a 1965 performance.

Ironing Board Sam was a successful performer 50 years ago, and appeared even on TV. He had ups and downs, and like so many Southern Musicians, did not earn or save nearly enough to live off of it. This is where the Music Maker Relief Foundation comes in, which provides elderly, often impoverished musicians another opportunity to record an album and have a decent living.

The Music Maker Relief Foundation (in Chapel Hill) does an awesome job giving these elderly artists another chance. How old is Ironing Board Sam? Well, a young Jimi Hendrix once played in his band, long before he was famous. That’s how old he is. And he performs this Sunday at 3pm at the NC Museum of History in downtown Raleigh.

Ride with Santa on New Hope Valley Railway (12/9/2012)

Posted on December 7, 2012 by daddyweekly

If you’ve heard about the holiday train at Pullen Park and are still thinking about going, you will probably keep thinking: Tickets are completely sold out for the entire duration. But a good alternative would be the New Hope Valley Railway, which also has rides with Santa this weekend. They are also sold out, but are holding a limited number of walk-in tickets. Make sure you read details before taking the half-hour-drive. (My suggestion would be to get there before or right at 10 a.m., and be prepared to not get tickets for the very first ride. (There is enough to see during the wait…)

Veterans Parade (11/11/2012)

Posted on November 9, 2012 by daddyweekly

The parade season is upon us, with the Veterans parade this weekend, and the “Christmas parade” (Christmas in November?) one week later. Here some tips from the Daddy for an enjoyable parade:

– Bundle up! Saturday will be sunny and not too cold, but you’ll be standing around for a while. If you’re not hauling lawn chairs, bring a thick insulating something to keep bottoms warm.
– Arrive early! The Veterans parade will not have as much spectators as the Christmas parade, but still.
– If you must drive, use the Alexander Square Parking deck. You enter (by car) from Wilmington St., but you exit (on foot) right onto Fayetteville. If you stay on that block, you and a screaming baby will be back in the car in a matter of minutes. You could even view the parade from the parking deck, but there are no safe, comfortable viewpoints for the littlest ones (30″ concrete wall and don’t even think about sitting them on the railing).
– Bring water and snacks. It would be too bad to give up your coveted perfect spot just to buy some overpriced bottled water. But in any case: The CVS at the corner of Fayetteville and Hargett has everything from water to food to diapers.

The parade starts at 9:30am by City Plaza and then goes up Fayetteville towards the State Capitol (opposite direction to most parades). A wreath laying ceremony at 11:00am and a static display of the parade with music are also planned.

The image is Patriotism by abbyladybug and used under the CC BY-NC license. Thanks, Abby!

Can I just skip Halloween? (10/31/2012)

Posted on October 26, 2012 by daddyweekly

I’m sorry, no you can’t. Unless you stay home and hide, which may not be the worst plan given the rainy weekend forecast.

This weekend, you can pretty much go to any of your favorite hangouts and expect to find a Halloween-themed happening. Long-time readers will know that I often have outdoorsy, or science-y, or artsy, so here one event for each of these three categories:

Let’s start with the outdoorsy stuff: There is a haunted hike on Tuesday at Jordan Lake State Park; walk the 1/2 mile trail anytime between 7p-10p and meet real (and not-so-real) nighttime creatures.

New Hope Valley Railroad does haunted rides this Saturday at 4p, 5:15p, 6:30p and 7:45p. (The 7:45p ride not for small kids, I read.)

The NC Symphony is playing spooktacular music at 1p and 4p. Show up early to try out some classical instruments yourself.

Then there is a new event, Raleigh Living Dead taking place on City Plaza. The website states it is for all ages (before 8p at least) and it does have kids activities, but all the grown-ups walking around in zombie costumes might be a little bit too much. Tickets are $10, and $5 for kids.

International Festival of Raleigh (9/29/2012-10/1/2012)

Posted on September 28, 2012 by daddyweekly

Note: The title originally stated Fri-Sat; this was typo; the festival is through Sunday. Thanks to J. for alerting me!

If taking your kids out of school to travel the world for a year or so sounds crazy, here is your local, low-risk, short-term alternative: The International Festival that is held annually at the Convention Center in downtown Raleigh. More than 11% of Wake County’s population, which is over 100,000 people (including Yours truly) are foreign-born, and want to share their heritage with you. While not specifically directed (only) at children, there are at least three areas that are perfectly suited to give little one a taste and a glimpse of the world:

First, and perhaps the best kept secret, are the dance performances. In some cultures (think India, Brazil), dance plays a much more important role than here. Where American expats abroad may teach their children American history and children’s songs or cook out on 4th of July, expats from other countries living here may in turn teach their children traditional folkloric dances. On the main stage, there is a different group performing every 10-15 minutes. From a Teen African Drum Ensemble to Lebanese Belly Dancing or Korean Percussion, there is a wide variety of exciting performances, many of them by earnest teens and adorable children.

Food is of course another great cultural bridge, and there are Food booths from just about any ethnic cuisine you’ve heard of. Thai, Lebanese, Italian and Mexican of course, but also Dutch, Turkish or French. Dig in, and let the little ones sample the foods that taste so different from their everyday meals.

Third, the festival does have a genuine “kids corner”, with the usual face painting and balloon animals and storytelling, all with an international twist.

The festival is taking place Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday; tickets are $8 and kids under 6 are free! At this low price, it is worth dropping in for even an hour or so sometime over the weekend, and see what is happening.

Korean Dance by Dance Photographer – Brendan Lally, used under the CC BY license

The Daddy Weekly

Things to do with Kids in Raleigh, NC

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