Go Ask Mom

Weekend Plans: Fox 50 Family Fest, Heritage Day, International Festival, much more

It's a busy weekend with festivals and special events across the region. Here's your weekend family fun.

Posted Updated
FOX 50 Family Fest
By
Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

It's a long weekend for many families in Wake County schools. Friday is a teacher work day for children who attend traditional calendar schools.

And it's a big weekend for the fall fun farms and, even some haunted houses in the region. Check our Halloween and fall fun database for more on that. Among those opening Saturday is the Clayton Fear Farm Daytime activities, which are family friendly and not haunted. They include what's called Seymour's 3D House of Dreams.

Here's your weekend family fun!

I'm excited to be part of the Fox 50 Family Fest and Great American Tobacco Duck Race from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham. Noah's Landing, the non-profit zoo from Coats, will bring out live animals. National jump rope champions "The Bouncing Bulldogs" will be there. The Sandbox band will play. And there will be a lot of activities for kids, including field games and activities from the YMCA, face painting, balloon art stations, the Fox 50 Terra Nova Dinosaur Experience and more. The duck race benefits three non-profits - the Durham Literacy Center, Explorer Post 50 and the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. Ducks are on sale for $10 for individuals and $250 for businesses. There will be a duck decorating tent with art supplies for the public during the event from noon to 3:30 p.m. The duck race activities start at 3:30 p.m. I'll be there with some give aways, a contest and a little craft project for the kids. I hope to see you there!
Take a Child Outside Week, an initiative of the N.C. Museum of Natural Science, wraps up Friday. There's a special event at the museum's Prairie Ridge Ecostation in west Raleigh from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday (that day off from school for many Wake County students). The free event features guided walks through the property. Check my earlier post for details.
Historic Oak View County Park in Raleigh will celebrate Heritage Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday with animals, crafts, antique farm equipment displays, cane pole fishing, live entertainment, horse-drawn carriage rides and more. Read my earlier post for details. It's free.
Postpartum Education and Support's StrollerThon is Saturday at Crowder Park in Apex. The annual fundraiser raises money for the group, whose signature program Moms Supporting Moms has helped many, many moms in our area who have struggled with postpartum depression. There will be a timed 5K, a fun walk and lots of activities for kids. Read my earlier post with more information about the group and the event.
The 26th annual International Festival of Raleigh is Friday through Sunday at the Raleigh Convention Center. The event includes Sophia's Corner, which features kid-friendly activities and special programs including storytelling, a passport scavenger hunt and "are you as smart as an exchange student." Kids ages 6 and under are free. Tickets for everybody else range between $4 and $7. There are some savings if you buy tickets early. The hours are 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
The annual BBQ for Babies presented by the Duke Intensive Care Nursery Family Advisory Board is 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at Teer Farm, 7729 Kepley Rd., Durham. The event with food and fun benefits families in the Duke Intensive Care Nursery. There will be BBQ, music, a raffle and more. Tickets are $10 per person. (Disclosure: Duke Medicine is Go Ask Mom's sponsor).
The folks who have put together the popular and very family-friendly Music on the Front Porch around downtown Raleigh are working with Carolina Brewing Company, PieBird Restaurant and Person Street Partnership to put together the first Downtown Raleigh Oktoberfest from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at the corner of North Person and Pace streets. Wrist bands are $5 for adults and that includes a beer ticket. The event will include a bounce house for kids and a side area for them to run around. You'll find lots of food, beer and live entertainment.
Sunday is Festifall, the big annual art festival in downtown Chapel Hill. From noon to 6 p.m. along West Franklin Street, you'll find artists, food, entertainment and other activities. The ArtsCenter, Ackland Art Museum and Kidzu Children's Museum will have booths with take home arts activities. There will be a community chalk art project. At the Kids Canvas, there will be some special performances and what is being billed as a "dive into high flying fun with Mike Savino's parachute dance" at 2 p.m. It's free.
The 4th annual Pittsboro Pepper Festival at Brier Chapel Community Park, 16 Windy Knoll Circle in Chapel Hill, celebrates local food, chefs, farmers and music. It's 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. It includes some special activities for kids including face painting, big bubbles and circus acts.
Kids Fest is back at Triangle Town Center from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday with inflatables, face painting and more.
Marbles Kids Museum is a busy place this week with special activities to celebrate the museum's fourth birthday starting Thursday through Sunday. The Tarheel Tale Tellers, the renowned children's literature performance company from UNC-Chapel Hill, also will be there at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday with stories. The birthday activities and Tarheel Tale Tellers performances are free with admission to Marbles, which is $5. And Marbles' IMAX theater will start screening "Forces of Nature," on Friday. The movie follows scientists on "pulse-pounding quests to discover how natural disasters are triggered," the website says.
The annual Heart of Carolina Marching Band Invitational features high school marching bands from across the region at Wakefield High School on Saturday. The first band performs at 4:45 p.m. Awards are handed out at 11:15 p.m. Admission is $10; $5 for kids under 10 years.
The Raleigh Dance Theatre will perform a preview of its upcoming performance Storybook Tales featuring The Little Mermaid and Fancy Nancy, Bonjour Butterfly at 11 a.m. Saturday at Cameron Village Library, 1930 Clark Ave., in Raleigh. The pre-professional ballet program's Storybook Tales performance is scheduled for Nov. 5 and Nov. 6 at the Progress Energy Center for Performing Arts. The performance on Saturday is free. Tickets for the full program in November is $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Click here for tickets and more information. It's a great, less expensive opportunity to expose kids to ballet.
WakeMed Health & Hospitals' Scrub Run and Fun Fest is 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in Moore Square in downtown Raleigh (across from Marbles). The event features a 5K and 10K benefiting WakeMed Children's Hospital.
The Triangle Independent Schools Consortium will hold an independent school fair from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Brier Creek in north Raleigh.
It's another busy weekend at Duke Gardens in Durham with free drop-in science activities on the nature ranger cart from 10 a.m. to noon Friday; a free storytime from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday; and another science or craft project from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday. Its annual fall plant sale also is from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Dorcas Ministries and Habitat for Humanity's ReStore will celebrate a grand opening at 10 a.m. Saturday. The event includes Cary Fire Department safety demonstrations, Wake County Sheriff's Department child seat safety inspections, music and other family fun. The new store is at 187 High House Rd. in Cary.
The Chapel Hill/Carrboro Mothers Club will host its 11th annual Preschool Fair at the Carrboro Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro St., from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. More than 30 of the area's best schools will be there so you can do your research in one place and take home a free booklet with a profile of each school. It's free and open to the public.
We have consignment sales this week in Apex, Cary and Benson. Read my earlier post for details. And the Young Women's Christian Connection will host the Upscale Sale from 8 a.m. to noon at the Upper Room Christian Academy, 3330 Idlewood Village Dr., Raleigh. Find baby and children's clothes, toys, gear and more for men and women, plus baked goods and crafts.
And finally ... Bentonville Battlefield in Four Oaks, about an hour from Raleigh and 45 minutes from Fayetteville, will host a free program from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Learn about the hardships faced by the average Southern family left behind in the first year of the Civil War from civilian re-enactors. Demonstrations include open-hearth cooking with samples, spinning, sewing and games. Military re-enactors from the 27th NC will also be on hand to demonstrate camp life, musket firing and drilling. Guided tours of the Harper House, a Union field hospital, will be offered on the hour beginning at 10 a.m. with the last tour at 4 p.m.

 

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