Weekend Plans: Festivals, ninja open house, Meet the Durham Bulls

Happy weekend! Here’s what’s happening on the family fun front. As always, check WRAL.com’s Out & About calendar for more weekend activities.

Paperhand Puppet Intervention’s 18th annual summer show continues this Friday through Sunday at Forest Theatre and runs on select days through Labor Day. Then, it moves over to Raleigh for shows at the N.C. Museum of Art. The show, a family favorite for years, is new each year and features puppets of all kinds and sciences, live music and story.

Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival will take over downtown Cary for the 41st year with all kinds of arts, crafts, food, entertainment and activities for kids. It runs Saturday and Sunday.

Wings Kids Consignment Sale in Raleigh is this weekend.

For interested boys and their families, the Raleigh Boychoir will be hosting the Raleigh Boychoir Experience from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, at Pullen Park. The free event is a chance for boys to learn more about the program. Registration is required. You can do that through the Boychoir's website.

Duke Homestead’s annual Harvest and Hornworm Festival is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, at the historic site in Durham. It’s free. The event celebrates the state’s farming culture and history with a looping contest, live music, craft vendors, hands-on history, a tobacco auction and a hornworm race.

Y'all at Dix Park will wrap up its inaugural season with music, food, beer, art, games and more from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, on Harvey Hill in the park near downtown Raleigh. The event is free and a great chance to check out one of Raleigh's newest parks. The event includes the Kirby Derby, a soap box derby race that's run for years in a nearby neighborhood and is moving to Dix Park this year. There's also a parade at 5:30 p.m., tug of war and lots of music (including the talented Brooke Hatala at 5:15 p.m.).

Catch one of the final outdoor movies of the summer at the N.C. Museum of Art, which will show the live action "Beauty and the Beast" at 8:30 p.m., Saturday. Tickets are $6. Gates open at 7 p.m. At Saturday's event, the museum will be holding a book drive. Bring new or gently used books for readers in kindergarten through fifth grade. Read and Feed of Wake County will collect the books and distribute them to kids in need.

Marbles Kids Museum in downtown Raleigh will host a special after-hours event exclusively for kids with special needs and their families so they can play in a calmer, quieter environment. Family Fun Night is 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday.

Historic Yates Mill County Park in Wake County will host Water Balloon Games from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday. To participate, just bring some safe water-filled balloons with you (and maybe a towel and a change of clothes). The park will provide equipment to play some water balloon games. It’s free. Registration is not required. Participants will be asked to help clean up when they are done.

Triangle VegFest is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, at Durham Arts Council PSI Theater, 120 Morris St., Durham. The event, designed for those interested in plant-based diets, includes free samples, demonstrations, information and giveaways. Admission is free (a $5 donation is suggested).

USA Ninja Challenge will host a ninja open house for kids ages 4 to 15, who will get to check out a ninja-style obstacle course gym. The open house is 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, at 1810 Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, Durham.

North Carolina FC, the Triangle’s professional men’s soccer team, will play the New York Cosmos at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.

The Durham Bulls has home games through Sunday, including fireworks after Friday and Saturday’s games. On Sunday, when the team’s regular home schedule closes, kids run the bases after the game. And, before the game, you can join the Bulls on the field, play games, get autographs and more. Gates for the game will open at 3 p.m., and players will be available on the field from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. The Sunday game starts around 5 p.m.