Go Ask Mom

Weekend Plans: Mardi Gras events, Valentine's Day crafts, circus and more

Celebrate Mardi Gras, get ready for Valentine's Day, enjoy some theater for kids and learn all about summer camps. Here's your weekend family fun.

Posted Updated
Durham Mardi Gras18
By
Sarah Lindenfeld Hall
Happy weekend! As always, check WRAL.com’s Out & About calendar for more weekend activities.

Here’s your weekend family fun!

We have some more daddy daughter dances this weekend. Check my earlier post for details about where they are this weekend. Some of them are sold out. So be sure to check before you go. And to see some really cute pictures from last weekend’s Triangle Father Daughter Dance at Marbles, see our image gallery.

We have a couple of Mardi Gras events this weekend.

Wake Forest’s Mardi Gras Street Festival is 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, in downtown Wake Forest. The family-friendly event includes a children’s parade; a king and queen costume contest for kids 12 and under; inflatables; live music; face painting and other activities. Some downtown Wake Forest businesses will have special discounts and activities. The children’s parade is open to all children. No pre-registration is required. They do need to be with their adults at all times.
Motorco Music Hall in Durham will have some family activities during its Mardi Gras warm-up party starting at 4 p.m., Saturday. From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., there will be a Mardi Gras costume making party with materials supplied for free by the Scrap Exchange.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus makes its annual stop at the PNC Arena this week. The show runs Wednesday to Sunday.
The massive Kids Exchange consignment sale is open to the public this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. Read my earlier post for details. And check our consignment sale database for details about other sales across the region.
Roma’s Clydesdale Farm in Castalia will offer a Valentine’s Day event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The day includes free horse rides. Tickets for the trackless train are $2 and a Valentine’s Day craft is $3. There’s also a gift shop and hot dogs for $2. The farm is a non-profit that gives underprivileged and special needs children a chance to join in the riding program at ROMA’s Clydesdale Farm. Castalia is about an hour from Raleigh.
Carolina Parent’s annual Camp & Education Fair is noon to 4 p.m., Sunday, at St. Mary’s School in Raleigh. The fair features local and national education, camp and summer programs.
And in Chapel Hill, University Mall will host a day camp fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday.
The N.C. Museum of History in downtown Raleigh will host a performance of Jack Tales: Appalachian Adventures from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The show is presented by Raleigh Little Theatre’s Storytellers to Go!, a teen ensemble. The free performance, which brings folk stories to life, is best for school-aged kids and their families.
Holly Springs has a community arts festival at the Holly Springs Cultural Center. The festival, which runs Tuesday to Saturday, includes classes, exhibits, vendors, performances and more. Some activities require tickets or pre-registration.
Mike Wiley Productions will perform Dar He: The Story of Emmett Till at 7:30 p.m., Friday, at the Halle Cultural Arts Center in Apex. Tickets are $12 for adults and $7 for seniors and students. The performance tells the story of Till, the 14-year-old boy who traveled to Mississippi where he was murdered.
At Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, museum goers can make handmade Valentine’s Day gifts from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday. And from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, the Raleigh-Wake County Dental Society will celebrate Children’s Dental Health Awareness Day. Meet a dentist, make tooth fairy pillows and more. Both are free with with admission, which is $5 per person.
N.C. State women's basketball plays Clemson at 2 p.m., Sunday, at Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of N.C. State. This is great family entertainment with some tickets free for kids 17 and under. Check my post from last year about the games.
And this sounds like a fun event at Kidzu Children’s Museum in Chapel Hill. A Winter’s Tale workshop with Paperhand Puppet Intervention and the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is 2:15 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday. Watch the new planetarium show The Longest Night at Morehead. It was co-produced by Morehead and Paperhand Puppet. Then Paperhand’s world-class puppeteer Donovan Zimmerman will guide participants through a hands-on workshop. The fee is $20 per child and adult. It’s for ages 6 and up. This is not a drop-off program. Space is limited. Registration is required. To register, call 919-933-1455.

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.