Weekend Plans: First Fridays, Second Saturdays, Video Games Live, food truck rodeo

As always, check WRAL.com’s Out & About calendar for more weekend activities. Also, public pools continue to open for the summer season; regional libraries have launched their summer reading programs; and theaters and other venues have started their summer movie programs. We have databases for all of those.

And good luck to Team WRAL and everybody participating in the Race for the Cure at Meredith College on Saturday!

Friday is the first Friday of June, which means that downtown Raleigh galleries, museums, shops and restaurants are open with special deals and hours. Read my earlier post for family fun options. One event to note that I mention in the post: Marbles Kids Museum will host a kickoff to kindergarten event for rising kindergartners in year-round school and their families.

The N.C. Symphony performs Video Games Live at 7 p.m., Friday, at the Duke Energy Center for Performing Arts in Raleigh. The concert, said to be fantastic for families, includes live versions of music from games such as Mario, Warcraft, Sonic, Pokemon and more. Not only is there music, but there’s also live action and interactive segments to create quite an experience, according to the symphony’s website. This sounds like a lot of fun. Tickets start at $35.

This Saturday is the second Saturday of the month, which launches the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources’ Second Saturday series. The program, which runs on the second Saturday of each month from June to August, features mostly free programs for all ages at state historic sites and some museums. We are lucky in the Triangle to have a good number of historic sites in the region. But the series also provides opportunities for lots of day trips. Triangle events include Raleigh Raptors from 11 a.m. to noon, Saturday, at the State Capitol. Learn more about the red-tailed hawks, Union Square’s most popular resident, and other birds of prey during a live raptor program. Duke Homestead offers Bull Fest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday. Learn about Durham history, along with local artist, food and businesses. Wool E. Bull will be there, a small food truck rodeo and other activities. And Historic Stagville in Durham celebrates Juneteenth, considered to be the date the last enslaved people were freed, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday. Performers include storyteller Priscilla Best, children’s book author Carole Boston Weatherford (“Juneteenth Jamboree”), blues musician John Dee Holeman, and the Golden Genies from the Durham Center for Senior Living. Kids can make cowrie-shell necklaces and write with a quill pen.

Also, part of Second Saturdays, the N.C. Museum of History hosts Our State Day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday. The magazine that covers all things North Carolina is celebrating its 80th anniversary. They’ll have bluegrass music and displays about the magazine. Stoke County’s award-winning teacher Eric Marshall, who was recently featured on CBS' “Sunday Morning,” will display information about the Civil War. You also can pick up a free copy of Our State.

In unrelated historic site news, Burwell School Historic Site in Hillsborough will host The Homefront in Hillsborough: Civil War Living History Event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday. The site will offer 30-minute guided tours of the Burwell residence. There will be free refreshments, costumed reenactors, cooking and firing demonstrations and 19th-century children’s games. Admission is $7 for adults and $2 for kids ages 10 to 17. It’s free for children under 10. Advanced reservations are recommended for the tours. Call 919-732-7741 to sign up for a tour spot.

Charlie Brown and Snoopy will visit Northgate Mall in Durham with three interactive shows for kids called Happiness is … Baseball. UNC’s mascot Rameses also will be there. Shows are 10:30 a.m., noon and 2:30 p.m., Saturday. The shows include songs from "You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and more. Photos with the characters will be available for purchase. Also part of the fun are special screenings of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at Stadium 10 Theaters at Northgate. They are scheduled for noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., Saturday. The movie runs about 50 minutes. Tickets are $1.

And last, but not least, downtown Raleigh’s Food Truck Rodeo returns with more than 50 trucks from noon to 5 p.m., Sunday, along Fayetteville Street and adjoining streets. We went to the first one last month and had a blast. Read my earlier post for tips if you go. Yum!!