Weekend Plans: Strawberries, festivals, medieval fair, Brementown Musicians, more!

Here’s your weekend family fun! As always, check WRAL.com’s Out & About section for more ideas. And if strawberry picking is on your agenda, check our list of local farms where you can pick your own or just pick up a box to go.

Amanda Lamb will emcee an event that she wrote about this week to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. The event, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, at Pullen Park in Raleigh has been organized by students at Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School in Apex. The free concert features performances from students at the school. There also will be a raffle to raise money. For all the details, read Amanda’s post.

Friday is the first Friday of May and that means downtown Raleigh’s museums, shops and galleries are open with special deals and hours. Check my earlier post for information.

Bookmarked!, the annual reading festival for families, is Saturday morning at North Hills in Raleigh. You’ll find readings from local celebrities such as Theatre in the Park’s Ira David Wood III, crafts, mascots, face painting and more. It’s all free, but you could win prizes if you make a suggested donation. The event raises money for the Lucy Daniels Center's education and child mental health programs. Read my earlier post for details about this event.

Fuquay-Varina will host a Movie Under the Stars starting at 7 p.m., Friday, in the Stephens Ace Hardware parking lot in the town’s Varina district. They’ll screen “Wreck It Ralph.” Hay bales will be provided for kids, but adults should bring their own seating. The movie will start at 8 p.m. The fee is $1 with kids under 2 free.

The N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh will hold a Medieval Fair from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, for families. It’s free. The day includes medieval craft demonstrations, historic re-enactors, strolling minstrels, jugglers and more, including make and take art stations. Fairgoers can learn the art of calligraphy, make a manuscript, create a medieval hat or headdress, make a pendant and learn the art of felting and juggling. The museum also will offer a 20-minute interactive family tour where participants will be challenged to search for hidden treasures in the museum’s permanent collections. The tours are 1:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.

StormFest at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday. The free event focuses on the weather and weather forecasting. You can meet local meterologist, including some from WRAL. The movie Tornado Alley 3D returns to the WRAL 3D Theater at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. The screening is free thanks to WRAL.

Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and frequent TV show guest, stops at the Carolina Theatre in Durham for a show at 3 p.m., Sunday. Hanna will bring some favorite animals and stories. Tickets start at $28 each.

Apex Peak Fest is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, in downtown Apex. You’ll find live music, artists, a BMX show, skateboard demonstration, activities for kids, food and more.

The Smithfield Ham & Yam Festival is Friday and Saturday, with many of the events happening on Saturday. The day starts early with a church breakfast starting at 7 a.m. and wraps up with a free concert by Casey James, an American Idol contestant, at 8:30 p.m. There’s also a rubber duck race, piglet stampede, barbecue cook-off and, as you can imagine, more.

Carrboro Day is 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, in downtown Carrboro. The annual event features music, activities, a craft fair, family games, food trucks and demonstrations.

The Cary Downtown Farmers’ Market will hold a strawberry festival during its regular hours from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturday. They’ll have strawberries for sale, along with a visit from Strawberry Shortcake. There also will be music and cooking demonstrations.

The Central Park School for Children in Durham will hold its annual Strawberry Festival from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Saturday, at Durham Athletic Park. That’s a new location this year. The usual - Old North Durham Park - is closed for construction. The event includes a 5K and “strawberry stroll,” along with music, a raffle, and lots of yummy strawberry treats for sale, including strawberry shortcake.

The 33rd annual Meet in the Street in downtown Wake Forest is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday. It includes arts, crafts, food, entertainment and activities for kids. The event actually has its own app.

Wake Forest also will have a Bike Safety Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, in the Brooks Street parking lot at town hall, 301 S. Brooks St. The event teaches safe bike riding skills to kids ages 5 to 14 and their parents. May is National Bike Safety Month.

And Kiwanis Club of Holly Springs will hold its 11th annual Kids Appreciation Day from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, at the Holly Grove Middle School football field and track. The day is designed for Holly Springs’ kids and their families.

The Raleigh Little Theatre opens The Brementown Musicians, part of its youth series. The show runs through May 19 at the Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre in Raleigh near Cameron Village. The musical tells the classic tale of a donkey who wants to become a famous musician. Tickets are $10 for ages 12 and under and $15 for adults and teens. I’ve been so impressed with every show I’ve seen here.

The Museum of Life and Science’s Megalodon Shark Tooth Hunt ends this weekend. Museum visitors are invited to look for special golden-colored “treasure teeth.” The lucky winners will take home one of several giant megalodon teeth. The museum recently filled up its popular Fossil Dig Site (my older daughter could spend the entire day here) with two tons of new fossil material. The megalodon tooth is over 4 inches long and belonged to megalodon sharks, which were about 40-feet long and weighed up to 80 tons, according to a museum release. The tooth hunt is free with admission to the museum, which is $14 for adults and $10 for kid ages 3 to 12.

A Camp Corral Fun Fair is noon to 5 p.m., Saturday, in the parking lot of the Golden Corral at 6129 Glenwood Ave. in Raleigh. There will be bounce houses and more.

Teen Day Fuquay is 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, at the Fuquay-Varina Community Center in Fuquay-Varina. The day includes pedal karts, a “seat belt convincer,” rock wall, obstacle course and other activities for teens.

New Hope Valley Railway in southwestern Wake County will hold its monthly rides Sunday. They are every hour and 15 minutes from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets for the open-air ride are $10 for ages 13 and up and $7 for ages 2 to 12. In addition to the train ride, you also can check out some antique train cars and a model garden railroad.

And last, but not least, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham holds one of its free family days from noon to 4 p.m., Sunday. They’ll have crafts, gallery hunts and entertainment. It’s all free.