April 7th - 13th Triangle 2016

by Pam & Michael Davison

Take a day trip out to Wilmington this weekend for the North Carolina Azalea Festival all weekend. The five day long festival encompasses a wide variety of both free and ticketed entertainment including a parade, street fair, circus, concerts and pageantry highlighting the city's rich array of artwork, gardens, history and culture.

Thursday kicks off the North Carolina Science Festival. The awesome statewide festival runs through Sunday, April 24th with a vast variety of events from star watching to lectures, hands on festivals to themed hikes. We will highlight the events this week here in the Triangle, but click through for all the events State wide.

Hope for clear skies Friday night so we can all enjoy the Statewide Star Parties! After dark, join astronomers at the following Triangle parks to gaze up at the stars and planets: Harris Lake, American Tobacco Trail, Eno River, Falls Lake, Umstead Park, Prairie Ridge, Little River, and Annie Louise Wilkerson Nature Preserve. Jordan Lake, Lake Benson and Old North Durham Park will hold their Star Party Saturday night.

The North Carolina Museum of History joins in on the festival Friday afternoon with a Raleigh Rockin' Walkin' Tour. Join them for a walking tour to explore different rock types while visiting historic buildings, museums and other hidden nooks in the downtown area.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will experience a State of the Sciences: Museum Takeover Friday night. Celebrate the fascinating work of students and faculty at NC State's College of Sciences at the College's annual State of the Sciences event.

UNC will host their annual Science Expo Saturday. Come view the sun through telescopes with solar filters and explore more than 100 fascinating demonstrations, hands-on experiments, lab tours and stage entertainment.

Wednesday brings an Earth Fair on the Brickyard to NC State. The Earth-focused fair at will boast dozens of exhibits, demonstrations and ideas on how you can make the world a better place.

The Weekend Fun Starts Early

Thursday's Science Cafe at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will feature a class on how to introduce your kids to Astronomy and a Town Hall hosted by WRAL chief meteorologist Greg Fishel about the Unique Perspectives on Communicating Climate Science.

The North Carolina Museum of Art invites you to enjoy music by the Tea Cup Gin for Friday's Art in the Evening along with Sound Bites about Creating a Sacred Space.

The North Carolina Museum of Art is also hosting their second annual Art in Bloom weekend. Starting Thursday and running through Sunday, there will be a wide variety of tours, lectures, demonstrations, pop-up art carts, scavenger hunts, presentations and trunk shows. Click through for the entire line up.

Over a decade old, the 2nd Friday ArtWalk in Downtown Chapel Hill and Carrboro invites you to enjoy the opportunity to see a large variety of artwork during a single evening while socializing with fellow art lovers.

Friday night kicks off the monthly Art After Dark in Fuquay Varina. Events will include an artists' and crafters' market, kids' creative activities, performers, live music and an art walk.

Art After Hours will bring the streets of downtown Wake Forest alive with food, merchants and music! Also Friday night, Wake Forest kick's off their Friday Night on White concert series every second Friday April through September. This week's concert features the Magic Pipers Band.

Learn fun dances for the whole family: Squares, Circles, Appalachian, and more, with caller Connie Carringer and a live, old-time, string band music during Friday night's Family Dance at Halle Cultural Arts Center.

Pullen Park introduces their Mystery Movie Friday. Join them every Friday in April for a great family movie. Follow them on Twitter or Facebook for clues each week leading up to the feature presentation! Be the first to solve the mystery and guess the movie for a chance to win a cool prize!

Friday evening at Bass Lake Park will feature a fun evening of Family Bingo. The monthly event has become very popular so get there early to secure a seat for the fun.

Last year, the Cary Town Band invited young music students to sit in with the band for a series of rehearsals and a formal concert. Come enjoy the second year's Play with the Band concert Friday night at the Cary Arts Center.

Festivals & Fun

Celebrate Frogs and Clean Water with games, crafts, educational activities and food at Crowder Park's annual Frog Fest.

Durham Central Park presents the annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Friday and Saturday. Click through for the schedule of free screenings.

Falls Lake State Recreation Area invites you to BW Wells Heritage Day Saturday. Come celebrate the North Carolina ecologist, passionate conservationist, and the author of many influential scientific papers with a variety of guided hikes, kids' activities, crafts and a plant raffle.

Come Celebrate 100 Years in NC State Parks at Raven Rock Saturday with a Trail Trek, a 10 mile, hiking challenge followed by a Centennial Party. There will be live music, art exhibits, nature exhibits, poetry readings and guest artists.

Celebrate Morrisville History Day and their historical ties to the Civil War on Saturday with live music, games, crafts, a cannon display, lecturers and re-enactors from the Civil War and post-War period.

Carrboro's Open Street Event is back Sunday. West Weaver Street will be closed to cars to encourage other forms of physical activity. There will be rock-climbing wall, a kid's bicycle loop, a bicycle portrait project, a workshop to learn how to fix a flat tire, a "slow" bike race, yoga in the streets, zumba, squat/lunge workouts, demonstrations & lessons, art projects, a kid's bike obstacle course, and a bike station where you can make your own smoothie using pedal power

Celebrate poetry at Sunday's annual celebration of poets, scholars, and poetry lovers, the Nazim Hikmet Poetry Festival at the Page-Walker Arts & History Center.

The North Carolina State Fairgrounds hosts the Chatlee Boat Show & Sale, the spring edition of the Southern Ideal Home Show and an All-Arabian Horse Show.

Farm Animal Days 2016 takes place Wednesday through Friday at the NC State Beef Educational Unit. Bring your kids to see cows, goats, horses, tractors and Molly the Cow. There is a grassy area to picnic and you can enjoy some free NC State Howling Cow ice cream.

Culture, Music and Movies

Historic Yates Mill County Park features Saturdays at the Old Mill Tour. Sunday, they will be offering Mill Heritage & Local History Tours.

Yates Mill also invites you to join them Friday evening to go on a night hike and listen for Signs of Spring. Kids 7 and up are welcome to join them Monday for Artifact Discovery.

The Triangle Wind Ensemble presents Poetry in Motion Saturday at the Cary Arts Center. Their upcoming concert will feature compositions by Alfred Reed, Claude Debussy, Joseph Schwantner, among others, all of which are inspired by poetry. There is an admission charge for this concert, but Middle and High School Students get free admission to this concert by wearing your school T-shirt or showing their student I.D.

Holly Springs Community Band presents Around the World in a Daze in order to foster an appreciation for every kind of band music. The free concert Saturday will incorporate rock music renditions, marches, movie theme songs, semi-classical, and classical tunes. Come back to the Cultural Center Monday morning for the movie Hugo.

Investigate foods that power your body for outdoor adventure and play during Marbles Fuel for Fun Saturday. Both Saturday and Sunday, Marbles will host National Parks Adventure Play Days in conjunction with their 3D movie "National Parks Adventure". Sunday will bring Gadgets and Gizmos to Marbles with Gnome Homes & Water Filters.

The North Carolina Museum of History will host a lecture with Miguel Chirinos discussing Don Quixote and the Spanish Peseta Sunday followed by a Music of the Carolinas concert by Ed Stephenson & the Paco Band.

More Fun at the Parks

Learn about predator and prey relationships during Lake Crabtree County Park's Hoo's Eating Hoo? program Friday evening.

Become a scientist for a day with them Saturday at Durant Nature Park for a Citizen Science Project - NestWatch. Come back Sunday to Get Hooked! and enjoy a leisurely afternoon of fishing.

Kids that want to learn how to fish should check out a C.A.S.T. (Catch A Sure Thing!) at Jordan Lake State Recreation Area. The Saturday morning program will teach the basic fishing skills and test out the new knowledge. Sunday they will be holding an Eagle Count.

Ages 1-3 and 3-5 are welcome to join them Monday at Harris Lake for their monthly kids programs.

Monday evening you can gt your feet wet in the Eno River as you search for Water Bugs.

You are invited to Walk through the Seasons every 2nd and 4th Tuesday at Prairie Ridge Ecostation for Wildlife Learning.

There are quite a few programs for preschoolers this week. Nature Peekers will be at Blue Jay Park Tuesday. Wednesday you won't want to miss Storytime for Tots at Lake Crabtree, a Preschool Swamp Romp at Walnut Creek Wetland Center and Little Nature Hikers at Sertoma Arts Center. Prairie Ridge Ecostation hosts Nature Stories for little ones every Thursday.