June 30th - July 6th 2016

by Pam & Michael Davison

Happy Independence Day! Whether you are heading out of town, hosting visitors or just having a quiet holiday, ParkGeek.com has such a great variety of events so you can make the most of your down time.

Independence Dayin the Triangle

Just about every city and town in the Triangle is hosting something fun for the Independence Day Holiday. Whether you are looking for breakfast and a kids parade or fireworks and live concerts, ParkGeek.com has it all for you!

Many events take place on July 3rd this year. The Town of Garner's Independence Day Celebration festivities start Sunday with kids inflatables and the sounds of the Carolina Soul Band and end with the North Carolina Symphony and a Fireworks Display.

The Town of Fuquay-Varina will host the annual Independence Day Celebration on the third, also. There will be fun for the whole family with fireworks, live music by Spare Change, food, and free carnival rides to enjoy at South Park.

Morrisville's Fireworks are on the 3rd! If you are an early riser, you can head over to Morrisville to enjoy a July 4th Pancake Breakfast and live entertainment on the 4th. Tickets should be purchased in advance so click through for the information

4th of July Celebration in Wake Forest will also start the weekend off with a bang. Sunday night at Wake Forest-Rolesville High School, there will be a concert by Band of Oz, games, live entertainment and fireworks. The gates open at 5:30 pm and admission is $5 per person (kids under six are free).

For a slightly different twist, come on out to Bond Park on Friday to experience the Independence Eve Celebration at the Cary Arts Center. Applause! Cary Youth Theatre will present an Independence Eve performance. Following the performance, there will be a concert by the Cary Town Band. Bond Park is hosting an Olde Time Celebration on the 4th. The fun begins early with a parent-child fishing tournament and a parade. The day continues with family contests including doughnut and watermelon eating concerts, lakeside Olympics, balloon volleyball and seed spitting contests.

Apex honors an Old Fashion 4th of July on Monday with Uncle Sam's Parade of Wheels and an afternoon of fun with food, inflatables, street performers, Karaoke, carnival games, climbing wall and cake walk. After the parade, enjoy the Apex Fire Department's Splash Down!

Monday is also the Children's Independence Day Parade and Family Fun at Durham Central Park. Decorate your bike or wagon and join them for a parade, a frozen treat and some great music.

Following the Wake Forest Children's Parade, head on over to Holding Park for Art-in-the-Park and Games-in-the-Park. Some of the game activities will include sack races, watermelon seed spitting contest, and a pie eating contest.

The City of Raleigh presents their July 4th Celebration. "The Works" starting around noon with Hot Dog Eating Contests, watermelon seed spitting contest, dunk tank, rock wall, street and aerialist performers, water zone, face painting and balloon artists, beer and wine tent, and magic. While your downtown, Marbles Kids Museum will be celebrating by making Parade Floats Saturday and Monday and throwing a Fireworks Dance Party Sunday and Monday. The North Carolina Museum of History and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (including the Nature Research Center) will be open 9am-5pm on the 4th.

Celebrating Independence Day provides an opportunity to look back in time. The Independence Day Open House at the Joel Lane House is a great place to reflect on colonial life. On the grounds, re-enactors will demonstrate various aspects of colonial life such as spinning and dyeing. The garden will be on view and herbs from the garden will be for sale. There will be old fashioned crafts and games as well as lemonade for the children. In addition to outdoor activities, the circa 1770 plantation manor house and the 1790 kitchen building will be open.

The State Capitol is another great historical location to celebrate our Independence! Enjoy a family-oriented Independence Day celebration with musical performances, carriage rides and several fun, hands-on activities for children. Enjoy sack races, try your hand at quill writing, pie the redcoat or dress up like a Revolutionary era citizen. Visitors can listen to patriotic tunes performed by the Raleigh Concert Band or share a story reading. The Capitol building will be open and available for touring.

The Town of Carrboro will be celebrating on the 4th with loads of live entertainment, kids inflatables, games, face painting, a toddler square, a kid's fun zone and even a costume contest and traditional Main Street Parade. Right around the corner, Historic Hillsborough will start their Picnic in the Park early with a parade, public reading of the Declaration of Independence, bands, pony rides, lawn games, food trucks and a pie bake-off.

Then there are the evening programs. The Mebane Fourth of July Family Music Festival will feature live music, food vendors and a fireworks display. The Cary Independence Day Concert & Fireworks at Regency Park is another great family event with patriotic music and fireworks. In Durham, you can enjoy a Durham Bulls game then fireworks show. Tickets are required for the baseball game, but the gates will be opened for free admission at the end of the 7th inning. Lastly, the fireworks and festivities in Chapel Hill will take place at Kenan Memorial Stadium again this year!

The fun takes place on Sunday in Holly Springs. The Old Fashioned Independence Day Celebration will feature children's entertainment, inflatables, festival food, kids crafts, potato sack races, a watermelon seed spitting contest, face painting and musical entertainment. The evening at Sugg Farm Park will culminate with fireworks!

Celebrate with Music and Movies

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will host a Science Cafe on Medicinal Microbes as well as the Museum premieres Flight of the Butterflies 3D at this weeks Science Thursday. Come back for a Science Saturday about Climate Change: What Can We Do About It?

After Hours Early Summer will bring the tunes of Crystal Bright & The Silver Hands to the lawn in Carrboro Thursday night.

Start your July 4th celebrations a couple days early with a free concert from Big Fat Gap with The Lang Sisters at this week's Pickin' in the Plazain Downtown Raleigh.

This Thursday's Back Porch Music on the Lawn features Longleaf Pine Nuts and Balsam Range.

Big Fat Gap will be back playing this week's Friday on the Front Porch of the Carolina Inn along with the food truck Chick-N-Que.

Durham Cinematheque presents Movies in the Park 2015 in Durham's Central Park Friday after dark. This Friday will feature Making Art in the Universe.

The Halle Cultural Arts Center presents The Revenant as part of its Academy Award Film Series.

First Friday Festivities at the Parks and Museums

Festival for the Eno will take place on Saturday, July 2nd and Monday the 4th. The Festival features over 65 performers on 4 stages, 85 craft artists, a home and garden expo, solar power and biodiesel demos, traditional and international food court, instrument museum, petting zoo, live animals, craft demonstrations, river activities and rentals, kids activities, storytellers, and puppets. Tickets are needed, so click through for all the info.

First Friday will bring the Gallery Walk to Downtown Raleigh along with the Morning Times Market at City Market with local artisans, live music, entertainment, and local breweries.

The NC Museum of History host First Friday this month with extended hours and samples from Four Saints Brewing Company. They will also celebrate First Friday at Marbles Kids Museum and the City of Raleigh Museum (COR) with extended Hours.

The North Carolina Museum of Art will feature a Friday Night Sound Bite on the Winds of Change and live music by the David Dryer Trio along with extended hours.

Head on over to Bass Lake Park for Family Fun Night. From 6-7pm make arts & crafts, meet a live animal, or borrow a fishing pole! Then from 7pm-8pm join Trish Miller for a kid friendly concert on the deck overlooking Bass Lake.

Historic Yates Mill Pond County Park invites you to hear some Park Tales Friday evening. Find out the facts, hear turtle tales, and examine real turtle shells up close. Meet "Frankie the Turtle" then head to the Pond Boardwalk to search for live turtles in the park.

Crowder By Night will feature a Firefly Frenzy for the whole family after dark Friday.

Fun at the Parks

Over the next week, there are lots of great activities like educational programs and guided hikes at our Triangle Parks. We will highlight a few of the family events on Facebook, but for the complete listing, go to the Events Search at ParkGeek.com and put in the dates and/or parks you are interested in and we will keep you up to date. Now that its summer vacation, many of the local parks are doing weekday programs also.

Historic Yates Mill Pond County Park invites you to take a variety of tours both Saturday and Sunday. The renovated Mill is a great destination if you have out of town guests. The park is wonderfully scenic and the interpretive history center is fascinating for all ages. Saturday you can be a Yankee Doodle Dandy and learn about the American Revolution through a whimsical story set to the popular tune of Yankee Doodle, where mice, rabbits, and other woodland creatures bring to life the era's important events.

Crowder District Park will host a Nature Family program about everything Wet and Wild Tuesday morning. Crowder Park will also hold their monthly programs for ages 3-5 and 6-9 on Wednesday.

Blue Jay Point County Park hosts a Family Wildlife Series: Don't Use it All Up! Saturday. There will be fun activities that emphasize the amount of fresh water available for human use on Earth and explore how we can all be mindful consumers. Bring the kids back Tuesday for a Nature Play Day.

Its Free Fishing Day on Saturday, July 4th at Harris Lake County Park. In celebration of Independence Day, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has declared July 4 to be Free Fishing Day. From 12:01 a.m. until 11:59 p.m., everyone in North Carolina - resident and non-residents alike - can fish in any public body of water, including coastal waters, without a fishing license.