September 15th - 21st 2016 Triangle

by Pam & Michael Davison

Our amazing Fall Festival season is here! The fun in the Triangle starts Thursday. Come to Harris Lake County Park Thursday afternoon for their monthly Citizen Science Event. Help the park staff with their citizen science projects like monitoring bird houses or cleaning or repairing boxes/habitats.

Fun starts Thursday at Marbles Kids Museum. Stay after hours with reduced admission during Twilight $2 Thursdays.

Knightdale Station Park is hosting Food Truck Thursdays for both lunch and dinner. Click through for the trucks each week.

Thursday night's Science Cafe at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will explore The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why it Matters with Kurt Gray is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Friday at lunchtime, they will be celebrating Grape Day at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh. There will be local Wine Tasting, Grape Sampling, Free Recipes and lots of NC Grapes for sale!

BugFest

If you have never been to Bugfest, you can't imagine how an incredible collection of bugs can make for a fantastic event packed full of activities. If you have been to Bugfest before, you already know what an awesome event it is. Bugfest is the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science's biggest and wildest annual event. Promising to be bigger and better than ever, Bugfest fills the museum as well as the outdoor mall with everything buggy. This year's theme is the ant. For the really brave, there will be an assortment of delicious bug-filled delicacies at the Café Insecta. For the slightly more adult crowd that doesn't want to fight the crowds, Bugfest transforms into the Evening Insectival at 5pm. The evening crowd can relax with a new round of activities and live music to finish out the evening. ParkGeek is excited to be at BugFest! Come find our booth outside on Jones Street, and learn how to make an origami cicada and see our backyard bugs!

The North Carolina Museum of History joins in on the fun across the plaza this year as they Go Bug-gy with a Make It, Take It activity.

The official start to BugFest is the BugFest Critter Cook-off Friday morning. Two local chefs, Ian McKenney from Bolt Bistro and Bar and Kelly Lowery from The Big Easy go head to head in a bug-cooking battle. They have 50-minutes to prepare an appetizer, entrée and dessert using mealworms (mealworm beetle larvae), waxworms (caterpillar larvae), superworms (darkling beetle larvae), crickets, and ants.

Festivals Galore!

The Fall Harvest Celebration Saturday at Historic Yates Mill County Park features Costumed Corn-grinding Tours of Yates Mill, a fun children's scavenger hunt activity, live music and dance, story-tellers, community displays, hand-craft demonstrations and sales, antique vehicles, farm tool displays, food vendors, and much more! During the Festival, the park will also feature Historic Tradesmen and Tradeswomen that learned their trades through apprenticeships. On Sunday, Yates Mill needs your help to solve their History Mystery.

CenterFest will feature 65 diverse performance groups with over 500 talented performers filling six stages with continuous music, dance and entertainment in Downtown Durham on both Saturday and Sunday.

Come downtown to experience four days of the art, design + creativity festival, SPARKcon running Thursday through Sunday. Activities include 700 street painters, a fashion show, film screenings, creative projects for kids, as well as music, theater, dance, and athletic performances. SPARKcon is actually 13 festivals wrapped into one amazing Downtown event. Click through for all the information.

The 3rd annual Dragon Boat Festival returns to Regency Park Saturday with dragon boat racing, Asian food and performances

For you and your dog, Dog Day in the Park in Holly Springs will be held again this year at Sugg Farm Park. There will be food, fun, entertainment and adoptable dogs.

Hillsborough Hog Day celebrates its 34th year as Orange County's largest and longest running festival this Friday and Saturday. Join them to enjoy local bands, fun contests & games, and their original BBQ cook-off contest featuring veteran cooking teams!

The Apex Jazz & Music Festival is back Saturday as the only adult-focused fall music festival in the North Carolina Triangle area.

Celebrate the Worldwide Day of Play at Marbles Kids Museum Saturday for fun activities all day.

At the Fairgrounds, Saturday is AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day. The event will include the ever popular "My Dog Can Do That," meet the breeds, Canine Good Citizen Testing, dog sport demonstrations, vendors, rescue groups, children"s area, face painting, dog games and contests.

Also at the Fairgrounds this weekend, there will be a Great Train Show with huge operating model train displays and a Championship Horse Show with free morning shows and WHIPLASH performing nightly for ticketed shows.

Its Good Neighbor Day at Holding Park Sunday afternoon. By bringing together a mix of cultures, music, ages, and ethnicities, the event celebrates diversity and promotes goodwill among all of Wake Forest"s citizens.

More Fun Activities at the Parks

Bring your young children to participate in Nature Stories on Thursday mornings at Prairie Ridge Ecostation for Wildlife Learning. Come back on Saturdays to learn how you can become a Citizen Scientist.

The State Parks invite you to Build Your Own Bee Hotel at Eno River State Park and Lions and Tigers and Teddy Bears at Umstead Park on Saturday. Sunday you can go to at Park Ranger Fashion Show or Learn to Fly Fish at Falls Lake. Kids can Learn to Fish Wednesday at Occoneechee Mountain.

Adults are invited to take a Full Mooon Paddle at Lake Crabtree County Park Friday evening.

Also for adults, Blue Jay County Park will be teaching Spiders 101. Criteria 2 or 3 credit is even available for participants in the NC EE Certification Program.

Decorate your wheels or wear a funny hat in preparation for the Kids Together Walk For Inclusiveness.The walk will span the 1.4 mile segment of the Hinshaw greenway, starting at KTP and connecting with MacDonald Woods Park via the pedestrian bridge over US1 & 64. Awards, refreshments, games and a great silent auction await participants when they end the course,

Discover the amazing lives of gorillas and chimpanzees during Saturday's Primate Palooza at the North Carolina Zoo Saturday.

Harris Lake County Park welcomes your volunteer help for their Big Sweep Sunday afternoon.

Next week, Blue Jay Point County Park hosts their monthly children's programs. Click through for the ages and details.

Music, Movies & Culture

Traditional Dance Caller, Connie Carringer will teach fun dances for the whole family with music by an old-time string band for Friday's Family Dance at the Halle Cultural Arts Center. Bring your kids back to to the Halle Cultural Arts Center to enjoy free arts & crafts during another SuperFun Saturday. Sunday, they will host an Opening Reception for their new show, "It's a Dog".

Fridays on the Front Porch in Downtown Chapel Hill will put Counter Clockwise on the stage along with the food trucks Chick-N-Que and Cousins Maine Lobster.

Downtown Mebane will be rocking to the sounds of Wishful Thinking during this Friday night's Clay Street After Work concert.

The Cary Town Band will present a free concert Friday night at Sertoma Amphitheatre.

Downtown Chapel Hill will be buzzing with a pep-rally atmosphere at Tar Heel Downtown. Join them Friday evening for a concert by Big Fat Gap, Tar Heel Cheerleaders, kids games & activities, marching Tar Heels performances, face painting and even the opportunity to meet Rameses!

Join them at the North Main Athletic Complex for the classic family favorite Back to the Future under the stars Friday night. Come early for fun and games to benefit local non-profits and enjoy food and cold beer available for purchase.

Knightdale Station Park will be showing the film Epic after dark.

Art in the Evening kicks off the weekend at the North Carolina Museum of Art Friday with the sounds of the Jim Crew Trio playing Paris Jazz and the outdoor film The Jungle Book. The Art Museum also kick off their Fall Film Series Friday night with the 1934 film Dames. As an added treat, join them for a Meme-Making Scavenger Hunt through the permanent collection and some Pop-Up Art.

The Apex Nature Park will be showing Kung Fu Panda 3 Under the stars Saturday night.

Sundays In Hillsborough, Concerts & Carriage Rides continues this weekend on the Old Courthouse Lawn.

Third Sunday Children's Carnival returns this week in front of Raleigh Times Bar. Bring the whole family to laugh, play and enjoy fun and games.

Monsters vs Aliens will be the Monday Morning Movie at the Holly Springs Cultural Center.

The Pickin' In The Pines Bluegrass Series continues Wednesday night at Regency Park with The Johnny Folsom and Patsy Cline Tribute.