September 14th - 20th Triangle 2017

by Pam & Michael Davison

Our amazing Fall Festival season is here! The fun in the Triangle starts Thursday.

Stay after hours at Marbles Kids Museum every Thursday for reduced admission during Twilight $2 Thursdays.

Knightdale Station Park is hosting Food Truck Thursdays for both lunch and dinner.

Thursday night's Science Cafe at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will explore Spiders! The Scoop on Stunning Spinners.

Guitar hero Billy Strings and his band of bluegrass all stars, Whiskey Shivers will take to the amphitheatre stage at the American Tobacco Campus Thursday evening to close out a season of Back Porch Music on the Lawn.

Dying to Belong will be the Classic Lifetime Movie at Dix Park Thursday after dark. Join them for the movie starring Hilary Swank along with complimentary wine, popcorn and popsicles

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 Dragonfly! 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.

The official start to BugFest is the BugFest Critter Cook-off Friday morning. Two local chefs, Marc Vanscoy of Taverna Agora and Mario Ledezma of Sullivan's Steakhouse go head to head in a bug-cooking battle. Both chefs have 50 minutes to prepare an appetizer, entrée and dessert using mealworms, superworms (both a species of darkling beetle larvae), crickets and the mystery ingredient this year-DRAGONFLIES

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 Country Dancing, 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 Trades: The Farm Family so you can learn what your role on a 19th century farm would have been through fun activities and crafts. On Sunday, Yates Mill needs your help to solve their History Mystery.

CenterFest will feature 74 diverse performance groups with over 600 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.

In celebration of the 151st anniversary of emancipation, Mordecai Historic Park presents the theatrical experience: Escape to Freedom both this weekend and next weekend.

Mebane Arts & Community Center will host Family S.T.E.A.M Night & Food Truck Rodeo. Come enjoy a variety of foods and dessert from food trucks while you participate in more than 20 S.T.E.A.M. activities!

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 35th 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 Raleigh Fall Bird Fair comes to the North Carolina State Fairgrounds Saturday.

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

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

More Fun Activities

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.

Come and learn about Occoneechee Mountain's Geologic Wonders as you explore the pyrophyllite quarry with a real geologist Saturday.

Gather around the Campfire while they read a nature story and roast marshmallows Saturday evening at Durant Nature Park.

Explore Durham's Civil Rights Legacy on the third Saturday of every month by taking a free Civil Rights Heritage Walking Tour.

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.

Join Ben Crawley and other mentors from the Wake County Beekeepers Association to learn to handle and read your bees at Historic Oak View County Park Sunday. The program will end with the NCSBA certified practical test if you would like to take it.

Join a Park Ranger at the Visitor Center Sunday afternoon to learn about the amazing Mammals at Umstead State Park.

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.

Fridays on the Front Porch in Downtown Chapel Hill will feature local, live music and Triangle Food Trucks.

They will be playing Gallery Games: A Reality Show Adventure Friday at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Using your favorite reality shows as inspiration, come spend time in the NCMA House with Big Brother-style challenges, give roses to your favorite portraits, and vote for North Carolina's Next Great Artist.

Pullen Park invites the whole family to Family Game Night Friday. Take a chance to compete with other families to determine the true champions of the park.

Saturday night is the 5th Annual The Dude Abides Party at the North Carolina Museum of Art. There is an admission charge, but you can enjoy a concert by Jimmie Dale Gilmore, followed by outdoor screening of The Big Lebowski. You can also Visit the food truck roundup and sip White Russians while enjoying the concert. Food trucks will include American Meltdown, Baozi, Cousins Maine Lobster, Flirting with Fire, MoonRunners, Qspresso, Two Roosters Ice Cream, and Not Just Icing.

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.

The City of Raleigh (COR) Museum is Celebrating Teachers on Monday. They will be open late for educators to explore the museum and our newest exhibit "You Really Stuck It to Me Today: The Political Cartoons of Dwane Powell" as well as talk with museum staff about how the museum can support Raleigh classrooms.

Cars will be the Monday Morning Movie at the Holly Springs Cultural Center.

The Tuesday Morning Movie at the Halle Cultural Arts Center Tuesday morning will be Curious George.

Join them every Wednesday evening at the Exchange and Market Plaza for Music on Market. The series will focus on local art, music, and vendors bringing vibrancy to the recently renovated Market Plaza in the heart of Downtown Raleigh.

The Pickin' In The Pines Bluegrass Series continues Wednesday night at Regency Park with Lorraine Jordan.