We have close to 80 events listed this weekend. In this newsletter, we are concentrating on the holiday events. Feel free to go to ParkGeek.com and look up this weekend's dates on the Event Search for a complete listing of the Triangle's events.

 

 

This year the Hillsborough Tree Lighting will include members of the Orange Community Players, dressed in colonial garb, serenading the town with carols and Christmas stories. Saturday will be all about the Hillsborough Christmas Parade. Sunday brings the Annual Hillsborough Christmas Candlelight Tour.

 

Down in Garner on Friday night they will Light Up Main. The festivities will include lighting the town Christmas Tree, entertainment, refreshments and Santa's workshop with children's arts and crafts. The forecast even calls for snow! Head downtown Saturday for the Garner Christmas Parade.

 

Downtown Knightdale will be celebrating their Tree Lighting Friday night along with live entertainment and Mrs. Claus picking up your letters to deliver them to the North Pole. Join them Saturday afternoon for the Knightdale Christmas Parade.

 

Christmas on Salem Street starts with carols and the official lighting of Apex's Christmas tree Friday night. They are selling tickets for Horse Drawn Carriage Rides and Kiddy Christmas Train Rides. This year they have added a Winter Wonderland with real snow to play in and sledding down a large snow-covered slide. Saturday features a Pancake Breakfast and Pictures with Santa. Sunday brings the Apex Christmas Parade and Apex Historical Holiday Home Tour.

 

The Lighting of Wake Forest Friday night will feature the lighting of a 30-feet-tall Christmas tree by the Mayor, followed by the arrival of Jolly Old St. Nick. The event will also include performances by local choirs and complimentary "Pictures with Santa" in the town hall lobby. Saturday brings a Holiday Open House to the Downtown Wake Forest shops and restaurants. There will be free horse and carriage rides, visits and pictures with Santa, live entertainment, and a variety of special events. The Wake Forest Parade is next weekend.

 

Durham will ring in the Holiday Friday night with the American Tobacco Tower Lighting. Also starting Friday and going until January 3rd, you will want to check out the Triangle Tree Challenge. Located on the Diamond View Lawn adjacent to DPAC, more than 60 trees are gloriously decorated by area nonprofits that are looking for your vote.

 

Durham will combine all the elements of a tree lighting with a mini parade, music, arts & crafts, sledding, a petting zoo, and more during their Holiday Fun Fest on Saturday at Durham Central Park.

 

Hot chocolate and cookies will be served at the Morrisville Town Hall as a children's choir performs and they light up their tree. Saturday brings the Town of Morrisville Winterfest Parade & Holiday Craft Fair.

 

Saturday will also bring the Tree Lighting in Downtown Raleigh during the Raleigh Winterfest Celebration. In addition to a Christmas Tree lighting, you can skate at the downtown ice rink, and enjoy live entertainment; carriage rides, bounce houses; pictures with Santa; food & drink vendors; a craft market and a 42 foot outdoor movie screen showing Elf. The Winterfest Ice Rink will remain open through February 1st so click through for all the information about prices, hours, special days and events.

 

Skate on over to American Tobacco this holiday season for some wintry fun at Durham's Ice Ice Factory, the outdoor Ice Skating Rink. Click through for all the special events.

 

Saturday will be all about the Holidays in Cary! Downtown will host the Gingerbread House Competition, Letters to Santa, Christmas Tree Lighting and Ole Time Winter Festival. Santa's Workshop will come alive for kids with a variety of kids crafts stations at the Herb Young Community Center. The Cary parade is also next weekend.

 

Sunday afternoon, Downtown Raleigh will host Our Lady of Guadalupe Parade. The procession in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe is an annual event of Sacred Heart Cathedral where the faithful pray and sing hymns as they walk from the church ground and back.

 

 

The Arbolito de la Esperanza lighting event Friday night at the Herb Young Community Center is preceded by a traditional Latin celebration in which the public participates in a pot-luck dinner with Holiday foods from different Latin American countries. Local Latino musicians will be playing music for sing alongs to villancicos and agüinaldos (traditional holiday songs).

 

Celebrate an 1870 Christmas during the evening Candlelight Tours of Duke Homestead. The tour features period decorations, caroling, story telling, hot apple cider, and other goodies. They will be offering the special tours both this Friday and next Friday night.

 

The Burwell School Historic Site will be displaying the Festive Santa Paintings Collection again this year. You are also invited to join them before the Hillsborough Parade for Crafts, Cocoa and Caroling and after the Parade for a concert by the Ebenezer Baptist Church Choir. The Burwell School will also participate in the Annual Historic Hillsborough Holiday Home Tour Sunday afternoon.

 

This season, learn how to make unique gifts inspired by the history of Yates Mill. Create your own greeting cards and weave a Dutch Heart to fill with a special surprise during Saturday's Homemade Holidays program. Gifts, crafts and of course delicious Yates Mill cornmeal will be on sale Saturday for their annual Holiday Gift Sale.

 

Celebrate the season as Pullen Park is transformed into a Holiday Wonderland. Enjoy holiday lights and displays, a lighted train ride, local entertainment, carousel ride, crafts, visit with Santa and more. The event goes Friday through Sunday this weekend and next weekend so click through for information on how to get your advanced tickets.

 

The Holly Springs School of Dance invites you to one of their 6 shows on Saturday at the Holly Springs Cultural Center. The annual Holiday Cabaret helps the dancers learn they can use their gifts to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

 

The Natural Science Center of Greensboro invites you to join them daily for their Laser Holiday Show and the 3D film, The Light Before Christmas.

Join them at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens Sunday for Winter Holiday Fun with holiday tree displays and winter craft creations you and your children can make.

 

Cary's Holly Daze Pop-Up Shoppe is back this year hosting 45 local artisans under one roof over the course of three weeks; a new group of artisans will set-up each Monday. Handcrafted goods for sale include items like candles, jewelry, soaps, paintings, photography, and sculptures.

The American Tobacco Campus is also hosting the Hatch Pop-Up Shop through January 3rd.

 

Fuquay-Varina is also sponsoring Cash for Christmas, a month long opportunity to register to win a $500 gift certificate to be used at local merchants.

 

 

First Friday at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will feature the 1956 Japanese sci-fi movie "Warning From Space" along with an opening reception for members of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and buy one get one adult admission to "Birds of Paradise: Amazing Avian Evolution."

 

The North Carolina Museum of Art will feature music by the David Dyer and the Crooked Smile Band and an exploration of the Innovative Art.

 

Enjoy a free self-guided tour of local art galleries, art studios, museums, retail, restaurants and alternative art venues on the First Friday of every month in Downtown Raleigh.