Find a park within of zipcode:
Finding quality outdoor time

Have an article you want to submit? Simply email it to us in one of the following formats and we review it for publishing on our site!

You can email your article to us in a .doc or .txt format.

June 28th - July 5th 2018 Triangle

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 Day in 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! Downtown Hillsborough kicks off the celebration early with a Picnic in the Park on Sunday. Join them for a variety of live performers, face painting, crafts, and yard games. Bring a picnic or buy lunch at one of several food trucks, including Bam Pow Chow, Taco Grande, Chez Moi and Whits Frozen Custard.

Many events take place on July 3rd this year. The Town of Garner's Independence Day Celebration festivities start Tuesday with kids inflatables and the sounds of the Embers 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. Tuesday night at Heritage High School, there will be a concert by Crush, games, live entertainment and fireworks. The gates open at 5:30 pm and admission is free. A new option this year will be a free shuttle service. Click through for the details.

For a slightly different twist, come on out to Bond Park on Tuesday 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 Wednesday 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!

Wednesday 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 Wednesday, head on over to Art & 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 moves their July 4th Celebration back to the State Fairgrounds this year.

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! This family-friendly event features a naturalization ceremony for new citizens, musical performances, food and historic demonstrations.

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.

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 Thursday 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

Movies by Moonlight at Regency Park will present Paddington 2 Friday evening on their big screen.

The Durham Central Park Playlist Concert Series is thrilled to bring Valerie June w/ Kamara Thomas to the stage Friday evening.

Fridays on the Front Porch features local band Big Fat Gap and area food trucks Cousins Main Lobster and HumblePig in Downtown Chapel Hill.

The Hill Country Cosmopolitans will be playing a concert Friday evening at the Apex Historic Depot.

The Apex Outdoor Movie Series continues Saturday with the movie Ferdinand on the big outdoor screen at the Apex Nature Park.

Enjoy Cary's new Downtown Park while listening to a concert by The Brevet Saturday evening! Come out for a free concert with food and drinks from local vendors.

Family Movie Night at Joyner Park will bring The Lion King to the big screen Saturday after dark. Come early to Meet the Animals of Africa. The Museum of Natural History will be onsite with a "Meet the Animals" program table and Carolina Tiger Rescue will provide a community presentation.

The Monday Morning Movie at the Holly Springs Cultural Center will be Ice Age.

Thursday, July 5th, Downtown Garner will host a Movie Night on the Back Lawn with the film A League of Their Own, Food Truck, Jeffrey's Grill and Brewery, Brice's Brewing.

Last Friday Festivities and More

Come to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences for Final Friday festivities featuring Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. In addition to the movie, come early to enjoy real pirate sword fighting, live music and a wide array of science stations.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences also hosts Science Cafes every Thursday evening. This week will feature a discussion of the Private Lives of Secretive Birds. Next Thursday, July 5th, you are invited to join them for some Science Trivia.

Its Finally Friday in Apex. Join them for entertainment, food and some after-work relaxation and fun along Salem Street.

Triangle arts and culture in the Cary area are highlighted with extended hours for participating art galleries, restaurants, coffee houses, and other businesses that showcase visual arts, and music during the Finally Friday Cary Art Loop.

Last Fridays returns with a concert on the old courthouse lawn by Johnny White and the Elite Band and a downtown gallery walk through Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Carrboro.

The Museum of Life and Science invites you to the Grand Opening of their new exhibit, the Beauty of Science. This award-winning web project's goal is to share the beauty of chemistry with the public. The exhibit opens Saturday and will be on display until August 31st.

The Holly Springs Farmers Market will host the Park it in the Market Food Truck Rodeo with 8 Food Trucks and extended hours.

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. Starting Saturday and running through August 12th, they will host the traveling exhibit Rich in the Rare, a 6-panel exhibit showcasing some of North Carolina's rare plant and animal species and highlighting some of the state's unique habitats, from the mountains to the coast. Come to the park Tuesday to 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.

Come take a Free 2-hour, 3.5 mile Walking Tour covering the history of the land and legacy of Dorothea Dix, the current use of the area as the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services and the steps the City will take in planning a future park Thursday evening.

Paddle Lake Crabtree by moonlight Thursday evening and enjoy views of the full moon from the lake.

Friday after dark, you can explore the Bats of Lake Crabtree on an adult program that you can earn Criteria II or III hours towards NC Environmental Education Certifications. Come back Saturday for an Adults only Beginner Birding Class.

They will be Fishing at the Occoneechee Mountain ponds and making fish crafts while learning about the colorful Sunfish at Eno River Sate Park Saturday morning. Come back to Eno River Sunday to learn about the Snakes that live in the park. Also Sunday, hike to the highest point from Orange County to the sea as you say Good Morning Monadnock.

Buzz through the Garden while you learn about Plants & Pollinators Sunday at Prairie Ridge Ecostation for Wildlife and Learning.

The Hunt Horse Complex at the State Fairgrounds will host the State 4-H Horse Show from Wednesday, July 4th - Sunday, July 8th. The event features over 2600 entries in 123 classes highlighting youth / 4-H members ages 5-18 exhibiting their project animals and demonstrating a wide variety of riding disciplines, including: speed events, hunt seat, dressage, western, saddle seat and non-trotting classes.

Also at the State Fairgrounds, the Repticon Reptile & Exotic Animal Show returns with a wide array of everything reptile. This show does have an admission fee,

Falls Lake will host several Quickstart to Paddleboard classes. Join them Tuesday, Thursday or Friday evening to learn the basics of paddle boarding. They will have all the gear.

Festival for the Eno will take place on Wednesday the 4th and Saturday, July 7th. The Festival features over 70 performers on 4 stages, 60 craft artists, a beer garden, food trucks, craft demonstrations, river activities and rentals, kids activities, storytellers, and puppets. Tickets are needed, so click through for all the info.

Independence Day is Free Fishing Day here in North Carolina. This is the one day of the year when anyone can fish in NC public waters without having a fishing license.

 

Recent Articles
January 30th - February 5th Triangle 2020
January 23rd - 29th Triangle 2020
January 16th - 22nd Triangle 2020
January 9th - 15th Triangle 2020
January 2nd - 8th Triangle 2020

Browse by Category
Adventure
N/A
Newsletter

VIEW ALL CATEGORIES