Another busy week in Birm
ingham, with lots of events to choose from! Do Dah Day, Railroad Park Block Party, a new exhibit at McWane and a home stretch for our Birmingham Barons!
Make sure to check out the Made in the South Trunk Show happening on Tuesday at Aldridge Gardens. A one day only show featuring some great artists from the south!
If you’re looking forward to Summer Reading, there are a couple of kick off parties happening as well as weekly storytime at Barnes and Noble Summt.
We hope you all have a wonderful week that kicks off with an AMAZING Mother’s Day!
It’s Not Our Fault if Your Kids are Bored!
Sunday May 12th:
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!
Homestead Hollow Festival
Homestead Hollow festivals feature fine arts, unique – one of a kind – hand made crafts, pioneer demonstrations of the old time days. See wood carving, ironwork, blacksmithing, smoke house cooking, gardening, quilting, whiskey making at our original working still, and tour original cabins as they were built by the early settlers. Relax by one of our many streams and listen to live local entertainment all day. Enjoy our great food that makes your mouth scream for more.
Children’s activities: ride the ponies, circle in our wagon ride or jump in the moon walk. Visit and talk with our Herbalist and find out more about grandma’s remedies or those nature produces naturally.
Homestead Hollow’s General store is open for you to visit and shop for those home-made fried pies and other great items all day during show dates.
Directions: Homestead Hollow is located in Springville, Alabama, just 2 miles off I-59, exit 154. 27 acres of parking and our trams make it easy to park, get to the entrance and start having fun immediately.
Admission Info:
Adults – $7 ~ Children (ages 3 to 12) – $3
Children (ages 2 and under) – Free.
Groups of 20 or more-$6 each. Free Parking. NO PETS ALLOWED.
9am – 5pm
Birmingham Barons – Regions Park
Against Montgomery 3pm
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Monday May 13th:
Birmingham Barons – Regions Park
Against the Montgomery Biscuits
Business Person Special, YP Monday
11:30am
Toddler Tales – North Shelby Library
A story program for children and a caregiver. Stories, songs, finger plays and crafts make up a lively program designed especially for short attention spans. Best suited for ages 19 months to 3 years. Must Register
9:30am and 10:30am
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Tuesday May 14th:
Made in the South Trunk Show – Aldridge Gardens
Highlighted as our Event of the Week!!
Preview new products. including Sushi Furniture, Vintage Chanel bracelets, “Mad Men” inspired hats, whistle jewelry, vanilla/blackberry jam and more!
The Made in the South Traveling trunk show will make a stop in Birmingham on Tuesday, May 14 at Aldridge Gardens from 10:30 am – 6:30 pm. For one-day-only!
The show is open to the public and free to attend, guests can shop for great deals on must-have summer items, meet the designers in person and enter the chance to win giveaways throughout the day.
For more information visit this post.
Birmingham Barons – Region Park
Against the Montgomery Biscuits
50 Cent Hot Dog Night, Social Media Night
7:05pm
Hippo Adventures – Birmingham Museum of Art
Meet at the Information Desk outside Bart’s ArtVenture! Join us for a new in-gallery family experience! Children aged 3 – 8 and their adult companions are invited to join Museum educators to explore Hip, Hippo, Hooray!, discover activities that make looking at art fun and exciting, and create new family memories about art and hippos.
No reservations required. Hippo Adventures are also available by appointment for groups of 10 or more children aged 3 – 8. For more information or to schedule a tour, call 205.254.2964.
10:30am
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Wednesday May 15th:
New Exhibit! Race: Are We So Different – McWane Science Center
The exhibition RACE: Are We So Different? brings together the everyday experience of living with race, its history as an idea, the role of science in that history, and the findings of contemporary science that are challenging its foundations.
Interactive exhibit components, historical artifacts, iconic objects, compelling photographs, multimedia presentations, and attractive graphic displays offer visitors to RACE an eye-opening look at its important subject matter.
Runs Through September 2nd, 2013
Birmingham Barons – Regions Park
Against the Montgomery Biscuits
School Day
11am
Summer Reading Kick Off – Springville Road Library
To celebrate the beginning of Summer Reading registration, kids from birth to 11 are invited to come enjoy snacks and games in the Children’s Department.
4pm
Storytime – Barnes and Noble Summit
Join us as we read Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Join us as we read about the different journeys life can take you on. We will make something fun and have a treat from the Cafe.
11am
Family Story Time with Mr Mac – North Shelby Library
Storyteller Extraordinaire – Come join Mr Mac and his musical storytime complete with puppets! All Ages, no registration required.
10:45am
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Thursday May 16th:
Birmingham Barons – Regions Park
Against the Montgomery Biscuits
Thirsty Thursday, YP Night
7:05pm
Brookwood Live! Colonial Brookwood Village
Live Music On the Street – Featured Band: Groove Daddy
5pm – 9pm
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Friday May 17th:
Booklandia – Hoover Public Library
We’re celebrating Children’s Book Week and the start of Summer Reading in the Emerald City, Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, Narnia, the City of Bones and more book realms. Also early bird registration for Summer Reading 2013.
7pm – 9pm
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Saturday May 18th:
Do Dah Day – Caldwell Park
The South’s craziest parade kicks off at 11:01 a.m. on the streets of Highland Avenue in Birmingham’s Southside. Then, spend the day in Caldwell and Rhodes Parks with friends, pets, arts & crafts, kid’s activities, and a lineup of great bands. Oh yes, we have plenty of food and beverages, and collectible Do Dah Day t-shirts.
All proceeds benefit local animal charities.
Alabama BBQ Sauce Off – Pepper Place
The Alabama Tourism Department has been traveling the state to find Alabama’s best BBQ sauce. A panel of local judges selected the winning BBQ sauce from each region of the state and the winners will compete at the finals in Birmingham on May 18 during the Pepper Place Saturday Market.
The market is open 7am-noon. The competition will take place during market hours.
Audubon Teaches Nature: Soil Critters-It’s a Tiny World under the Microscope! – Oak Mountain
Refreshments are offered at 1:30pm at the Alabama Wildlife Center followed by the program at 2:00pm at the Oak Mountain Interpretive Center. Weather permitting, an informal nature walk follows the program. Ellen McLaughlin is the guest speaker. Hidden below the leaf litter there is a part of the natural world that is composed of living things so small that they cannot be seen with the unaided eye. The beauty of these organisms will be revealed to you in this program as Ellen takes us on a guided tour of the underworld! Microscopes showcasing live specimens will supplement Ellen’s photographs. Join us for this final program of the season, and sneak a peek at the world beneath your feet!
Free after paid admission to Oak Mountain State Park: $1 per child 6-11 & Seniors 62+; $3 Adults
1:30pm
Kids First Fossil Hunt – Walmart – Sumiton
Join Fresh Air Family in a world-class site near Jasper where you can find rare fossils that predate the dinosaurs. Unless it is a museum quality piece, you keep what you find! A couple of years ago, one of our moms found six rare footprints each the size of a hand, a dimetrodon, the sailback creatre that looks like it has a fin on its back. It made the Birmingham News front page! Truly the opportunity of a lifetime! Paleontologists will be on hand to guide you and your family to your own special finds.
There will be two admission times: 9:00 am and 1:00 pm. This site is not open to the public. You must make a reservation.
Wear long pants and good shoes. Bring a box and paper or rags to carry home fossils. Bring water, sunscreen, a small hammer, and a screw driver.
Phone: 205-540-6642
Dixie Reptile Show – BKCC Exhibition Hall
Dixie Reptile Show was started in 1996 by Terry Heuring to fill the void in the mid-south reptile market. Terry’s life long passion for reptiles lead to a first in the herpoculture world. It is a little known act that he was the first to produce an albino Lampropeltis ruthveni and has since gone on to breeding many other successful projects. Come visit the show. You never know what you might see. No venomous or endangered reptiles allowed.
The show will be held in East Meeting Rooms A & B.
Adults – $4
Children under 12 – $1
9am – 3pm
Bart’s Art Cart – Birmingham Museum of Art
Spring into May!This drop-in art program for kids and families features a different gallery activity each month. Stop by to make art with Bart! Be inspired by the weather and craft your own three-dimensional flower still life!
11am
Bart’s Books – Birmingham Museum of Art
Bart’s Books is a storytelling program for children ages 4-7. Bart selects a new book and related work of art each month that he thinks kids will enjoy.
This month, Bart has selected Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House.
11am
Family Storytime – Emmet O’Neal Library
Bring the entire family and join Mr. Mac for stories and music each Saturday morning.
10:30 a.m.
Storytime – Barnes and Noble Summit
Join us as we read Lost and Found. We will find out what happens when a little boy finds a penguin and tries to bring him back home. There will be something fun to make and we will have a tasty treat from the Cafe.
11am
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Sunday May 19th:
Neighborhood Block Party – Railroad Park
From your block to ours, join us at Railroad Park for our Neighborhood Block Party, with delicious food truck fare, lawn games and outstanding musical talent. Food trucks: Shindigs, Melt, Off The Hook, Dreamcakes, Steel City Pops, Taqueria Guzman Taco Truck, Spoonfed Grill, Avalanche Delights.
Activities: Sanspointe Dance Company, face painting, cornhole, zumba, kite flying. Special thanks to Coca-Cola, Good People Brewing, Pinnacle Imports.
Noon – 5pm
Summer Reading Kickoff – Emmet O’ Neal Library
It’s the annual Summer Reading Kickoff Carnival, with the Thomas Hughes Brinkley Memorial Fun Run at 2:30, and the carnival is from 3:00 – 5:00. You can enjoy game booths and concessions, and you’ll have your first chance to register for the summer reading program. Teens and adults can also sign up for their own summer reading programs at the carnival.
Registration for summer programs will begin the day of the kickoff carnival.
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Local Attractions Open Daily!
McWane Science Center:
IMAX
McWane Science Center’s IMAX® Dome Theater puts you in the center of the action by projecting breathtaking quality images onto the 5-story-tall dome screen and delivering intense surround sound through almost 3 tons of speakers and subwoofers.
Now Showing: Flight of the Butterflies, Titians of the Ice Age
Unearthing Alabama’s Ice Age – through December 31st, 2013
McWane Science Center is home to Alabama’s second largest natural history collection. Made up of over 500,000 specimens and objects pertaining to the natural history of the state, this important collection focuses on the preservation, education, and research of Alabama’s rich biodiversity and paleobiodiversity. One of the more significant subsets of the collection is Alabama’s largest collection of Late Pleistocene faunal remains – or Ice Age fossils.
Made up of nearly 10,000 cataloged specimens, the McWSC Pleistocene collection contains a unique diversity of fauna that not only includes those native to North America, but migrants to the state from both South America and the Old World. This collection includes mammals, both extant and extinct, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fishes, and botanical remains collected from both cave and stream localities in the state. Extinct mammals represented in the McWSC collection include mammoths, mastodons, giant beavers, saber-toothed cats, giant armadillos, tapirs, peccaries, and giant ground sloths.
This spring, visitors will have an opportunity to view some of the fossils in the collection with a new exhibit titled — “Unearthing Alabama’s Ice Age.” This exhibit will not only highlight many of the Ice Age animals from the McWane Science Center Collection, but will highlight and dispel many of the common misconceptions surrounding the Ice Age in the state. The goal is for visitors to have a better understanding and appreciation for this time in Alabama. For example, guests might learn that Alabama was on average only five degrees colder than today, glaciers did not reach farther south than southern Illinois or that all the Ice Age animals did not go extinct at the end of the Ice Age. While the largest animals, such as mastodons, giant ground sloths, and saber-tooth cats died out, nearly all the animals that are living in Alabama today were also around in the Ice Age.
The Unearthing Alabama’s Ice Age Alabama display is located in the City Gallery on Level 2 of the museum. It is included in the cost of admission to the museum and free to members.
Birmingham Zoo:
Lorikeet Aviary – Our Lorikeet Aviary has more birds than ever! Zoo guests can feed these exotic birds every day. You and your family will see these birds’ behavior as they eat nectar out of your hand.
Weekends 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
PELICAN FEEDING – A great way to see our pelicans in action is to witness them eating their favorite treats near the pelican boardwalk.
RHINO ENCOUNTER – Embark on an African adventure and experience one of the world’s most extraordinary animals, the Southern White Rhino. Watch from only feet away as our zookeepers engage in hands-on interaction with the animals inside their African-themed exhibit. Don’t miss this exciting encounter with one of the largest mammals on the planet!
Weekdays: 3pm – 3:30pm
Weekends: 11:30am – Noon & 3pm – 3:30 pm
GIRAFFE FEEDING – This up close and personal animal encounter is a memory you and your family will have for a lifetime.
Weekday: 11am – Noon
Weekends: 10am – 11am & 2pm – 3pm
Vulcan Park and Museum:
Vulcan is the world’s largest cast iron statue; made of 100,000 pounds of iron and 56 feet tall, he stands at the top of Red Mountain overlooking the city of Birmingham. But, Vulcan is more than a statue. Vulcan Park and Museum features spectacular views of Birmingham, an interactive history museum that examines Vulcan and Birmingham’s story, and a beautiful public park for visitors and locals to enjoy. With an official information center that is operated by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, Vulcan Park and Museum serves as the first stop for visitors to the Birmingham area!
Railroad Park:
Railroad Park is a 19 acre green space in downtown Birmingham that celebrates the industrial and artistic heritage of our great city. Situated along 1st Avenue South, between 14th and 18th Streets, the park is a joint effort between the City of Birmingham and the Railroad Park Foundation. Hailed as “Birmingham’s Living Room,” Railroad Park provides a historically rich venue for local recreation, family activities, concerts, and cultural events, while connecting Birmingham’s downtown area with Southside and UAB’s campus.
Southern Museum of Flight:
Earn Your Wings – Bring your little pilot and soar above the clouds in our little pilots room. Kids enjoy building aircrafts, flying kites, and more.
Museum Open Tuesday – Thursday
9:30am – 4:30pm
Do you have or know of an event you would like to have added to our weekly calendar? Please email us at contact@birminghammommy.com, subject line “Events Calendar” – We would love to hear from you!
** All information listed on our calendar is subject to change without notice to us or you… We do our best to keep the information accurate and will always update as soon as we learn that something has changed. It’s always best to double check with the event via their website or a quick call, especially when weather can impact the event.
