Hello Cooler Weather! Looks like it’s going to be a great week to get outside and enjoy the cooler temps. But don’t over do it, this weekend in Birmingham is PACKED with so many fun things to do, you won’t be able to fit it all in.
Vulcan AfterTunes is back, Museum Day Live will allow you free access to participating museums, Harvest Fest at the Museum of Art, Whistle Stop festival, and Trucks by the Tracks… And that doesn’t even scratch the surface.
So sit down and work out a plan so that you make the most of what our city has to offer this week!
It’s Not Our Fault if Your Kids are Bored!
Sunday September 22nd
Leeds Fall Festival – Leeds Historic Downtown
You’ll find fun for the whole family at the Leeds Fall Festival and John Henry Celebration. The event will feature local food vendors, a juried art show and sale, live musical entertainment, special activities for children and a car show. The festival will celebrate the life of John Henry, steel drivin’ man and local legend, with three outdoor performances of “Listen to that Cold Steel Ring.”
Noon to 5 pm
Admission and parking are free. www.leedsfolkfestival.org.
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Monday September 23rd:
Tot Time with Ms Eve – Avondale Library
Storytime for 2-4-year-olds with a caregiver. Includes stories, songs, and craft. 24-hour advance registration required.
10:30am
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Tuesday September 24th:
Family Tours – Birmingham Museum of Art
FREE // Meet in the Main Lobby
Join us for an in-gallery family experience! Children aged 3 – 8 and their adult companions are invited to join Museum educators to explore our collection, discover activities that make looking at art fun and exciting, and create new family memories about art.
No reservations required. Family Tours 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
Storytime for All Ages – Homewood Public Library
10:30am
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Wednesday September 25th:
Storytime – Homewood Public Library
All Ages
10:30am
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
Storytime – Barnes and Noble Summit
Have you ever wanted to catch a star? Join us as we find out what happens when one little boy decides to catch one of his very own.
11am
Crocodile Creek Circus Tower Puzzle – Barnes and Noble Summit
Kids ages 3 to 7 will have fun at this group activity as they build a beautiful, four-foot-high Circus Tower puzzle. They’ll practice counting animals and naming them too! Space is limited. Ask any bookseller how to sign up.
11:30am
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Thursday September 26th:
Cloth Diapering 101 – Gardendale Library
If you are considering cloth diapering come join us to learn about how to get started. If you’re already cloth diapering we’d love for you to join us so you can share your tips, tricks, and favorite brands. Bring examples of what you’ve used. We’re a casual mommy (and mommy to be!) group that meets each 4th Thursday of the month from 10-11. Children of all ages are welcome and we set up a snack station and play area in our meeting room so kids can play while we chat. We hope to see you here!
Brookwood Live! – Colonial Brookwood Village
Great bands and great fun! This weeks band is De’Ja Blue Band of Birmingham.
5pm – 9pm
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Friday September 27th:
Minecraft – Hoover Public Library
Challenge your friends in our first ever tournament. Minecraft themed games and food will keep you occupied while avoiding the Creeper. Registration going on now. Grades 4 – 8.
4pm
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Saturday September 28th:
Keep It Simple Silly Program – Ruffner Mountain Nature Center
Join us for this monthly mini program. This month we will be making sand candles!
$2/ $3 (non-member)
1 pm – 1:45 pm (Sat)
Museum Day Live! – Participating Birmingham Museums
In the spirit of Smithsonian Museums, who offer free admission everyday, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket… for free.
- Only an official Museum Day Live! ticket is eligible for free entry. Official tickets can be found here on the Museum Day Live! Website.
- One ticket per household, for two people.
- A ticket will gain entry to only one of the participating museums, excluding parking and special events and exhibits.
- If museum reaches capacity, museum has the right to limit the number of guests until space becomes available.
Participating Museums in Birmingham and surrounding areas are
- Alabama Veterans Museum & Archives (Athens)
- Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Birmingham)
- Iron and Steel Museum of Alabama (McCalla)
- Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts (Gadsden)
- Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (Montgomery)
- Moundville Archaeological Park and Museum (Moundville)
- Old Alabama Town (Montgomery)
- Sci-Quest, Hands-on Science Center (Huntsville)
- SPLC’s Civil Rights Memorial Center (Montgomery)
- U.S. Space & Rocket Center (Huntsville)
- Vulcan Park and Museum (Birmingham)
Bart’s Art Cart – Birmingham Museum of Art
This drop-in art program for kids and families features a different theme from our galleries and art activity each month. Stop by to make art with Bart! Button Blankets
11am
Family Day, Harvest Fest– Birmingham Museum of Art
Celebrate the harvest season with Native American dancers and music, artist demonstrations, snacks, and art activities!
Try your hand at finger weaving with artist Monica Newman Moore.
Sample Native American foods with Rosa Hall.
Explore symbols with shell carver Dan Townsend.
Dance and make some noise!
Explore more in our new Native American galleries!
10AM-3:30PM // Art activities, snacks, and surprises
10AM-3PM // Artist demonstrations
10:30AM and 12:30PM // Storytelling
Earth Fare Block Party – Earth Fare
Join Earth Fare for samples, demos, kids activities, and fun for the whole family!
12 pm – 4 pm
Whistle Stop Cafe – Irondale Cafe
The 22nd Annual Irondale Whistle Stop Festival will be held on Saturday, September 28th. The Whistle Stop Festival annually brings a wide variety of food, crafts, music and other activities to Irondale’s Historic District. The Irondale Chamber of Commerce is located in the center of the festival.
9am – 5pm
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
Have you ever wanted to catch a star? Join us as we find out what happens when one little boy decides to catch one of his very own.
11am
LEGO Master Build Academy Robot
Kids ages 8 and up will learn sideways building and alternate uses while creating a robot from Lego Master Building Academy. Space is limited to 25 participants, so sign up early! Ask any bookseller for details.
11:30am
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Sunday September 29th:
Vulcan AfterTunes – Vulcan Park
Birmingham’s unique musical event returns to Red Mountain this fall for its 9th season! Enjoy cool tunes, fresh brews, and sweet views on Sunday afternoons with Birmingham’s hip iron man, Vulcan. Chill out in Birmingham’s backyard and end your week with friends and family (of all ages) while listening to some of the area’s best music.
Concerts will take place at 3 p.m. on select Sundays
Gates open at 1 p.m. Tickets and seating are first-come, first-served and general admission. Lawn chairs and blankets strongly encouraged. Food, beer, wine and soft drinks will be available for purchase. No pets or outside alcohol allowed. All shows rain or shine. For additional concert details and up-to-date artist information, log onto www.visitvulcan.com.
General Admission – $15 (Includes concert, admission to Vulcan Center Museum and Observation Tower and tax)
Children 12 & under are FREE!
Vulcan Members – $7.50
VIP Ticket Packages are available for $75
Truck By the Tracks – Railroad Park
Trucks by the Tracks is back, this year with more food trucks and even more fun! Make plans to join the Railroad Park Foundation Junior Board on for live music, entertainment, food trucks, and beverages. Admission is free!
Trucks include Slice Pizza & Brew, Shindigs, Spoonfed Grill, Cantina, Melt, Nola Ice, Jim n’ Nick’s, Hank’s Famous Hot Dogs & Italian Ice, Dreamcakes, Repicci’s Italian Ice, Avalanche, Birmingham Fashion Truck, Steel City Pops, Urban Wings, Off the Hook, and Biscuit Love
11am – 5pm
Cahaba River Frydown – Trussville Springs
The best amateur catfish fryers in Alabama will square off for the 4th Annual Cahaba River Society Fry-Down, a competitive catfish cooking contest and riverfront festival to celebrate the beauty and significance of the Cahaba River. A fundraiser for the Cahaba River Society. At Trussville Springs, along the banks of the Cahaba in Trussville, Ala.
The Fry-Down is like a BBQ or chili cook-off, but with catfish and hushpuppies. Local teams of enthusiastic chefs will prepare catfish and fixings for a panel of celebrity judges. Fest-goers can sample their efforts and learn about the diversity of the Cahaba River and its role as a source of drinking water and recreation for Alabama.
Noon – 4:00pm
The Dish on Downton Abbey – Barnes and Noble Summit
While you are waiting for Downton Abbey, come join us! BYOTC (Bring Your Own Tea Cup) and enjoy Harney Tea and our famous cranberry orange scones. 10 am in our Cafe!
10am
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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.
