Happy Wednesday Smarties! The Monster Trucks are back. This is one of my family’s summer favorites – I don’t know what it is except that it is good, family fun. Head up to the speedway today to help kick off the fall season. Discovery Place and the Charlotte Nature Museum have a full array of activities/movies this weekend. Get out and Enjoy.
Parade of Power – TODAY!!!
Charlotte Motor Speedway
August 8, 2012 Begins at 10:00am, parade begins at noon
Charlotte Motor Speedway will make Bruton Smith Boulevard roar to life with some of the fastest and most powerful machines on the planet when the Parade of Power thunders down the popular thoroughfare to roll out the speedway’s Fall Season of Speed. The parade will include vehicles representing all of the events planned at the legendary superspeedway complex throughout the fall, including a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car, an NHRA Top Fuel dragster, a World of Outlaw sprint car, a monster truck and many more. NASCAR and NHRA drivers, including Joey Logano, Erica Enders and Doug Herbert will take part in the event, which will also include an autograph session and driver Q&A following the parade. Fans in attendance can participate in a question and answer session with the drivers and the first 100 fans to arrive at the speedway Wednesday morning will be invited to an autograph session in the speedway ticket office following the fan forum. Children 13 and under can take a ride in a monster truck and photo opportunities will be available with the cars. The POWERADE Play Zone, which includes the Charlotte Motor Speedway Fan Van, face painters and a bounce house will be open from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Fans can also enjoy live music and inexpensive refreshments during the event. As part of a one-day-only promotion, fans who purchase tickets to any fall Season of Speed event will also have the chance to spin-to-win other great prizes, including camping chairs, collectible diecast cars or tool kits.
Back-to-School Monster Truck Bash
The Dirt Track, Charlotte Motor Speedway
August 11, 6:30pm
The most unique vehicles in motorsports return to The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 11 for the 13th Annual Circle K Back-to-School Monster Truck Bash. Monster Trucks are typically 11-feet tall and weigh nearly five tons. Their custom-built, fuel injected engines produce between 1,500 and 2,000 horsepower. Powerful giants such as Equalizer, War Wizard, Brutus and Avenger have competed in head-to-head challenges on a radical obstacle course at The Dirt Track. Visit your local Circle K store and purchase a Polar Pop Cup to receive early entry to the Monster Truck Pit Party along with an autograph poster. Cost is $10-$25.
Rockin’ & Reelin’ Concert and Movie Series: Dolphin Tale
Pineville Lake Park
August 10, 7:00pm
Bring your blankets, lawn chairs and picnic baskets. This week’s movie is Dolphin Tale.
Fields-A-Flutter
Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden
Through Sept. 7, 9:00am-3:00pm
The Gardens Meadowood Walk becomes home to hundreds of butterflies during this popular summertime exhibit. Visit the Caterpillar Crib to see the butterfly life cycle up close and personal. Learn how to attract generations of butterflies to your home and much more. Cost is $6-$12.
Movies Under the Stars: Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (PG)
Symphony Park, SouthPark
August 10, 7:00pm
Cool down this summer at Symphony Park with SouthPark at the annual Movies Under the Stars series presented by Carolinas Medical Center. Enjoy sizzling summer entertainment on an impressive 30-foot screen every Friday beginning August 3 through August 24. Friends and families are encouraged to soak in the remaining days of summer with movies and more! Before settling down at dusk to enjoy one of the kid-friendly feature films, partake in a variety of pre-event activities beginning at 7 p.m. including a live band, children’s activities and tasty concessions. Guests are invited to come early to take advantage of fantastic shopping and grab a bite to eat in one of the mall’s many delicious restaurants. Movie watchers are welcome to bring lawn chairs and blankets!
The Amazing Castle
ImaginOn
Ongoing, Tues.-Thurs. 10am-7pm; Fri. -Sat. 10am-5pm
The Amazing Castle is an interactive exhibit that launches children into a world of dramatic play and imagination. Visitors will have the chance to become inhabitants of a fanciful castle village and playfully explore ideas related to community life. There are eight themed areas to explore within the castle walls. Visitors can work in the Royal Workshops with “Trim the Tailor” or “Gable the Carpenter.” They can pick vegetables in the garden, tote them to the Great Hall to cook up a royal meal and visit the tower to wake “Herald,” the sleeping dragon. Best for children ages 4-12. Cost is free.
Butterflies and Allies
Reedy Creek Nature Center
August 12, 2:00pm-4:00pm
Learn more about the beautiful butterflies in the preserve. Learn to identify different types and go for a butterfly hunt! Cost is free.
This week at Charlotte Nature Museum
Animal Feedings & Encounters: Meet and greet live animal ambassador species and observe feedings while learning more about their habits and habitats.
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 11:30am and 2:00pm
Puppet Show: Don’t Make a Pet of Me – Not every animal makes a good pet. Get the story firsthand from the animals themselves.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10:30am
Wednesdays, 4:00pm
Fridays, 3:00pm
Saturdays, 11:00pm
Sundays, 2:00pm
Nature Dome Experience: Story time with Grandpa Tree, Charlotte’s only talking tree, featuring the program Creatures of the Night.
Thursdays, 10:30am
Tuesdays, 3:00pm
Thursdays, 4:00pm
Saturdays, 3:00pm
Sundays, 4:00pm
Turtles on the Twos: Get up close to turtles, and learn what you can do to protect this ‘backyard beauty’.
August 11; 2:22pm
Movies at Discovery Place
Discovery 3D Theatre – Hold on to your seat and your senses and get ready to experience Discovery 3D Theatre, the Museum’s digital movie experience. With the help of 3D glasses, movies leap from the screen. Featured films are 15 – 20 minutes in length, show throughout the day and are free with Museum admission. Discovery 3D Theatre is currently showing:
Dolphins 3D Tribes of the Ocean
This awe-inspiring underwater documentary by Jean-Michel Costeau takes visitors to the coral reefs of the Bahamas for a close encounter with the surviving dolphin tribes of the ocean.
Through November 30, 2012
The Little Prince
Relive the magic of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s endearing story in a fully immersive, spectacular journey as the Little Prince leaps from one fanciful universe to another in search of his beloved Rose, accompanied by his hilarious friend the Fox,. Fly alongside these fearless heroes as they scale instruments on the music planet, wake the friendly stone giant and dodge the metal claws of a ferocious dragon! Through June 1, 2013
The Charlotte Observer IMAX® Dome Theatre – The Charlotte Observer IMAX® Dome Theatre is the largest screen in the Carolinas, spanning five stories high and 80 feet wide. The unique curvature of the IMAX Dome surrounds movie viewers with 15,000 watts of sound and light, creating the effect of being in the film! Note: There is an additional charge for IMAX films.
The Dark Knight Rises – July 20–September 1, 2012
Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ The Dark Knight Rises is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar® winner Christian Bale again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also stars Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Oscar® winners Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard and Morgan Freeman. The film’s shooting locations spanned three continents and include the American cities of Pittsburgh, New York and Los Angeles, as well as sites in India, England and Scotland. Day and evening showings available; please call 704.372.6261 x300 for information.
Sea Rex: Journey to a Prehistoric World –Through November 25, 2012
Journey to a prehistoric world and experience a wondrous adventure from the dinosaur age in IMAX®. Join Julie, an imaginative young woman, in a voyage through time and space. Explore an amazing underwater universe inhabited by larger-than-life creatures which were ruling the seas before dinosaurs conquered the earth. See science come alive beneath the oceans and get ready for a face-to-face encounter with the T-Rex of the seas.
To The Arctic – Through April 18, 2013
An extraordinary journey to the top of the world, the documentary adventure To The Arctic tells the ultimate tale of survival. Narrated by Oscar® winner Meryl Streep, the film takes audiences on a never-before-experienced journey into the lives of a mother polar bear and her twin seven-month-old cubs as they navigate the changing Arctic wilderness they call home.
Discovery Place – Explore More Life Lab
The August theme is Insects: What does a bee’s eye look like? How does a caterpillar become a butterfly? Crawl into the world of insects and get up close and personal with some of the bugs that call Discovery Place home.
This month’s Special Activity: Creep in on the excitement of a cockroach race led by a Discovery Place educator. Saturdays throughout August; 11:00 a.m.
Arthropod Day
August 11, 10:00am-6:00pm
They surround you daily, through heat waves and cold spells. They are Arthropods – a special class of creatures including spiders, insects, centipedes, mites, ticks, lobsters, crabs, shrimp, crayfish, krill, barnacles, scorpions and many others. Arthropods are the largest animal phylum and encompass about 85% of all known animals in the world. Visit the Explore More Life lab on August 11 to investigate arthropod specimens up close. Touch a horseshoe crab, see live cockroach races, create a ‘pod’ craft and more with special guests from the Schiele Museum and Mecklenburg County Department of Natural Resources. Discovery Place educators will demonstrate how to use a scanning electron microscope to get an up close view of special arthropod features. And for those with the bravest of palates, specially prepared arthropod appetizers will be available to taste!
