A-Z Things to Do Around and About Alpharetta

Veterans Park at the Atlanta History Center is dedicated to all of the men and women who have served – and continue to serve – the United States of America.  The Park was designed not as a traditional veterans’ memorial, but as a unique gathering place encouraging reflection, personal connections to veterans, and a celebration of the lives of those who have sacrificed to secure our freedom.

The Atlanta History Center offers a behind the scenes tour of the Swan House with displays of props and photo opportunities with recreated scenes from the movie The Hunger Games.  Admission also includes all History Center exhibitions, interactive experiences, explorations at Smith Family Farm and Swan House, and twenty-two acres of gardens and trails.  The History Center includes one of the Southeast’s largest history museums.

Autrey Mill Nature Preserve & Heritage Center

April 20 Earth Day Celebration:

10 a.m. – 2pm Wild Weekend!

This annual family event encourages all to “take a walk on the wild side,” and features an assortment of games, guests, and nature crafts.
The “Bubble Creation Station” is back by popular demand and will draw attention to the wonderment of bubbles in nature. “Creature Features” will introduce visitors to an amazing array of reptiles, while the “What’s Bugging You?” station will highlight beneficial bugs like butterflies, ladybugs and praying mantis. Additional guests and partnerships will be coming soon!

There is no pre-registration for this event. The fee per guest is $10 or $5 with an Autrey Mill Family Level Membership.

Autrey Mill Nature Preserve & Heritage Center is a non-profit, 501(c)3 charitable organization, established in  1988. Partnering organizations, volunteers, corporate and individual donors support Autrey Mill’s mission: to inspire exploration, appreciation, and preservation of the natural environment and local history.

7pm – 10 pm Butterflies, Botanicals & All Things Wild About Autrey Mill 

“Butterflies, Botanicals, and All Things Wild About Autrey Mill” within our beautiful 46-acre nature preserve! It will be a light-hearted evening featuring a wide variety of local food and beverages, entertainment including a live band, a silent auction and much more. A limited number of tickets will be available for $30 per person.  Ticket price includes entry to the event, dinner & desserts from local establishments and an assortment of beverages including two beer/wine drinks.  A cash bar will be available for additional beer and wine.  Funds raised by the event will enable our non-profit to expand programming and services, expand the education in our soon-to-be-remodeled farm museum, add animal ambassadors to our collection, and more.

Check out their Children’s Classes and Workshops, Cooking and Crafts, After School Explorer and more!
Preserve Hours: Mon-Sun, 8a-Dusk
Visitor Center Hours: Tue-Sat, 10a-4p, Sun, 12p-4p & Mon closed

Center for Puppetry Arts

Harold and the Purple Crayon  April 2 – May 26: The Center for Puppetry Arts will introduce Harold and the Purple Crayon to the puppet stage, April 2-May 26. Based on five of the books from Crockett Johnson’s beloved series, the original production invites audiences to watch as a curious young boy discovers his power to create anything he can imagine, simply by drawing it with his oversized purple crayon. From enchanted gardens to the circus – even a wild ride to the moon – audiences will watch Harold create his fantasy world in real time on stage.

Harold and the Purple Crayon features blacklight rod puppets and original music written by composer/actor/puppeteer Dolph Amick. The creative team also employs a 19th-century illusory effect, termed “Peppers Ghost,” with the latest projection technology to create Harold’s drawings as onstage holograms.

Continuing a collaborative tradition of working in and with schools to create new works (an initiative started in 2015), Ludwig and Center for Puppetry Arts Education Director Aretta Baumgartner began partnering with Atlanta Public Schools’ Burgess-Peterson Academy in fall 2018 to learn directly from students what they wanted to see in a stage adaptation of the Harold books. As a result, the production includes five stories: “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” “Harold’s Fairy Tale,” “Harold’s Trip to the Sky,” “Harold’s Circus” and “A Picture for Harold’s Room.”

The Center is also proud to announce that Harold and the Purple Crayon will be a featured performance at the TYA/USA (Theater for Young Audiences USA) Festival & Conference this May.

Recommended for ages four and up, Harold and the Purple Crayon will be presented in the Mainstage Theater, April 2 – May 26. The regular show schedule is as follows:

April 9-May 26
Tuesday – Friday: 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Saturday: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Sunday: 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.*
*There will be no shows on Sunday, April 21

All-inclusive ticket prices vary but start at $12.50 (members) and $25 (nonmembers) and include entrance to the Create-A-Puppet Workshop™, where guests can make, decorate and perform with their own Purple Porcupine Rod Puppet, as well as admission to the Worlds of Puppetry Museum, featuring the largest collection of Jim Henson puppets in the world as well as a global gallery organized by continent with puppets from all over the globe. Tickets can be purchased online at puppet.org or by calling 404.873.3391.

Chattahoochee Nature Center

Children’s Museum of Atlanta

Feature Exhibit: Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action™   Through May 27, 2019
Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action™allows children to enter an interactive world to learn the importance of health and wellness. Visitors are invited to visit Children’s Museum of Atlanta to explore the exhibit that helps families get up and get moving, while exercising their brains at the same time. From catching the perfect wave on a motion-sensing surfboard to perfecting the three principles of kung fu in a bamboo forest, children will learn new ways to stay active while enjoying extreme sports and activities. For more information about Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action™ daily programs, visit childrensmuseumatlanta.org/calendar.

Family Free Days!! Children’s Museum of Atlanta will once again provide free access to resources and experiences that promote learning through the power of play with Family Free Days. Made possible by the support of the PNC Foundation and The Coca-Cola Foundation, the admission-free events aim to reach over 7,200 children and caregivers who might not otherwise be able to visit the Museum due to economic challenges. The next Family Free Day will take place on TBA.  Family Free Days will include three two-and-a-half hour sessions per day to maximize attendance, visitor experience and impact; extended after-school and after-work hours designed to reach 1,800 guests each day; themed content, such as literacy, STEM, healthy living, social and emotional skills, etc., presented in a festival-like atmosphere; full access to the Museum; and more. Family Free Days will begin in February 2019 and will take place in the spring, summer and fall. For more information or to register, please visit childrensmuseumatlanta.org.

Consolidated Gold Mine  Dahlonega 

Largest gold mine east of the Mississippi. Travel 200 feet underground and hear tales of miner’s struggles to uncover gold deep within large quartz veins. Your tour guide welcomes interaction from the group as you experience life as a miner at the turn-of-the-century.  They also offer gemstone mining – find colorful gems in every bucket!

Dave & Busters Alpharetta

Check out their New Year’s Eve plans for the whole family!

Come and play at Dave & Buster’s newest location in Alpharetta ~ the one and only place you can enjoy great food and play hundreds of awesome arcade games! Conveniently located across from North Point Mall, Dave & Buster’s offers fun for the whole family!  The restaurant’s mouth-watering, chef-crafted menu and beverage items, combined with the latest games and attractions provide the perfect setting for kids parties, corporate and group events.  Guests can play more than 150 of the latest games including the Walking Dead, Tailgate Toss and Justice League!
Hours and Location:
6500 North Point Parkway
Alpharetta, GA 30022
678-256-1100
Sun – Thur 11:00 a.m. – Midnight
Fri – Sat  11:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m.
View our article HERE on Dave & Busters weekly specials to save $$!!

Fernbank Museum of Natural History

There’s a buzz in the air at Fernbank as David Rogers’ Big Bugs outdoor installation moves into WildWoods to get guests closer than ever to nature’s most peculiar creatures from April 27 through July 21, 2019.

David Rogers’ Big Bugs features 10 towering wooden sculptures that combine landscape, recycled and environmental art—using natural materials—to showcase the often-unseen animals that play important roles in our ecosystem like the ant, praying mantis and daddy long legs.

“Although their size may make them a bit underappreciated, insects, spiders and bugs act as many things from decomposers to pollinators, and even help with insect control,” said Vice President of Programming Bobbi Hohmann. “With massive sculptures like the 17-foot tall Dragon Fly and the 7-foot wide Lady Bug, this outdoor installation offers an exciting new perspective on these creatures.”

Spring and Summer at Fernbank features plenty of additional nature experiences:

• Atlanta City Nature Challenge, all ages: April 26 – 29 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Games in the Gallery, all ages: May 25 – Aug. 4 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Adult Summer Camp, outdoor entertainment for ages 21+: June 21 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

David Rogers’ Big Bugs is on view from April 27 through July 21 in Fernbank’s WildWoods. To enjoy other outdoor programming, including Ranger Explorations, Forest Walks, Tadpole Tales or Bird Walks, visit Fernbank’s Calendar of Events at FernbankMuseum.org.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History allows guests to venture closer than ever before to the flying reptiles who once dominated the skies in new special exhibit Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of the Dinosaurs on through May 5, 2019.  Close relatives of dinosaurs, these extraordinary winged reptiles—the first back-boned animals to evolve powered flight, and the only vertebrates to develop this ability besides birds and bats—are the focus of Pterosaurs. The exhibit features dozens of casts and replicas of fossils in addition to real fossil specimens and is the largest exhibition about these flying reptiles ever mounted in the United States to date.

Fernbank Museum additionally features two species of pterosaurs in the Giants of the Mesozoic exhibit including a flock of 21 Pterodaustro and three Anhanguera. Fernbank further spotlights life in the age of the dinosaurs inside A Walk Through Time in Georgia exhibit.

For additional immersive programming, Flying Monsters 3D takes viewers back in time inside to explore why these prehistoric reptiles took flight, how they changed over time and why they went extinct. Flying Monsters 3D shows daily through June 1 at Fernbank’s Giant Screen Theater, available with purchase of a Value Pass combination ticket, offering movie and museum admission for $23-$27.

Flying Monsters 3D will show daily at Fernbank Museum’s Giant Screen Theater from Jan. 11 until June 1, 2019. Giant Screen Theater tickets are $13 for adults, $12 for seniors, $11 for children and $8 for Museum members. Save on movies with the purchase of a Value Pass combination ticket, offering the movie and museum admission for $23-$27.

Great Barrier Reed 3D:
Throughout Great Barrier Reef 3D, guests follow Jemma Craig, a young underwater photographer and reef native, in her mission to document work being done by volunteers, researchers and citizen scientists to better understand and protect the reef and its inhabitants.

The movie uses stunning 3D footage shot exclusively for giant screen and IMAX® theaters to provide audiences with an up-close view of the fascinating creatures that live there such as Dwarf Minke whales, migrating green sea turtles, fluorescent corals only visible after dark and the Maori Wrasse named Wally who is a local legend on the reef.

Great Barrier Reef 3D will show daily at Fernbank Museum’s Giant Screen Theater until May 2, 2019. Giant Screen Theater tickets are $13 for adults, $12 for seniors, $11 for children and $8 for Museum members. Save on movies with the purchase of a Value Pass combination ticket, offering the movie and museum admission for $23-$27.

Atlanta becomes the first city in Georgia to participate in the City Nature Challenge through Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s leadership, joining hundreds of other cities around the world for the 2019 City Nature Challenge beginning Friday, April 26 through Monday, April 29.

In Atlanta, Fernbank Museum has recruited local partners to participate in the challenge, including the Amphibian Foundation, the Atlanta Audubon Society, Clayton County Water Authority’s Newman Wetlands Center, the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, the Southern Conservation Trust and Trees Atlanta.

The challenge spans four days while locals document observations of any living wild organisms found inside their city and share it by way of the iNaturalist app. Anyone with a smartphone can easily participate by snapping a picture of a plant, animal or fungi and uploading it to the app’s online community for proper classification and documentation.

For an observation to count toward the 2019 City Nature Challenge, uploads must take place between April 26 and April 29. Cities will be judged based on total number of observations for each city, total number of unique species found and total number of participants.

To celebrate Atlanta’s first year of participation, Fernbank Museum of Natural History will award family 4-packs of museum admission tickets to the first place Atlanta winners for total number of unique species found and total number of observations made. Winners will be announced by Fernbank Museum on Friday, May 6.

***Fernbank Museum of Natural History announces plans for Fantastic Forces, an all-new 3,500-square foot permanent exhibit set to open summer 2019 with thirteen new interactives featuring STEM learning activities in the form of exciting, hands-on experiences.

Fantastic Forces provides guests the opportunity to interact with the forces and processes that shape our planet, from the constructive and destructive forces of nature to the physical forces that influence the motion and behavior of all matter.

Multiple interactive components explore these forces up close and in action, where guests can expect to launch air rockets, create tornadoes, build wax volcanoes, harness the forces of an earthquake, lift themselves up with pulleys and more in this immersive experience.

Fantastic Forces opens summer 2019 and begins construction on April 22. To make way for this new exhibit, Sensing Nature will close after April 21. Favorite activities from Sensing Nature will be relocated to the museum’s upper level and available during construction.

In addition to three floors of indoor exhibits and 75-acres of outdoor trails and experiences, Fernbank has added a variety of additional programming during construction, including:

• Sun, Earth, Universe Naturalist Center exhibit opening April 2019
• David Rogers’ Big Bugs outdoor exhibit on view from April 27-July 21.
• Games in the Gallery outdoor installation from May 25-Aug. 4.
• Monster Fish: In Search of the Last River Giants special exhibit from June 8 –Aug 18.