Press Releases

Master bluegrass musician, public radio program host and Appalachian music professor Wayne Erbsen will headline entertainment at Mountain Gateway Museum & Heritage Center’s 34th Annual Pioneer Day Festival Saturday, April 28, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in Old Fort.

Food, fun, special events and history will take over the town during the Kinston BBQ Fest Saturday, May 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition to classic cars and barbecue, see some of the period physician’s tools at a free medical program at the CSS Neuse. 

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources will sponsor musical performances at MerleFest April 27 - 29, including performances by 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award recipient Tony Williamson, and teen guitarist Presley Barker, who brings new life to roots music.

Explore the crafts and harvest traditions of one of North Carolina’s largest plantations at the free Historic Stagville Harvest Festival, Oct. 21, noon to 6 p.m. Daytime demonstrations, vendors and crafts will give way to an African drum circle around an evening campfire with a master musician.

Learn more about our amazing star, the Sun, when the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences hosts International SUNday on Sunday, June 26, 12:30–3:30 p.m.

A West African drumming circle and an interpretation of abolitionist Frederick Douglass are new features to the annual "Days Gone By" program at Somerset Plantation from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 11. 

National Train Day, an event held annually to celebrate the driving of the Golden Spike, completing the first United States transcontinental railroad, is being held at the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer on May 14. 

Ring in spring with the new "Music, Dance and 'Que Fest" at President James K. Polk State Historic Site, Sat., May 14.

Discover the 1716 Bath experience with a visit to the Palmer Marsh House at Historic Bath State Historic site to start your day at Bath Fest 2016!

Ring in spring with the new "Music, Dance and 'Que Fest" at President James K. Polk State Historic Site, Sat., May 14, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Music will fill the air all day, as performers sing, dance and play their way through 19th century tunes.