Press Releases

For many, an introduction to nature and the outdoors came from a doting grandparent or other older relative. To honor those connections for National Grandparents Day, North Carolina State Parks is offering special programs Sept. 9-11 to encourage youngsters and their grandparents or surrogate grandparents, to rediscover the outdoors and each other.

The "Liberty of Death! - Finding Revolutionary Era Sources at the State Archives" workshop Oct. 8, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., may help you discover ways to connect with an ancestor of the times.

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) was recently named one of the best museums in America by the online magazine INSIDER. The museum was ranked thirteenth out of the top 25 museums in the country by the publication, which were ranked using data from the online technology company Foursquare.   

Folks from across the state will be searching for gold in them hills at Reed Gold Mine Sept. 10. The 27th Annual Pan-O-Lympics, also known as the North Carolina Open Gold Panning Competition, will be under way. There will be fun, prizes and activities for young and old.

The state's highest civilian honor, the North Carolina Award, will be presented to seven distinguished North Carolinians Thursday, Sept. 22, at the Raleigh Marriott City Center. Governor Pat McCrory will present the awards at the 7 p.m. banquet and ceremony, following a reception for the recipients at 6 p.m.

Travel back in time at the Duke Homestead and join costumed interpreters as they harvest, loop and cure tobacco to celebrate North Carolina's farming history and culture with the annual Harvest & Hornworm Festival. Taking place Saturday, Sept. 10, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

You can see and learn the difference in a daguerreotype, ambrotype or tintype, at the "Hands on History: Photography" program Saturday, Aug. 27, 10 a.m., at the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center

North Carolina State Parks will hold its second Signature Centennial Celebration Aug. 27-28 at Mount Mitchell State Park, the site where the 100-year history of the state's system of protected lands for recreation and conservation began in 1916.   Visitors are invited to a daylong celebration Aug. 27 with traditional and bluegrass music, clogging, demonstrations of traditional mountain skills, such as blacksmithing, quilting, chair caning and spinning, traditional crafts for sale, storytelling and games for children and adults, and displays from area museums.

The new budget signed by Governor Pat McCrory will allow the North Carolina Arts Council to support an extensive arts infrastructure across North Carolina, including arts programs in all 100 counties funded through the Grassroots Arts Program, with more than $7.1 million in grants.

A vision six years ago by Wilson community leaders to restore and preserve the gigantic wind-driven kinetic sculptures created by one of North Carolina's most recognized artists took a giant leap toward completion with the announcement this week of a Kohler Foundation gift.