The Herb Festival is Memorial Day weekend in downtown Banner Elk. There will be food Vendors, arts and crafts, Live Music, and of course lots of fresh herb plants to add to your garden (or just your kitchen window!) We will be selling "salad gardens"; container gardens with mixed lettuces that you can eat and enjoy all season long! Come check it out! A fun family event with thousands of herb plants for sale, a great kids zone with old fashion carnival games with a prize for every kid. Art vendors, organic products, garden products, and live music by Smokey Breeze and the Barefoot Movement.

 The "Music in the Valle" Concert Series starts will begin Friday, May 25, and continue through Friday, Aug. 31. All concerts begin at 7 p.m. and admission is free, but a $5 donation per person to the park is recommended.

Music in the Valle has become one of the most popular weekly summer concert series in the High Country. In Gandy's three-year tenure as park director, she has watched average attendance grow from between 50 and 100 people to anywhere from 300 to 500 people on a Friday night.

Gandy said she believes the growth in popularity is due to the fact that the concerts provide free and family-friendly entertainment

 Downtown Boone Art Crawl

Downtown Boone First Friday Art Crawl Friday, June 1, 2012 5 - 8pm Each month the Downtown Boone Development Association (DBDA) hosts the Art Crawl which happens every First Friday. Event hours are 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. with galleries and shops open until 7:30 p.m., restaurants and bars open until 10 p.m. or 2 a.m. and two late-night galleries, open on Art Crawl nights only, from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. Also, check out Art Crawl Presents… a music event featuring one of our great local bands, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., at a new downtown location each month. Art Crawl: Food, Music, Shopping, Art & Spirits. Downtown Boone advocates have been promoting a thriving arts community for years and care deeply about investing the area’s future; public art is an excellent avenue to emphasize our civic pride and unique culture. This event is presented as part of the Downtown Boone First Friday Art Crawl program. Cost: Free event

All aboard! Thomas the Tank Engine™ is chugging into a station near you for Day Out With Thomas™: Mystery on the Rails Tour 2012. Thomas fans are invited to come spend the day with their favorite No. 1 engine. For over 66 years, children have been captivated by the courageous adventures of Thomas and his engine friends. This year, Day Out With Thomas will visit more than 45 cities in the United States and Canada and is expected to welcome more than one million passengers in 2012.

Day Out with Thomas is a fun-filled and exciting way for children and adults to enter the world of Thomas & Friends. Day Out With Thomas provides an opportunity for kids to take a ride on a 15-ton replica of Thomas & have their pictures taken with Sir Topham Hatt, the controller of Thomas' railway. The tour provides a unique, interactive family experience at every station, offering a variety of entertaining activities that reflect the local flavor of each stop. Different forms of entertainment - from petting zoos, miniature golf, and bounce houses to face-painting and magic shows - make each Day Out With Thomas event special. In addition, every location has a Thomas & Friends Imagination Station with Thomas-themed activities including stamps, temporary tattoos, hands-on arts and crafts, and a Thomas storytelling and video viewing area.

Nature Photography Weekend
Date: Friday June 01 - June 03, 2012
Time: 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Learn from top nature photographers and photograph nature at its best. On-line registration begins midnight April 2, 2012. (Registration has been changed from April 1 to the first MONDAY in April so we can take the weekend off.)

Description

Hear presentations from top nature photographers in the evenings and photograph spectacular scenery and native animals during the day. Images from Friday and Saturday’s photo excursions are entered in an informal contest with winners announced Sunday morning.
The Contest:

The Grandfather Mountain Nature Photography Weekend includes a friendly but competitive contest. Speakers give presentations during the evening sessions, leaving the days free for participants to practice their skills at one of the most spectacular destinations for photographing nature in the East.

Participants will turn in their digital images at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon on a CD supplied by Grandfather Mountain in the registration packet. Each person selects three images to enter in any combination of four categories (Animals in Habitats, Animals in the Wild, Wildflowers, and Scenics) and two classes (amateur or accomplished).

Images may be touched up using computer software. Be warned that the judges do not look kindly on images that were not taken during the weekend (images of a flower that bloomed in April), contrived images (like placing a zebra on the top of MacRae Peak), or images that have been manipulated to the degree that they violate the spirit of the contest (like bringing the end of a rainbow down in the center of the Swinging Bridge).

You will need to bring (or borrow) a computer to burn your images to CD. Grandfather Mountain can not promise computer time to any participant.

The Remarkable Rhododendron Ramble
Date: Saturday June 02 - June 17, 2012
Time: 01:00 pm - 02:00 pm

Our staff naturalists can’t wait to share their excitement for the showy rose-lavender Catawba Rhododendron that blooms its way up Grandfather’s slopes throughout the month of June. Join us for special programs designed to help you get the most out of this memorable sight.

The Catawba Rhododendron is abundant all across Grandfather Mountain, from MacRae Meadows at 4,300 feet in elevation to MacRae Peak at 5,845 feet in elevation. Because the shrub abounds across this broad range of elevations, its purple flowers can be enjoyed at each successive elevation. The first blooms appear at the lower overlooks in late May and the display will arrive at the Swinging Bridge by the end of June.

Join us at 1 pm each day to participate in special programs and activities that celebrate this herald of summer. All programs and guided walks are included in the price of admission. For details, phone 800-468-7325.

Join yoga instructor, Vicki Rodriquez, every Saturday for a 1-hour yoga session in our Mayer Gallery overlooking downtown Boone.

All skill levels are welcome and mats can be provided if you don't own one.

Cost is $10 per person. Registration begins at 10:15am.
* Please note: Yoga will take place in the Main Gallery through April 2012 due to the artwork in the Mayer Gallery.