Tractors & Trains Festival at the NC Transportation Museum
April 5-6: SPENCER — Tons of tractors and train rides, but that’s not all. Steam-powered farming equipment, displays from community groups, music, activities and more will fill the museum grounds.
See antique and steam tractors, blacksmith demonstrations, modern farm equipment, a Master Gardeners display, tractor parades, corn shelling, a kiddie tractor pull, hay rides, Little Mr. & Ms. Farmer Contest plus diesel passenger train and steam-powered caboose train rides.
Find details on tickets and schedule at the NC Transportation Museum, 1 Samuel Spencer Blvd, Spencer. www.nctrans.org

 

Food truck event hosted by the town of East Spencer featuring regional eateries, garden demonstrations, music and other entertainment.Saturday from 3-8 p.m. in downtown East Spencer.

 

The Refugee’s Journey photographic works by the Lost Boys of Sudan
Includes student art show and writing contest exhibit
6-8 p.m. April 5: As children, more than 20,000 “Lost Boys of Sudan” walked thousands of miles, escaping attacks on their African villages as civil war waged in the late 1980s. Many who survived grew up in refugee camps, then were placed in a wide-ranging diaspora from Africa to Europe to the US. The Refugee’s Journey provides photographs of their reunions with families and tribes, decades after their famous walk.
Held at South Main Book Company, 110 S Main St., 704-630-9788, southmainbookcompany.com

 

Join In the Walk for Wisdom
10 a.m. April 13: The Walk for Wisdom project of 501c3 nonprofit Mothering Across Continents is a nation-wide initiative to benefit vulnerable children in some of the world’s most remote and impoverished locations. “Walk for Wisdom” is a symbolic name inspired by the former Lost Boys of Sudan and their 1,000 mile walk to reach safety and receive an education.
Funds raised will be designated for a drilled well with pump to provide access to clean water for 500 students at Nyarweng Primary School in South Sudan.
Donate at https://tinyurl.com/W4Wsupport
Learn more from Benjamin.Butchart@rss.k12.nc.us or Leigh.Alexander@rss.k12.nc.us or Angelia.Fleming@rss.k12.nc.us or Karen.Puckett@rss.k12.nc.us

 

Yoga On The Green

1-2 p.m. April 6: Led by Meredith Abramson in the Bell Tower parking lot. Donation-only event, all proceeds go to Bell Tower Green Park. An opportunity for patrons to engage with Land Design to ask questions about the plans. BellTowerGreen.com

 

Surry County Fiddlers Convention celebrates 10th Year
April 5-6: DOBSON — The Surry Old Time Fiddlers Convention kicks off Friday at 7 p.m. with a traditional community dance featuring Mountain Park Old Time Band and the Whitetop Mountain Band.
Saturday’s youth competitions are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and adult competitions are 3-6:30 p.m., followed by band competitions at 7 p.m. Individual categories include fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, folk song and dance, as well as a new category this year for fiddle/banjo duets.
Paul Brown returns this year to conduct the banjo workshop Saturday afternoon. Caroline Beverley of Elkin leads the guitar workshop. The fiddle workshop is headed by Richard Bowman of the Slate Mountain Ramblers.
Held at Surry Community College, about 90 minutes from Salisbury. Admission is $5 daily, with children 12 and younger free, and contestants get in free Saturday.
To learn more, call 336-366-4034 or visit www.surryoldtime.com

 

Starts today: 21st RiverRun International Film Festival

April 4-14: Featuring approximately 160 screenings in Winston-Salem and Greensboro. RiverRun is an Academy Award-qualifying festival in two categories: Documentary Short and Animated Short. See riverrunfilm.com

 

 

Music and Musket Fire at Fort Dobbs
10 a.m. April 6-7 : STATESVILLE — The 18th century will be brought back to life at Fort Dobbs State Historic Site in Statesville during the annual “War for Empire” event this weekend, offering a glimpse at North Carolina’s role in the French and Indian War, a conflict that spanned the globe between Britain, France, and their allies, both European and Native American.
Visitors may meet soldiers and settlers from the 1750s, experience encampments, trades and crafts, vendors, and weapons demonstrations.
Special performances of period instruments by historian/musician Robert Mouland will be featured each day.
Hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $4; children under 5 years old are free. Info: 704-873-5882 or www.fortdobbs.org