Family-Friendly Events Abound In Austin This Weekend June 1-3

AUSTIN, TX — Summer break means it's time to spend quality times with those little angels, your children who have toiled away at school all these months. Fortunately, there are many family-friendly events happening this weekend in the Austin area to where parents can take the little tykes.

FRIDAY

Día de los Niños Game Day. 2 p.m. Friday, Little Walnut Creek Branch, 835 W. Rundberg Lane, (512) 974-9860. Event is for children ages 5 and up. Free.

Art Smart Día de Los Niños Around the World, 10:30 a.m. Friday, Central Library, 710 W. César Chávez St., (512) 974-7400. Storytelling, shadow puppetry, and crafts. Free.

Lego Lab. 4 p.m. Friday, North Village library branch, 2505 Steck Ave., (512) 974-9960. From the North Village library branch: "With Legos, you can build anything you can imagine and tell any story you can dream up. Come to the Lego Lab to hear, see, make, and create different stories, all while building with Legos provided by the Library! Program length can vary, please call branch for details."

FRIDAY - SATURDAY

Woodland Faerie Trail

Through Aug. 10, Zilker Botanical Garden will stage its Woodland Faerie Trail. It's hard to describe this, so we'll let the Parks & Rec folks do the honors: "Join us in creating a faerie house for the Woodland Faerie Trail exhibit using whimsical design to highlight native materials and plants found in Texas, including but not limited to local seeds, tree bark, twigs, stumps, grasses & shells." The inference, of course, is that these are habitats appealing to fairies. Maybe, just maybe, you'll spot one. It all goes down at 2220 Barton Springs Rd., (512) 477-8672, ext. 13.

DISNEY'S THE LITTLE MERMAID SCREENING

Just beyond Austin, in Wimberley, the EmilyAnn Theater & Garden, 1101 FM 2325, will be screening the perennial film favorite starting Friday, June 1, until July 1. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:15 p.m, and Sunday, July 1, at 8:15 p.m. Admission is $10. Visit emilyann.org for more details.

FRIDAY - SUNDAY

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE KIDS CAMP

The Alamo Drafthouse Kids Camp is an affordable way for families to watch great films together during most holiday breaks, theater officials write on their website. Choose your own ticket price — $1-$3-$5 — and buy your tickets online to reserve your seats in advance. A full 100 percent of ticket sales are donated to local nonprofits. Most Kids Camp screenings are for ages 3 and up, but some locations are for all ages. Visit drafthouse.com for guidelines. "Regular no talking/texting policies apply," officials noted, "and noisy families may be asked to leave." So if you're a noisy family, maybe Netflix.

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 CHARACTERS PHOTO OPS

It's a shameless promotion for the movie Transylvania 3 opening July 13. But it might be fun for the kids, and it's free, so what the heck. The HT3 characters will be posing for pictures at landmarks all over town. Meet the characters and take photos with the ghoulish characters at the following times and locations:

Friday, June 1

• From 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., the characters will be at the iconic "Hi, How are You?" wall art at 92100 Guadalupe St.
• From 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., the characters will be at Amy's Ice Creams, 3500 Guadalupe St. Word on the street is that a special HT3 ice cream will be unveiled during the characters' appearance.
• From 8 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., the characters will participate in the quintessentially Austin tradition of waiting for the Congress Avenue bridge bats to emerge from the connector's underbelly as they fly en masse in search of food. They'll do it in style, on a bat cruise across Town Lake.

Saturday June 2

• From 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., those peripatetic characters will head to the iconic "I Love You So Much" mural at Jo's Coffee, 1300 S. Congress Ave.
• From noon to 2 p.m., they'll be outside the Drafthouse Mueller, 1911 Aldrich St., Suite 120. FrankenFun Party at Barrel O' Fun.
• And from 3 pm. to 4 p.m., they will be at the Zilker Zephyr train in Zilker Park, 2100 Barton Springs Rd.

Sunday, June 3

• From 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., Whole Foods Market Downtown ATX sign.
• From 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., in front of the "Greetings from Austin" mural at 1720 S. 1st St.
• From 11 a.m. to noon, Big Top Candy shop on South Congress Ave. Word on the street says free candy will be doled out.
• From 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., the characters will serve that aforementioned, special HT3 ice cream at the Amy's Ice Creams at Amy’s Ice Creams at 13420 Galleria Circle.

SUNDAY

AUSTIN SYMPHONY HARTMAN CONCERTS IN THE PARK

Strings will be the focus of Sunday's free concert at 7:30 p.m. at the Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Dr.

"In its 16th summer season, these free ensemble concerts take place in the Hartman Concert Park in front of the Long Center City Terrace and run on Sunday evenings from June 3rd through August 26th (except July 8th) 7:30 p.m," organizers wrote on their website. "A gift from the Hartman Family Foundation, these concerts are presented to the Austin community in thanks for its continued, generous support. Each Sunday a different ensemble of the Austin Symphony will be featured at the new Hartman Park, located on the grounds of the Long Center for the Performing Arts, performing music from jazz and light classical to pops selections and film scores. Concertgoers are encouraged to bring a picnic dinner and blanket and make it a group outing."

RODEO: THE EXHIBITION

The Bullock Museum, 1800 N. Congress Ave., is staging its "Free First Sunday" with a quintessentially Texan them. "Explore the origins of Texas rodeos and stock shows, the very personal relationships Texans have with beloved rodeo and stock show traditions, and the lasting legacy of youth education, community involvement, and historic preservation these long-established competitions hold," museum officials wrote. "See how five of the largest Texas rodeos and stock shows — including Fort Worth (est. 1896), San Angelo (est. 1932), Houston (est. 1932), Austin (est. 1938), and San Antonio (est. 1950) — bring crowds and competitors from all parts of the world together." Trick roping exhibition scheduled at 2 p.m. Visit thestoryoftexas.com for more information.

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