11+ Family Things Around Murfreesboro This Week
The Wilderness Station is carrying this week almost single-handedly, and it has earned the right to. Between a creek snorkel, a lichen hunt, butter churning and an after-dark listening hike, Barfield Crescent Park has something on nearly every day. Add the Greenway Art Festival on Saturday and you have a week that does not require a single drive up I-24.
Here is the run-down, Thursday through Wednesday.
Thursday, September 17
Pixel Miners: Real-World Rocks — 1:00 p.m., Wilderness Station at Barfield Crescent Park, $5. The hook is the video game your kid already plays; the payoff is that they leave able to identify actual rocks. A sneaky-good hour for the eight-to-twelve set.
Homeschool Learning Pods: iNaturalist Compass Walk — 3:00 p.m., Discovery Center at Murfree Spring. Navigation and species identification in the same walk, built for homeschool families but worth knowing about whatever your schooling setup. Cost varies by lab.
Creek Snorkel on the Stones River — 3:30 p.m., Wilderness Station. Yes, snorkeling, in the Stones River, in Murfreesboro. The river is startlingly full of fish once your face is actually in it, and this is the last stretch of the year the water is comfortable enough to try.
Saturday, September 19
The 22nd Annual Greenway Art Festival — 10:00 a.m., Old Fort Park Trailhead. Twenty-two years in, this is a genuine Murfreesboro institution: artists set up along the greenway, and the walk between booths is half the appeal. Strollers handle it fine and there is room for kids to burn energy between stops.
Hike with Jane: Fall Wildflowers — 10:00 a.m., Wilderness Station. The cedar glades around Barfield grow things that grow almost nowhere else on earth, and late September is when they bloom. An easy hour at an easy pace. Call 615-217-3017 for cost.
Monday, September 21
Butter Making at the Wilderness Station — 4:30 p.m., $3. Three dollars, and children come away having made a food from scratch with their own arms. The shaking is the whole activity and small kids love it.
Tuesday, September 22
I'm Lookin' for Lichen — 10:00 a.m., Wilderness Station. Lichen is everywhere in Middle Tennessee and almost nobody looks at it. One morning here and your kid will be pointing it out on every tree and fence post for a month.
Wednesday, September 23
Wild Inks: Making Color from Nature — 5:30 p.m., Patterson Park Community Center, free with pre-registration. Berries, bark and leaves go in; usable ink comes out. Good for the kid who would rather draw than hike.
Night Sounds Hike — 7:00 p.m., Wilderness Station, free for all ages. Frogs, owls and insects, sorted by ear. The rare evening program a toddler and a middle-schooler can do together without splitting the family up.
Anytime this week
Discovery Center at Murfree Spring. When the forecast turns, this is the reliable answer. Hands-on exhibits inside, a wetland boardwalk outside, and enough variety that a wide age spread all find something. It is the kind of place a family can do in ninety minutes or three hours depending on how it is going.
Patterson Park Community Center. The indoor water park is the headline and it does not care what the weather is doing. Worth remembering now that outdoor pool season has closed and the evenings are getting shorter.
Looking ahead
One to put on the calendar now rather than later: the Family Campout at the Wilderness Station on Saturday, September 26 into Sunday morning. It is $10 for ages 13 and up, $5 for ages 5 to 12, and free for four and under — a first night in a tent with a ranger fifty feet away, which is a much gentler introduction than a remote campsite. Registration is required and the number of sites is finite.
Times and costs come straight from the organizers, but things move. Confirm before you drive.
