[piano intro] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," join us from Kaleideum in Winston-Salem as we celebrate making memories across the state We'll explore downtown Cary Park, learn all about quilting, and sample the goodies at French Broad Chocolate Factory.

Coming up next.

- [Narrator] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[upbeat country music] [upbeat country music continues] [upbeat country music continues] - Hi, everyone.

Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend."

I'm Deborah Holt Noel, and this week we are visiting places around the state to make memories.

Right now I'm at Kaleideum in Winston-Salem, a brand new experiential learning museum.

This place is huge, over 70,000 square feet, and it's packed with hands-on exhibits and activities.

We'll explore more throughout the show.

But first, there's a new park in downtown Cary and it is getting rave reviews.

So we sent Rick Sullivan, who lives in Cary, to check it out.

[water splashing] - [Rick] The idea for an urban park smack in the middle of Cary began nearly a quarter of a century ago.

That's when the town started buying up properties one by one to clear the space for this bold, almost revolutionary project.

- Yeah, we feel like it's revolutionary as well.

It's one of those things where it, honestly, it's been wanting to be what it is for 120 years, but the location that this park is now on was the location of a nursery that was owned by a gentleman named Ben Savage.

It was called the Valley Nook Rose and Tree Farm.

When we were doing the research, we found this map that he drew, and right in the middle on this property, he wrote, "Park."

- [Rick] More than a century later, here it is, Downtown Cary Park.

- [Joy] The park is seven acres.

It started with the first one acre, which was up at the corner of Academy and Dry where the fountain is.

- [Rick] When the iconic fountain was revealed in 2016, it was merely a teaser for the park to follow.

Finally, in the dead of winter, 2023, Downtown Cary Park opened, and there hasn't been much downtime since.

- You know, we're trying to make estimates on how many people are gonna come through.

I can tell you when we opened in November through January, the numbers have been astounding.

I mean, even on a Tuesday, we have a lot of people out here.

We always know when school is out because there's a lot more people.

And trying to make projections, we feel like we could get up to close to a million people a year coming through.

♪ Oh, message in a bottle ♪ - [Rick] Downtown Cary Park has employed a massive full-time staff to keep the park at peak operating capacity year-round.

There are literally more events scheduled for the park than there are days in the year.

- That's correct.

How are we doing that, right?

We have, today is our first Live at Lunch, and we're gonna just provide opportunities for entertainers to come out, for people to come down and walk down and eat their lunch here, have a nice experience in the park.

We're getting ready to launch our concert series.

We're gonna have movies in the park.

We've got the Pimento Cheese Festival and all kinds of gatherings and festivals that are coming up.

Our programming team has been working overtime.

- [Rick] Events are only a fraction of what's happening on any given day at the park.

There's always a comfortable or cozy spot to relax or to picnic.

There's also a playground called the Nest, where kids and adults can climb and slide and just hang out.

It's easy to find.

Just look for the giant cardinals, the state bird, and you'll find something to do.

Grownups can also enjoy adult beverages while inside the park.

- We do have a social district here, 'cause we do have a bar in the park.

It's called the Bark Bar, and it's surrounded by a dog play area, which we have the biggies and the smalls, and it's an open air bar.

And you can, within the boundaries of the district, which is essentially the park, you can take your beverage that you get at the bar and walk around and hear a concert on the lawn.

Or you can go and sit under a tree so that it is a pleasant experience with your beverage of choice.

They do have non-alcoholic beverages as well.

- [Rick] What's your name?

- Michael.

- [Rick] Michael.

How long you been working here?

- Since I opened in November.

- [Rick] How you liking it?

- I love it.

I's great job, great people.

Post-retirement.

- Originally from Apex, came down to Cary.

It's super convenient here.

You know, I love just this whole park in general.

- [Rick] 40 years ago I moved to Cary when it had about 15,000 residents and a reputation for peace and quiet, but not a lot to see and do.

Now, as the town grows closer to a population of about 200,000, this park is a symbol of the transformation from bedroom community to a destination.

- It's exciting.

It's an exciting time for Cary as we grow and expand in this area.

And we really believe that this park is not only gonna be nationally known, not for its design, but also for its operations.

That's our goal.

- The new Downtown Cary Park is at 327 South Academy Street in Cary, and it's open daily from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM.

To find out more, visit their website at downtowncarypark.com.

This is the By Design exhibit, where kids can learn all about art, crafts, even code a dance move.

Isn't that cool?

You know, quilts are also wonders of design.

Using scraps of material, quilt makers create treasured keepsakes full of memories.

Let's join Julia Carpenter as she takes us to a quilt show and quilt shop to learn more.

[mellow country music] [mellow country music continues] - We're at the Capital Quilters Raleigh Quilt Show, where hundreds of the best quilts are on exhibit.

Today's quilters are not your great-grandmother's quilters, because today's quilters have taken an essential handicraft into an art form.

Our guide for the show is Anna Norris.

- We are a group of people who get together who share the love of quilting, and we do that by going out into the community and hosting events such as quilt shows, making charity quilts to give to a variety of charities, and bringing in national education to teach people how to quilt.

We have quilters who submit quilts from all over the region, and they are divided into many categories, and many of them are juried.

So this allows 'em to get feedback on how to improve their quilting or their style for the next show.

You're really seeing some of the best quilter' work in this region.

- [Julia] Kim Zembrowski is recognized as one of the best traditional hand quilters in North Carolina.

Her hand stitches look machine made.

They are not.

- The traditional way that people finished a quilt by putting the three pieces together is to sew through all of the layers.

And you can do that at any way you want, any design, so you get to pick the design.

That became the unique part of the quilt.

- Quilt shows are held throughout the year and all over our state.

And quilt shops are where quilters find their materials and learn their craft.

We are off to visit one of the finest, Cary Quilters.

So Julianne, so tell us what makes up a quilt?

- So a quilt is made of three pieces.

You have a front or a quilt top, you have a backing, and there is a batting in the middle.

And the batting is the puffy, fluffy stuff that makes the quilt have some depth and character - Character.

And this is a solid print.

Is this something a beginner quilter could start with?

- Yeah, so this is made out of solid fabrics, and it's a fairly simple pattern, not too involved.

So yeah, this would be a great choice for beginners.

So there are two basic ways that you can begin to make a quilt.

This one is hand-stitched, and this one is machine-stitched.

Most people are going to use machines these days for stitching, but of course historically, everything was stitched by hand.

And then the second option is machine stitching.

Of course, this is much more widely used these days because machines are much more available than they have been in the past.

- [Julia] The quilt comes together when the quilt top, batting, and back are combined with quilting stitches.

Long arm quilting is a popular option.

Julianne is an expert on portrait quilts.

- So this is a portrait quilt.

This is actually of one of my sons, and it's what I love to do.

So if I am not working, I am at home cutting up teeny tiny pieces of fabric in order to make these portrait quilts.

And these are all machine appliqued.

- [Julia] Quilt labels are very important to quilters, because it gives you a history of when this quilt was made.

Tell us, how would you learn to start quilting?

- Well, most quilt shops do offer classes.

We offer a ton of classes here at Cary Quilting.

Technique classes, project classes, things from beginning sewing all the way to the most complex techniques.

- Ladies, you finished your first quilt class.

Congratulations.

[group cheering] - [Julia] Your quilting journey can start at a quilt shop and end at a quilt show anywhere in the state.

[mellow soothing music] - Cary Quilting is at 935 North Harrison Avenue in Cary, and they're open daily.

For more information, give them a call at [919] 238-9739, or find them online at caryquilting.com.

The Capital Quilters Guild can be reached through their website at capitalquilters.org.

Right now I'm with Elizabeth Dampier, who is the CEO of Kaleideum.

This place is just amazing.

It must have been some journey to get here.

- We started this journey a while ago.

We started back in 2014 with conversations.

We merged our local children's museum and science together in 2016, always with the idea of one location in the heart of downtown where we could be accessible to the public.

We finally realized that dream with support of Forsyth County, who helped to build this beautiful building, the city of Winston-Salem, the state, and all of these donors behind us who helped us bring this campaign to life and help us open this in February.

[playful music] Let me show you around the museum.

The mission at Kaleideum is really to engage all ages through this experiential learning museum, from adults to children to all in between, and to encourage you to explore, learn, discover, and find your passions.

One of the ways we do that is through this exhibit, the Digital Dome.

And here we're in Hawaii, but we can talk about the stars, we can watch movies, we can do laser shows.

We can do so many things in this space that really get you to explore your creativity and imagination.

And I can't wait to show you another gallery.

Let's go.

- I love it.

- [Elizabeth] You know, there's all kinds of research that talks about the value of water play, but I think that it's better to actually watch water play happening.

We see fun, we see learning, we see engagement happening in this water exhibit- - Absolutely.

- That allows you to explore water in all of its three phases, a gas, a solid or a liquid.

What could be more fun than getting wet and learning at the same time?

- This is obviously a favorite.

Look at these kids.

- [Elizabeth] Deb, I'm so excited for you to be visiting Storytelling, where everyone has the opportunity to choose and create their own story.

Whether they do it through animation station, or they tell it on a stage, or shadow puppets, there's all different ways to create and tell your own story in this space.

- Everything is so colorful.

What are parents and kids in particular saying about this?

- You know, when we designed the museum, we talked with over 700 people to say, "What is it that you want?"

So we used all that feedback to create this space while thinking about the latest design techniques, and really thinking about all the things that we have in our community now that we want to serve in terms of sensory processing disorders and challenges, but also fun and collaboration and creativity.

So we're hearing from them that it's meeting their needs, that they're excited, their kids are learning, and they're having a great time.

It's wonderful to hear these stories.

- [Deborah] And I love seeing all of the accessibility as well.

- Deb, there's so much exciting here at the museum.

I can't wait to show you what we're opening next.

Welcome to the Rooftop Adventure here at Kaleideum, and you get beautiful views of downtown Winston-Salem.

You get an opportunity to play outdoors, see how high you can go.

It is a great opportunity to come out here, get some fresh air, and just get some of your wiggles out.

- Well this is just incredible.

I hope to bring my daughter here sometime.

So thank you so much.

Can't wait to explore more.

- We'll look forward to seeing you.

- Kaleideum is at 120 West 3rd Street in Winston-Salem, and they're open every day except Monday.

For more information, give them a call at [336] 767-6730, or go online to kaleideum.org.

This is the Our Nature exhibit, where kids can learn all about their natural world.

Now, what's more natural than a farm?

Well, a little west from here in Union Grove, Teresa Litschke found not one, but two farms, both owned by the Blake family.

One of them is a greenhouse and a nursery.

The other one is a campground.

Let's take a visit.

[mellow country music] - [Teresa] The Blakes have owned property in Wilkes County since the 1970s, where they grew tobacco and raised poultry.

They added farms in Iredell and Yadkin counties for more chicken houses and to harvest grain.

Today four generations of the family live and work on the land.

They still raise chickens, but the tobacco business has given way to greenhouses in north Wilkesboro filled with plants of all kinds.

- What you looking for today?

- The bubblegum petunias.

- [Teresa] That's Brenda Blake, a second generation farmer.

- We planted 1400 hanging baskets, and with the grace of God and wonderful neighbors and social media, we sold 1,400 baskets in two weeks, and it was amazing.

So the next year we decided we'd add another hanging basket house and it's grown from that.

So now we have five greenhouses covered.

We do ferns, hanging baskets, bedding plants, vegetable plants, and about anything anybody could want.

- [Teresa] Those are spring and summer plants.

Fall brings pumpkins and about 5,000 colorful mums.

But the ability to get free advice is available any time - We are here and we own the product, so we kind of know what's going on with the product.

- Yeah, 'cause some things I think that I can do, they'll let me know real quick, no, I can't do that yet.

- They won't live, unless you wanna come back and buy two or three times.

- Can I use this in a container?

Can I put this in full sun?

Can it handle the shade on the porch?

I need that help.

- [Teresa] That knowledge starts early at Blake Farms with what will be the fourth generation farmers.

- 'Cause I wanna make sure all of these grandchildren have a job to do.

So they dip dirt out and put it in the pots and then we plant it and we put it out on the table.

So it's definitely a family farming operation.

- [Teresa] 10 minutes down the road and crossing into Iredell County is the Blakes' newest endeavor.

- [Brenda] And now we have also diversified into a campground, and we are opening up a little country store at that campground.

- We've got a total of 64 campsites.

- [Teresa] That's Luke, a third-generation Blake.

- Our premium sites have fire pits on them, and our deluxe sites don't.

That's the only difference.

- [Teresa] They call it Blake Farms family RV Resort, 41 acres with a gated entrance.

- A lot of campers have really bragged on the gate.

They do like knowing that they're back here alone.

- [Teresa] There's a putt putt course, a manmade swimming hole with beach, dog park, playground with bounce pad, catch-and-release fishing pond.

- Mostly there's bass and then there's some little brim, a few crappie.

Kids are normally down here fishing all the time.

- [Teresa] And all the comfort and conveniences of home.

- We have full hookup for campers.

It's water, sewer and power.

And we also have wifi throughout the park as well.

- [Brenda] We just remodeled bathhouses and made those family style.

- [Luke] We just made 'em real nice, decorated them inside and tried to make 'em just feel homey.

[mellow country music] - [Teresa] Blake Farms is also becoming well-known for celebrations at the campground open to campers and the general public - Memorial Day weekend, we will be having a fiddle fest, which is called Carolina Hills Fiddle Fest.

It'll be a four-day event, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

4th of July, we have a huge event.

It starts about four in the afternoon with music, bands will be there playing, and then it's one of the biggest firework shows in the state.

We do a big Christmas event with thousands of lights.

People can just locally can come in and visit.

- [Teresa] So whether you're needing plants... - [Brenda] Got it?

- [Teresa] A chance to camp out under the stars, or want to join them for a celebration or two, the Blakes say, "Come on over."

- And just enjoy the views in real life.

- The greenhouses at Blake Farms are located at 4674 Hunting Creek Road in North Wilkesboro, and they're open Monday through Friday, nine to five, and nine to three on Saturdays.

Their RV resort is just down the road in Union Grove at 1819 West Memorial Highway, and they're open all year round.

For more information on both as well as their celebrations, give them a call at [336] 468-7671 or go online to blakefarmscampground.com.

This is the Try It studio, and here kids can work together and then create, just have fun.

Now, when people ask me what should they try when they go to Asheville, I always tell them, "Check out the French Broad Chocolate Factory."

Let's take a look.

[playful music] - French Broad Chocolates is a bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturing company and retail experience brand.

So what that means is that we make chocolate from cacao that we source from all over the world here in our chocolate factory.

And with that chocolate, we make a myriad of products.

Everything from bonbons to cake and cookies and brownies and ice cream and drinking chocolate and everything you could imagine that's made of chocolate comes from chocolate we make here.

We started in Minnesota.

My partner and I bought a 40-foot school bus and converted it to run on used vegetable oil and drove the bus to Costa Rica.

And during this two-year period, we had opportunity to be in a place where cacao grows and meet farmers and see the plant and learn about cacao and become really committed to our path forward in cacao and chocolate.

After two years in Costa Rica, we decided to make the move to Asheville, and so we opened the Chocolate Lounge, the first location in 2008, and we've been growing and evolving ever since.

So our Chocolate Factory version one opened in 2012, and we moved to this new bigger location in 2018.

- Giving a tour of our factory is part of our mission.

It's part of our reason for existence is to show people how chocolate is made and to demystify the experience of turning this foreign material, raw cocoa beans, into the delicious, wonderful stuff we know as chocolate.

- When guests come for a tour, they get to come in to our cafe and retail space where they're welcomed by our team here.

So they get to kind of peruse the chocolate before we take them back into the classroom where we get to talk to them about the company, how it got founded.

We get to talk to them about cacao agriculture and sustainability.

Then they get to sample some of our chocolate bars.

So we take them through a guided sampling of three of our different bars, plus one of our handcrafted bonbons.

Then we get to bring them out into the factory where we get to show them the process of going from cacao bean to chocolate bar.

After the tour's concluded, they get to come back into the cafe and sample some of our delicious ice creams, brownies, cookies and coffee drinks.

[mellow string music] - I'm eating the coffee nib, and then the coconut too.

The coconut's really rich and creamy, but the coffee nib is by far their best ice cream, in my opinion.

It's such a unique experience, 'cause you get to see, like, all the machinery here, and I mean I think their chocolate and ice cream is just one of a kind.

- I think it's really important to have a sense of where our food comes from.

So when you come here, you get to see the process.

I mean, the quality by itself, but then knowing that beyond is, you know, pretty powerful, and then more meaningful.

- A lot of people who visit Asheville are looking for an immersive food experience, and we are contributors to that experience.

They get to see something they've probably never seen before.

So it's part of the Asheville food experience for adventurers who wanna see how their food is made and experience it in a factory that we built with our own hands.

- [Jael] The Downtown Chocolate Lounge is where people go to experience the products that we make with our chocolate.

We have a little boutique next door to the Chocolate Lounge, and there you can pick up all of our chocolate bonbons and packaged treats to take home.

- I recommend the Chocolate Lounge because one, you can sit here and see everything going on in the center of Asheville, but there's also something for everyone, if you're gluten free, if you're vegan.

I love that it's such an integral part of the community.

Everybody knows this place.

It has such a storied reputation.

It has longevity, and it's also just fun to come to.

Everybody meets here.

You know, it's like the hub in the center of town.

- I would say what sets our chocolate apart and our desserts apart from most people is the fact that we are so deeply invested in sourcing.

So everything is made with intention, sourced with integrity, and crafted with care.

So the quality is always as fine as we can possibly find, and we have a growing team of talented people who help make the amazing desserts that people wanna experience.

[mellow relaxing music] - French Broad Chocolate Factory is at 821 Riverside Drive, number 199 in Asheville, and they're open every day from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

The Chocolate Lounge is at 10 South Pack Square in Asheville and they're open daily from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM.

To find out more, you can call them at [828] 348-5187 or go online to frenchbroadchocolates.com.

And this is your spectacular view from the rooftop at Kaleideum here in Winston-Salem.

We have had so much fun exploring here.

It's definitely a great place to make memories.

And if you've missed anything in tonight's show, just remember you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org, or find us on our YouTube channel.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] - [Narrator] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[uplifting music]