| YOUR EVV FAMILY FUN GUIDE | AUG 12 – 16 · 2026 |
| 🐝 EVANSVILLE BUZZ’S LIL’ BEES ⌁ your weekly family fun report ⌁ an evansville buzz production | | 🐝 | 🍯 THE HIVE CHECK The 812 Throws Itself a Party Evansville, Wednesday is 8/12, which means our area code officially gets a holiday and we are absolutely taking it. Willard Library turns its lawn into free bubbles, games, and sweet treats, and the Otters drop general admission to two dollars while wearing their new City Connect jerseys. Two dollars. Your whole crew gets into a pro baseball game for less than a gas station slushie. Then the week keeps escalating: a mile of glowing lanterns at Mesker, actual cowboys in Newburgh, princesses downtown, and cMoe throwing summer a going-away concert Saturday night. Yes, the school year is circling. No, we are not acknowledging it until Sunday. Let’s get buzzin’. |
|  | 🐝 THE HIVE FIVE The big ones for
little wings.Worth the car seat wrestling match. Worth the snack bag. Worth being home by naptime. | | |  | 812 DAY ALL AGES FREEWed, Aug 12 · 3–5 PM · Willard Library Lawn Willard Library and the Evansville Parks Department are throwing the 812 its own birthday party on the lawn: games, giveaways, sweet treats, a bubble station, library card signups, local history displays, and hands-on archival material. Free, outdoors, right after school, and roughly 100% likely to end with someone covered in bubble solution. 🎒 Parent Survival Tip: It is mid-August at 3 PM on an open lawn, so hats, sunscreen, and water bottles. Hit the library card table first while everyone is still fresh, then turn them loose on the bubbles. |
| | |  | ANIMALS Thu, Aug 13 – Sun, Aug 16 · 6–10 PM · Mesker Park Zoo · $18 More than a mile of enormous illuminated Chinese lanterns strung through the zoo after hours, plus live local music and a rotating lineup of food trucks. It runs Thursday through Sunday, and Thursday the 13th is a designated Accessibility Night, built for families who need a calmer, easier version of a very big night out. 🎒 Parent Survival Tip: Tickets are dated, so buy for the exact night you are going. Stroller wheels beat tired legs on Mesker’s hills. Roll in at 6 for daylight on the walk down and full dark for the lanterns on the way back up. |
| | |  | FESTIVAL Fri, Aug 14 · 3–8:30 PM · Sat · 10 AM–7 PM · Sun · 9 AM–2 PM · Camp Brosend, Newburgh Western shows, reenactments, stunt performers, a tractor show, live music, vendors, celebrity guests, and kids’ activities take over Camp Brosend for three days, all benefiting Bread of Life Ministry’s Warrick County food and clothing bank. Western attire encouraged, which is the easiest costume ask your kid will get all year. 🎒 Parent Survival Tip: Up to two kids age 10 and under are free with each adult ticket, and Saturday (10 AM to 7 PM) is the big day. It is camp grounds, so closed-toe shoes and sunscreen. Guests and attractions can change, so check the ticket page before you load the van. |
| | |  | THEATER ALL AGESSat, Aug 15 · sessions at 10 AM, 12 PM & 2:30 PM · Old National Events Plaza, Ballroom A Ninety minutes of princesses, stories, songs, dances, crafts, games, photos, and hugs in Ballroom A, with ten structured group activities so nobody is left wandering. You pick one capped session: 10 AM, noon, or 2:30. Downtown, air conditioned, and engineered for maximum sparkle. 🎒 Parent Survival Tip: Doors open at 9:45 and they ask you to arrive 15 minutes early, so build in downtown parking time. Every guest over 12 months needs a ticket, adults stay with their kids, no food is served, and grown-ups are asked not to wear character costumes. |
| | |  | MUSIC FAMILIESSat, Aug 15 · 4–8 PM · Koch Family Children’s Museum (cMoe) cMoe sends summer off with the EMA Teen Band opening for local favorite Georgia Funkadelic, plus an instrument petting zoo, professional musician workshops, STEM and art stations, food trucks, community partner booths, and the whole museum open around it. Four hours, one building, zero chance of hearing “I’m bored.” 🎒 Parent Survival Tip: cMoe members get in free and non-members are $20 per person (adult and child tickets are both $20), so do the membership math at the door. Four hours is a long run for little ones: come at 4 for the museum, or roll in around 6 for the headliner. |
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| | 📋 THE FAMILY GAME PLAN What’s on, day by day.Every kid-friendly event this week by day and start time. Screenshot it, send it to the family group chat. Wild Summer Lights and Cowboy Con run multiple days too (details up top in the Hive Five). | WEDAug 12 🥕 9:00a Ford Center Plaza MARKET | 🧸 10:00a EVPL McCollough PLAY | 🧸 10:00a EVPL Central PLAY | 🫧 3:00p Willard Library 812 DAY | 🏺 3:30p EVPL McCollough CRAFTS | 🎲 5:00p EVPL Stringtown GAMES | ✉️ 5:00p EVPL West CRAFTS | 🧠 6:00p EVPL Central GAMES | ⚾ 6:30p Bosse Field SPORTS |
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