Saturday is Kids at Bays Day

KINGSPORT — Bays Mountain Park’s Kids at Bays Day is an opportunity for children of all ages to enjoy the outdoors while participating in a variety of engaging activities at the park.

The annual event will take place Saturday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. All of the animal habitats, hiking and biking trails and the Nature Center will be open for discovery and exploration. In addition, food trucks will be on site and located behind the Day Camp cabin.

All of the following events will be free, with the park’s $7 paid entrance fee:

Mountain Bike Workshop, 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., Bike parking lot. Note: You must bring your own bike and helmet.

Yoga for Kids, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Observatory lawn.

Astronomy Day, 1-4 p.m., Lily Pad Pavilion.

Growth Ring Challenge, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Nature Center balcony.

Make a Mountain Toy, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Farmstead Museum.

Rock Painting, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Farmstead Museum.

The park will also have free programs on snakes, raptors, wolves, growing plants and other types of animals that live in the woods. The observatory will offer a night viewing of the sky from 8:30-9:30 p.m.

“Kids at Bays Day is a great opportunity to get your children out of the house, away from their devices and to reconnect with nature,” said Megan Krager, Bays Mountain Park manager. “We’ll have a variety of programs happening all across the park that day, so no matter your interests we should have something right up your alley.”

In addition to the free programs, the park will also have its usual paid programs on May 18. Barge rides and planetarium shows are $6 per person and fishing off the dam is $10 per child (with required registration).

Kids at Bays Day is being organized by the Bays Mountain Park Association and is sponsored by Eastman Credit Union.

Bays Mountain is one of the nation’s largest city-owned parks with 3,750 acres. It features roughly 44 miles of hiking trails, a state-of-the-art planetarium, wildlife habitats, fun exhibits, a 44-acre lake, ropes course with zip line, trails for mountain biking and more.

Learn more about Bays Mountain Park and its programs, events and activities online at www.baysmountain.com.