Kids and family events in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, May 20-26

by Alex Bentley

This week's kids and family events are your typical mix of things that will take you all around the North Texas area. There's the start of summer in Grapevine, singing girls in Fort Worth, a music festival in Grapevine, the honoring of veterans on Memorial Day in Westlake, and some spying in Denton.

Thursday, May 21 is the start of Summerfest 2009 at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, and they'll kick it off with a train exhibit that'll have members of the Lone Star High Railers train club present to teach visiting kids how the train was built and operates. The exhibit will be held every Thursday until September 6, and other Summerfest events can be found by searching for "Summerfest" (or just click here).

On Friday, May 22, the Singing Girls of Texas will perform their Standing Room Only show at the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts. The annual performance showcases the girls' dancing, singing, and acting skills. If you miss this one, don't fret -- they'll do the whole thing over again Saturday night.

Sunday, May 24 is the day for GRACE Rocks the Vine, a brand new, family-friendly music festival at the Palace Theatre Arts Center in historic downtown Grapevine. Among the many bands there will be The Zack King Band and Haley Osier.

Since Monday, May 25, is Memorial Day, what better way to celebrate than by honoring our veterans? The Westlake Historical Preservation Society will hold their annual “Decoration Day” at the Roanoke I.O.O.F. Cemetery. The event will include traditional ice cream making contest, a bicycle decorating contest for children, music, hot dogs and more.

Finally, on Tuesday, May 26, the Emily Fowler Central Library in Denton will hold Spy Science, an opportunity for kids to discover how spies use science to uncover top secret information from code-breaking to spy gadgets. James Bond would be proud.

Know of any kids and family events we should have mentioned? Tell us about them in the comments section below.