Archibald Angus Charles Kennedy, Chief of Clan Kennedy, and Christopher Kennedy, North American Chief of the Kennedy Society, will be honored guests at this weekend's Rural Hill Scottish Festival.

Get ready for another busy week throughout the area, with a long list of local and regional events – from the 19th annual Rural Hill Scottish Festival and Loch Norman Highland Games to Davidson’s Art on the Green and the season opening Concert on the Green. Also on the schedule: Davidson Community Players’ Connie Company presents “A Bear Named Paddington” while Davidson College students perform a series of one-act plays. Monday brings a Cornelius Town Board meeting and there’s a public hearing in Huntersville Wednesday on the widening of I-77. The region’s Jewish community gathers at Davidson College Thursday for Yom HaShoah, a Holocaust Remembrance ceremony. Several organizations host fund-raising golf tournaments this week, and The Lake Norman Chamber hosts its annual Champions of Diversity Breakfast Wednesday. Read on for the details, or see our day-by-day calendar at right on this page. Read the full story

By BILL KISER
DavidsonNews.net

An advance screening of the documentary “Bully” is among a series of events around the area area this weekend devoted to the growing problem of bullying — both the physical kind and the growing trend of “cyber-bullying.” Other events on tap this weekend include the April Is for Arts Gallery Crawl in Davidson, performances of “Alice in Wonderland,” and the Lake Norman YMCA’s Family Fun Day. Read the full story

By BILL KISER
DavidsonNews.net

A Davidson gallery crawl Friday night kicks off April Is for Arts in north Mecklenburg, the Cornelius Habitat for Humanity ReStore reopens after renovations, and the YMCA hosts a Family Fun Day and summer camp preview this weekend.  Davidson Community Players’ Connie Co. youth theater offers free performances of “Alice in Wonderland” at Armour Street Theatre in Davidson. Meanwhile, there’s a planning board meeting in Cornelius Monday and Davidson’s Town Board meets on Tuesday. And there’s a preview screening of the movie “Bully” Thurdsay, sponsored by the Cornelius-based Foundation for Respect Ability. Read the full story

By BILL KISER
DavidsonNews.net

Easter-related activities fill the schedule this week around the area, from egg-decorating and egg hunts to Easter week and Easter Sunday services.  Our calendar also includes a wide range of activities from bass fishing to theater. Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks speaks at Davidson College Tuesday night. And some of the world’s top professional bass anglers will hit Lake Norman this weekend for the three-day Bassmasters Southern Open, with boats leaving from Blythe Landing. Weigh-ins will be held the first two days at Blythe Landing, the final day at Concord’s Bass Pro Shops. Read the full story

At 2011 Reptile Day, Stephen Hutchinson of Mecklenburg County Parks & Recreation showed a snake to a Reptile Day onlooker. This year's day is April 14. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Davidson College’s calendar of public events for April offers a wide variety of education and entertainment, from lectures and art exhibits to plays and concerts. The popular annual hands-on Reptile Day is scheduled Saturday, April 14, and the following weekend (April 21) brings an Africana Festival.

Read on for a full schedule. Read the full story

A ceremony at Davidson College's sculpture garden Thursday will dedicate "Group of Ten" by Magdelena Abakanowicz. (Cathryn Westra photo)

By BILL KISER
DavidsonNews.net

The unveiling of a new work of art on the Davidson College campus, a day of fine Italian dining for a good cause, a day of painting (followed with an evening of dinner) and performances of “In The Blood” at Davidson College highlight the weekend’s events around the area. Lake Norman YMCA has middle-schoolers night out Friday. And a variety of pre-Easter events also are on tap, including an egg-dyeing workshop at Rural Hill, the annual Hop into Spring festival at Bailey Road Park in Cornelius, and a visit from the Easter Bunny in Mooresville.

Davidson College will dedicate an outdoor sculpture — “Group of Ten,” created by renowned Polish artist Magdelena Abakanowicz — on Thursday afternoon in front of the college’s E.H. Little Library. And all day Thursday, Campania Cafe and Trattoria in downtown Davidson will donate a portion of its proceeds to the Jimmy V Foundation — a cancer research foundation named after the late N.C. State men’s basketball coach Jim Valvano. Read the full story