Chicago’s oldest museum, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, was founded in 1857 but burned down in 1866 and went up in flames again during the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. It was rebuilt, though, at Clark Street and Armitage Avenue. It recently moved to North Pier to await construction of its new building in Lincoln Park. To celebrate its phoenix-like existence, it’s holding free festivities for its 140TH BIRTHDAY. Visitors will be able to don hard hats, visit the construction site at the new location and put on balloon hats festooned with spiders, butterflies or other creatures from nature’s abundance while feasting on ice cream and cheesecake. Other highlights include the Jesse White Tumblers, live music and a mural on which visitors can leave their mark. This will be incorporated into the new building, opening in 1998, to renew its longstanding promise to preserve the environment.
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Chicago Academy of Sciences 140th Birthday Celebration, 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Fullerton Parkway and Stockton Drive. Free. 773-871-2668.
Kent Shelton looked in the mirror and decided “yes,” he could play Buffalo Bill. In fact, not only was his appearance eerily similar to the frontier scout’s features, but it turned out they both had the same birth date. So Shelton, playing the role of the man whose real name was William F. Cody, will narrate a show, similar in style but shorter in length than the ones the 19th Century showman brought to the East Coast. Members of the Hanlon-Lees Action Theater, which Shelton co-founded, will do some trick shooting and horseback stunts and will rescue the riders in a stagecoach pursued by outlaws. “Buffalo Bill’s show lasted 4 1/2 hours, but people today are hungry for shoot ’em up action,” says Shelton. “So our show will last about 40 minutes and we’ll cut to the chase.”
“WILD WEST DAYS,” featuring concerts, stunt shows, Old West arts and crafts, will be noon-9 p.m. Friday and Aug. 15; noon-8 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Aug. 16-17; Naper Settlement, 523 S. Webster St., Naperville. $8 in advance, $10 at gate for adults; $5 in advance, $6 at gate for children. 888-308-9378.
Families can go on a safari to explore the waterfall and its flora and fauna at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Equipped with bug boxes, they can capture midge flies, dragon flies and damsel flies that have hatched from eggs laid under the water.
An overnight adventure is also planned, for another date. Families will be able to bring tents and sleeping bags and hang out with the night creatures of the Garden and wake up with the early risers.
“Waterfall Safari,” 10 a.m. Saturday or Sunday, $9 per person, pre-registration required, for ages 5-8; Family Sleepover, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15-9 a.m. Aug. 16, $24 per person, Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake-Cook Rd., one-half mile east of the Edens Expressway, Glencoe. 847-835-8261.
During a Pirate Party at The Magic Tree bookstore, children can listen to David McPhail’s book “Edward and the Pirates” to discover how a little boy uses books as a weapon in a battle against a band of pirates in search of a buried treasure. Then youngsters can make pirate hats to wear when they go on a treasure hunt throughout the store. If families are inclined to purchase some literary treasures, for every $25 spent, they’ll get a chance to put their name in a Beanie Baby raffle that takes place on Aug. 23.
PIRATE PARTY, 1 p.m. Saturday, The Magic Tree, 141 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park. Free. 708-848-0770.
The Isle a la Cache Museum, which depicts the lifestyle of early French fur traders, is holding a family campfire program commemorative of an early French colonial soiree. It will include skits, songs and games and will conclude with a treat the early French probably knew nothing about: roasted marshmallows.
FAMILY CAMPFIRE PROGRAM, 8 p.m. Saturday, Isle a la Cache, 501 E. Romeo Rd., Romeoville. Free. 815-886-1467.