MARS — The free weekend-long Mars Exploration Celebration takes place Friday through Sunday.

Festivities include exhibits and demonstrations by prestigious scientists, astronauts and representatives from NASA and area educational leaders/students.

There will also be a sci-fi costume contest, kids' activities, a STEAM-focused escape room designed and built by students from Mars High School, drones, rockets, robotics, and a custom drone show.

Activities are 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Visit MarsNewYear.com.

The ninth annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival pulls into town June 7 to 9,including a Jeep Invasion event in downtown Butler from 6 to 10 p.m. June 7.Events feature more off-road trail rides, a Bantam Poker Run and children's activities.For more information, visit www.bantamjeepfestival.com or see the special section running June 5.

An event on Friday will support the kick-off of the Don't Stop Dreamin' Capital Campaign to acquire a Trac Fab Chair manufactured in Slippery Rock for residents of Quality Life Services.A Celebrity Bartender event is 4 to 7 p.m. at the 11th Frame Bar & Grille in Butler.The chair is easily controlled, maneuverable and safe off-road, on dirt, sand and even shallow water.The goal is to remove barriers for residents and patients in Quality Life Services facilities.

PITTSBURGH — The National Aviary has opened a new exhibit, Living Dinosaurs, providing visuals and and hands-on learning opportunities highlighting traits that birds and dinosaurs share.Visitors can see real dinosaur fossils, experience the textures of touchable replicas, get close to dinosaur skeletons and models, and gaze up at two life-sized pterosaur sculptures.Activities are included in regular admission, which is $17 for adults and $16 for senior citizens and children 2 to 12.Living Dinosaurs will run through Sept. 29 at the National Aviary, 700 Arch St.The aviary is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Call 412-323-7235 or visit www.aviary.org.

PITTSBURGH — The Sen. John Heinz History Center will honor the 75th anniversary of D-Day with dedicated programming June 6.Beginning at noon, re-enactors from The Furious Fourth WWII Living History Group will march through downtown Pittsburgh in honor of local service members killed on June 6, 1944. The procession will conclude at 3 p.m. at the Southwestern Pennsylvania WWII Memorial on the North Shore.At 7 p.m., the center will host a D-Day at 75 public program on Pittsburgh’s contributions that helped win World War II.Following the presentation, a panel of local D-Day veterans will share their first-hand accounts of the invasion at Normandy.Admission to all D-Day at 75 programming is free. Advanced registration for the evening program is encouraged at www.heinzhistorycenter.org/events.More information is available at www.heinzhistorycenter.org.