This year St. Patrick's Festival runs from 13th March to 17th March, with the Festival Parade held on Wednesday March 17th 2010 at 12 noon (subject to licensing.) The parade takes about 90 mins to complete the parade route.
St.Patrick's Day is one of those very special days around the world, but nowhere in the world is it more special than in Ireland, where it all started. As always, Dublin, will again be high on party fever as Ireland's greatest annual celebration takes over for the spectacular five day festival.
Join in the best party in Dublin; jump to this link if you want to keep up to date with what's happening in Dublin.
Second only to the famous Venice Carnival, the magic of the Viareggio Carnival in Tuscany, attracts more than a million spectators every year. Visitors come from around the world to marvel at the great parades, where giant floats featuring extraordinary sculptures in papier-maché, some of which weigh 40 tons, depict popular celebrities and public figures.
The parades take place in a 2 km circuit around the seaside avenues of Viareggio and includes masked folk musicians and performers. There are five parades, taking place throughout the month of February, during which time there is also a big entertainment programme. One of Italy's favourite sporting events takes place as part of the Viareggio Carnival entertainment programme, a youth football tournament known as the Torneo di Viareggio (Coppa Carnevale).
Here is a wonderful video from roleck0666 which captures the spirit and fun of Carnevale di Viareggio.
This year, the Activity Holidays Guide is delighted to be offering the opportunity to sail the warm waters of the Tuscan coastline on-board your own private luxury yacht. Go to our Sail In Italy page for more information or to make a booking inquiry.
Parades for Viareggio Carnival 2010 take place 31 January, 7,14,16 and 21 February 2010.
Bring on the Ghouls Scream and scare events have long played a part if the Halloween celebrations in the USA and Fright Nights have now spread to the UK, with a number of seriously frightening events being organised for this weekend.
HallowScream UK, features at Crealy Adventure Park, Exeter, Devon EX5 1DR. Opening Thursday, 29 October through Saturday, 31 October. There will be spine-chilling rides in the dark. The breath of death will brush against your skin as you drop into the unknown and vile creatures from hell will stagger into your path as you are entertained by live bands and DJs.
Scare Kingdom Scream Park, produced by AtmosFEAR! Scare Attractions is situated at Hawkshaw Farm Park, on the A59 between Preston and Blackburn, BB2 7JA; it is just minutes from the M6 junction 31 and sits in the shadow of the dark foreboding Pendle Hill, home of the Pendle witches. Some lovely walks in this area but not during Halloween! Scare Kingdom is open to those who dare visit this grizzly realm until 5 November, when the kingdom will be awakened from the dark by a spectacular firework display.
Children under 10 can enjoy a spellbinding Trick or Treat, cooked up by friendly witch sisters Toil and Trouble, 45 minutes of interactive theatrical experience. featuring songs and games designed to enthrall the young ones. Families and young adults looking for an adrenalin kick will find their blood runs cold as they experience Dead Alive: Legend of the Pumpkin Man, a fright fest set amid 8 acres of rotting mist covered cornfields, where lies the ghostly ruins of Strangleweed Hollow.
More witches gather at Burley in the New Forest, when the annual Halloween festival is celebrated on Saturday, 31 October.
SAW - The Ride comes alive and offfers the ultimate horror experience on the world's most terrifying rollercoaster at Thorpe Park, KT16 8PN, which has again been transformed into a world of twisted insanity, with Fright Nights running until 1 November.
If you know of a Fright Night event near you, click on the permanent link at the end of this post and let us all know about it by leaving a comment.
Every year on November 5th thousands of people descend on the English village of Ottery St Mary in Devon, to celebrate a 17th Century tradition.in which brave participants carry burning tar barrels shoulder high through the streets. The event is a culmination of autumn festivities in the town, including an annual carnival, that takes place on the preceding Saturday, complete with a magnificent display of fireworks.
Starting with the junior barrels in late afternoon the size of the barrels get steadily bigger until the final enormous one is carried just before Midnight. A gigantic bonfire over 10 m (30 feet) high and topped with Guy Fawkes, provides the impressive background to the occasion together with a fairground and several other festive attractions.
Ottery St Mary is only an hour or so drive, to the west of Weymouth.
Stuttgart city center will be transformed into a festive wine village, when the Stuttgart Wine Festival gets underway on Wednesday 26 August; it runs through to 6 September, 2009.
Something like 120 wine alcoves are created and decorated in a traditional Swabian folklore style. During the 12 days of the festival, about 250 different wines from the Wuerttemberg region are sampled and enjoyed, alongside many examples of Swabian cuisine.
Once more, thousands of visitors and artists from around 40 countries have descended on Seeboden, Lake Millstätter See, Carinthia, Austria, for the annual World Bodypainting Festival.
Besides bodypainting and photographic competitions, there are wide ranging workshops and side events demonstrating bodies painted with many different materials and techniques, and sometimes combined with the most fantastic costumes, masks and show effects. There is a world class music and dance program and for visitors not taking part in the world championships or workshops, the festival organizers arrange an impressive adventure program with biking tours, hikes and sightseeing trips in the surrounding Alps.
The festival, which is regarded as the most important meeting place in the world of bodypainting, runs through to 19 July, 2009.
The recent posts about Oberammergau reminded me of the Bregenzerache river, set in an Alpine valley with that characteristic beauty of softly-rolling foothills and majestic mountains, luscious mixed forests, high-Alpine coniferous woods and green meadows dotted with wild flowers.
Through this stunning landscape, captured by the lens of Peter Zelei, winds a narrow road to the small town of Schwarzenberg which lies in the heart of Bregenz Forest. Continuing into the centre of the town, the road is flanked in early summer by blossoming trees which lead to the Angelika Kauffmann Hall. It is the home of the Schubertiade, another Alpine summer festival and regarded as the most significant and distinguished Schubert festival in the world.
Besides the music and there are other notable music festivals in the region, there are numerous other activities on offer, such as river-rafting, bungee jumping, golf, rock-climbing, horseback riding, fishing, nature tours and of course hiking. Jame Bond fans might recognise the Tosca opera scenes in "Quantum of Solace", filmed on location.
Every year on the Greek island of Chios, shortly past midnight on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, there takes place a most extra-ordinary event.
FrankandNicole posted this short but explosive video of two rival church parishes battling it out with a most amazing (home made) fireworks competition
Strictly illegal, but I think that the police would not get far if they tried to shut down this very old, traditional Easter custom.
Prompted by Ireland's week of festivities surrounding St Patrick's Day, Annika S. Hipple, writing in the Seattle International Travel Examiner, has produced a list of 14 Major Celtic music festivals around the world.
Next week, March 26 to 29, 2009, Cwlwm Celtaidd, takes center stage at Trecco Bay near Cardiff, Wales. The four-day event features both traditional and modern Welsh folk music and dance but also includes performers from other Celtic countries.
Then, March 27 to April 18, 2009, Edinburgh, Scotland celebrates its cultural heritage with Ceilidh Culture.
St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin comes to a climax on Tuesday with the St Patrick's Day parade and organisers expect as many as 650,000 spectators. Over 2,000 performers participate in the parade, which starts from Parnell Square North at noon and then takes 90 minutes to wind its way around the city.
Dublin's St Patrick's Day parade is to be broadcast on RTÉ 1 and will also be available online through live video streaming.
The US clocks have sprung forward in spring for summer time and cherry blossom is blooming. Susan Derby, has put together a special article for the Los Angeles Times, detailing US Cherry Blossom Festivals.
Her list begins March 20-29, 2009 with Macon, Georgia and moves through Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles (Little Tokyo), San Francisco, Seattle, before finishing with Monterey Park, California from April 18-19, 2009. To these, we add New York City's great "rite of spring", the Sakura Matsuri, which will be held over the weekend of May 2-May 3, 2009, at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, complete with taiko drumming and a host of other celebrations of Japanese culture.
St Patrick's Festival in Dublin, will this year run from March 12th-17th, 2009, during which time the city will play host to 4,000 performers and a million visitors.
The six day festival, known for its lively music, street theatre, carnivals, comedy and street performances culminates with the St Patrick's Day parade on March 17th. This year's theme is the sky’s the limit.
The Sapporo Snow Festival runs for seven days each February and attracts about two million visitors from both Japan and the rest of the world. This years festival is coming to a close and the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures, for which the festival is famous, will be destroyed on safety grounds.
Next year's Snow Festival dates are not yet known but the Sapporo Snow Festival web site offers the following contact office for visitors wishing to know more about Sapporo: Sapporo Citizen Contact Center Tel.011-222-4894 They advise that English assistance is available from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. (open year-round).
It has been announced that in April of this year, Abu Dhabi is to host a WOMAD festival. The three day, ethnic music and dance festival will be the first time for the Middle East to experience the WOMAD phenomenon.
The 2009 WOMAD season kicks of in March with the Australian and New Zealand festivals, Abu Dhabi now follows in April and then in May, the circus moves to Spain.
If ice and snow turns you on, you should head of to the Harbin Ice and Sculpture Festival in China. It is one of China's biggest winter attractions and reckoned to be the fourth largest ice and snow festival in the world. The other big events being Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival.
Read an enthusiastic report from Rebekah Pothaar in the Shanghaiist about the Harbin festival. Besides wonderful illuminated ice sculptures, photographs of which are included in Rebekah's article, a large variety of other winter activities take place in the city, concurrent with the Ice and Sculpture Festival. The fesival runs, weather permiting, until the end of February, during which time there are firework displays, ice hockey competitions, winter swimming, skiing and speed skating events. There are even football (soccer) games played on snow, a poetry jamboree, and a film festival.
If your interested in literary festivals, put 21 to 31 May, 2009, in your diary, this year's Hay Festival dates.
The Guardian Hay Festival embedded in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales, is something special. For over 20 years, the small town of Hay-on-Wye, which boasts over thirty bookshops selling specialist and second-hand books, has been drawing visitors from around the world. As many as 80,000 people swell the local population of 2000, to enjoy the company of some of the biggest literary names on the planet.
Every Easter, Byron Bay, Australia, explodes with a music festival that has become the southern hemisphere's Glastonbury. The Byron Bay Bluesfest showcases the talent of over 120 local and international artists on five stages over five days. Get a taste of the atmosphere in this video from BluesfestAU.
In their winter, Australians celebrate the art of producing literary works, with the Byron Bay Writers Festival.
This year the New South Wales festival moves to a new home in Byron Bay at Belongil Fields and will run from 7 - 9 August, with workshops beginning 3 August. Earlier in the year, the site hosts Australia's 20th Annual Bluesfest during Easter Weekend, April 9-13, 2009.
Here is a video from Australian, Tony Nahrung, that will give you a feeling of warmth during the cold, damp days of the British autumn. It features the people of the Devon town of Ottery St Mary and their remarkable tar barrel rolling festival. That this festival occurs on 5 November each year should give a clue to what happens at possibly the most crazy event in the UK, eloquently described by Tony as "an insane night of fun, drinking beer, dodging burning tar barrels, chilling by a huge bonfire and enjoying rides at the fun fair." That's right, burning tar barrels.
The chosen few, known locally as Barrel Rollers and affectionately referred to as Devonian Nutters, hoist burning, wooden, tar barrels onto their shoulders and run through the streets. Teams of Barrel Rollers, men, women and children, represent the different pubs in the village, carrying on a 17th century tradition to rid the town of evil spirits.
It's Diwali Festival week. Perhaps better known around the world as the Festival of Lights, Divali 2008 occurs this year on Tuesday, October 28.
A major Indian festival, it is not only celebrated by Hindus but also Jains, Sikhs and even some Buddhists. The spectacular festival firework events and light decorations, where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over evil, are also enjoyed by millions of sightseers. Have a happy Diwali and may at least one of the gods bless you in the coming year.
In the world of Birders, Birdfair is known as the birdwatcher's Glastonbury Festival and it has quickly established itself as the UK's event of the year for anyone interested in birds and wildlife.
A well supported feature of Birdfair is a charity auction, which raises funds for endangered birds. The auction is characterised by many generous donations, this year including a seven-night birdwatching adventure to Australia's Northern Territory donated by Tourism NT, which was won by lucky twitcher, Billy Rodger.
Next year's event, again held at Egleton Nature Reserve, Rutland Water, Oakham, Rutland, will take place on 21 though 23 August, 2009.
Music lovers from around the worldwide are looking forward to January, 2009 and the Festival in the Desert. Considered to be one of the world's most distinctive music festivals, the event features renowned local, regional and international artists, when for a week each January, it transforms the remote Saharan village of Essakane, Mali; January 5 to 11, 2009.
The village is about two hours from legendary, Timbuktu and I guess that in contrast to British music festivals, it comes with guaranteed sunshine. Enjoy this video from Leandre Busquet, which does a great job of conveying the atmosphere at the festival.
Four year's ago I confessed my liking for Barolo and Italian food, drawing attention to the annual Alba White Truffle Festival. This year's festival runs 4 October through 9 November, 2008 and you can download the festival program as a PDF document (in Italian).
As usual, the month is packed full of diverse events and attractions, including Barolo, Barbaresco and Tartufo (Truffle) tours and treks.
On Friday 12 and Saturday 13, September, 2008, in a beautiful pointy field by a lake, right on the edge of the New Forest, musicians, performing artists, festival goers, fun lovers and several fairies will be gathered for arguably the best music festival in the south of England.
The Pointy Field Faust Fest is where people come together, share delicious food and drink, listen to great live music, and whole families can immerse themseves in workshops and activities.
And you know what, 100% of the profits from the Faust Fest go to the development of cultural centres in Kenya, helping to provide traditional musicians and their communities with a sustainable source of income.
Rory and Paddy's Great British Adventure features a number of sports that have been overlooked as Olypic events; quintessentially British sports such as such as swamp soccer, toe wrestling, bog snorkelling and cheese rolling, many of which will be familiar to regular readers of these pages.
The program runs on the UK's Channel Five for the next four weeks and features comedians Rory McGrath and Paddy McGuiness as they travelled around Britain in a camper van to seek out and participate in the most bizarre, adrenalin filled events that the country has to offer.
There is a medieval city lying in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, not far from the site of pre-historic cave paintings, it is a great base for hiking, climbing, cycling and canoeing on the river Ariege. The city is Mirepoix and it is close to Toulouse, Carcassonne, Foix, Montsegur and Montaillou.
Emir (emirashed) has posted an informative video giving more background about the Kirkpinar Festival, together with some great pictures, that really convey the atmosphere of the festival.
For almost 650 years, the folk at Edirne, Turkey, have held an annual Oil Wrestling Festival. It is the real deal, with pretty tough wrestlers competing to be the last man standing, at the oldest wrestling festival in the world. Apparantly, there is a Babylonian bronze statue that indicates the sport of oil wrestling is more than 4500 years old.
Known as the Kirkpinar Festival, The week long event takes place around the end of June, beginning of July. A traditional fair accompanies the Kirkpinar Oil Wresting Festival, attracting travellers and gypsies from all over the Middle East and Europe.
A 'thank you' gift, made 60 years ago, from the Netherlands to Ottawa, Canada, of 100,000 tulip bulbs, was used to start the Canadian Tulip Festival. The festival has since grown into a kaleidoscope of color, with more than three million tulips decorating Canada's Capital each spring.
Reckoned to be the largest Tulip Festival in the world, all events are free and it is described as the 'festival without fences'. Canadian Tulip Festival May 2 to 19, 2008.
May Day is traditionally the first day of the English Morris Dancing season, and Morris Dance troupes will be performing at the many spring festivals. Here is a light hearted variation on their usual dances.
It was posted by FiddlerNick, who writes, "Man to man combat with beer trays. I think it is Dogrose Morris and Bryony Griffiths on fiddle. Thanks to Rich Keen for original footage." The performance was filmed at Warwick Folk Fest.
This year, 1 May, May Day, falls on a Thursday and since in most of Europe it is celebrated as a public holiday, many people will be taking the opportunity to take a four day weekend.
May Day was originally a country holiday to welcome the arrival of spring but for the last 150 years has been closely associated with the labour movement and the rights of workers. Whatever its meanings and origins, the day is now widely celebrated with fetes and festivals throughout Europe. Perhaps the largest is a huge free music festival in Rome, organised by the unions.
If you plan to travel in Europe over the holiday weekend, just remember to plan ahead and check that places are going to be open.
I picked up on this event a couple of months ago and suddenly I find that it is almost upon us. A large pagan gathering near Weymouth in the UK, to celebrate the festival of Beltane, is being organised by Dorset druids and witches. Several hundred people are expected to attend the festival, running from May 2 to May 4, 2008, which will culminate in the ritual burning of a wicker man.
I came across this great article by Rick Steves, distributed by Tribune Media Services, about Siena, Tuscany, Italy.
Rick runs a company, Europe Through the Back Door, which conducts European tours and he comments that Siena appears to be the favourite city of every connoisseur of Italy.
The focus of the article, much like Siena's culture, is on the Palio, which is a frantic horse race around the main square. It takes place every year on July 2 and August 16 and is accompanied by good food and Chianti wine.
Highlights of this season's two-week long festival include a concert by Nigel Kennedy, an opera marking the 150th anniversary of Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini, and several exhibitions, interlinked with Hungary's Renaissance Year; 2008 is the 550th anniversary of the coronation of Matthias Corvinus, who's reign (1458-1490) is regarded as the most glorious in Hungarian history. The different exhibitions have been designed to complement each other, both thematically and chronologically, providing a comprehensive picture of Renaissance culture in 15th century Hungary.
The Cornish are a fiecely patriotic people and they certainly do not consider themselves to be English. With Celtic blood running through their veins, they keep alive many pagan traditions.
Every year on the 8 May, the small town of Helston, Cornwall, UK, celebrates one such traddition, welcoming the return of spring. For hundeds of years, revellers dance from dawn to dusk, in what is known as the Furry Dance, Probably better known to people outside Cornwall as the Cornish Floral Dance.
Zooidpix, who posted this video, informs us that "Throughout the Flora Day, the population perform the Furry (or Faddy) Dance in long procession through the banks, shops, houses and streets, all decorated with greenery and flowers, following the town silver and brass band as they endlessly repeat their unique, mesmerising tune from 7am to about 7pm when the final dance ends."
Between Friday, March 21 and Friday April 4, the Sri Lanka skies will be filled with the spectacular sight of 22 hot air ballons. Over 72 participants, including balloonists from the UK, Ireland, Japan, and Saudi Arabia will be taking part in the Sri Lanka Balloon Festival 2008
The event encourages family participation and is regarded as an ideal family vacation, in a country that is establishing a high reputation as an Asian adventure destination. Known as the 'Pearl in the Indian Ocean', Sri Lanka is proving to be a real gem for the adventurous tourist.
Diving takes us into a different world, liberated from the pull of gravity, but those that enjoy the freedom of the sky, harness gravity to soar like birds.
Nearly 100 entrants from 15 countries will be coming together for the first International Art Parachute Festival from March 1 to March 6, 2008 in the beach resort of Nha Trang; the capital of Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. The event is being jointly organised by Vung Tau Intourco and the International Parachute Association.
Throughout most of Europe tomorrow morning (at 2am), European summer time comes to its official end and the clocks go back one hour. But to ward off the winter blues, there are plenty of festivals.
We begin this weekend with Halloween and then a few days later, the British celebrate with Fireworks night. It doesn't stop there though, in a multicultural world, these events are followed by the Diwali festival, or 'Festival of Light' also called Deepavali, on November 9. Diwali is a major Indian festival that is observed by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs around the world, to symbolise the victory of good over evil with lamps lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind.
Visitors to Leicester, England, have a unique opportunity to experience a 'Taste of Asia' for themselves, with a short break package in this year's official Curry Capital of Britain. The special packages have been put together by Leicester Shire Promotions, the city's tourism board, to showcase Leicester's vibrant Asian culture and exotic gastronomy, combined with its Diwali celebrations, which are said to be the largest outside of India.
Then of course, we move on to the Christmas markets, Christmas and the New Year parties.
Over the next couple of weeks, mountain and outdoor adventure lovers are in for a treat on both sides of the Atlantic.
In Scotland, the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival from 19 - 21 October, 2007, is an annual event, now in its fifth year, that uses films, lectures and exhibitions to inspire an enjoyment of the natural environment.
Then, in Canada, the annual Banff Mountain Festivals gets underway, from October 27 – November 4, 2007. The Banff Mountain Festivals, which include the famous book and film festivals, are dedicated to promoting mountain culture and offer inspiring mountain stories, together with the exhilarating beauty of mountain landscapes.
The last WOMAD festival of 2007 is again in the Canary Islands, 22 - 27 November. Fabulous music, arts and dance from around the world, with the exhilarating backdrop of the beachside city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The festival is free and open to the public, so no need to book tickets, just be there.
It might be long dark nights and falling leaves in the north but the southern hemisphere is celebrating the coming of spring. In one annual celebration, Canberra's Commonwealth Park is transformed into a tapestry of colour with more than a million bulbs and annuals in bloom at a free, month long, festival, the Floriade, which is the largest flower festival in the Southern Hemisphere. Yes, it goes under the same name as the famous Netherland's festival but this Floriade occurs every year; the next Netherland's Floriade occurs in 2012.
This year's Australian Floriade runs until 14 October, 2007, and visitors are able to wander around flower beds inspired by an Australian icons, myths and legends theme and enjoy good old Aussie entertainment, food and much more. During the month-long Floriade festival there is always plenty of activity at Canberra's most popular tourist attractions. Kids are entertained throughout Floriade with children's arts, crafts and activities, and loads of extra entertainment every day of the school holidays. Floriade and the spring school holidays is a busy time in Canberra, so it is best to book accommodation early. Tourist information and accommodation advice can be found at visitcanberra.com.au.
The Wickerman Festival - Scotland's Alternative Music Event
The Wickerman Festival is Scotland's alternative music event, held annually at East Kirkcarswell Farm, Dundrennan, Scotland; a site close to various locations used in the classic British horror film 'The Wicker Man' (1973). Now entering its seventh year, the festival is regarded as a smaller version of England's Glastonbury, or T in the Park, with a wide mix of music to suit all tastes. The festival organisers have developed a relaxed, family friendly event, with the accent on eclectic tastes in music. Stages include two main stages, a world music and funk tent, a classic Jamaican reggae sound system, an acoustic village, a punk/ska/northern soul tent, a new Scottish bands tent, several dance tents, children's area, workshops, crafts, cinema, camping and, of course, a 30 foot Wickerman who is sacrificed to the festival gods on the closing night.
The 2008 Wickerman Festival will be happening on the 25 and 26 July.
The start of autumn in the northern hemisphere, is marked by night and day being of nearly the same length; this occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator. This year, 2007, the Autumn Equinox occurs on September 23; of course, the Southern hemisphere welcomes spring and lengthening hours of daylight.
It is not surprising that such a significant astronomical event should be celebrated by pagan religions such as Wicca. The year's crops are harvested, tribute is paid to the sun and mother earth, and preparation is made for the impending days of darkness. The Wicca name for the Autumn Equinox is Mabon, it is called Mea'n Fo'mhair by the Druids who pay homage to the Green Man.
Harvest festivals and celebrations are commonplace throughout the northern hemisphere and ancient harvest customs are still widely practiced throughout Europe. Central to many of these is the Corn Dolly or John Barleycorn, which is said to contain the spirit of the grain; notoriously portrayed in the Wicca Man. There is a modern day Wicca Man festival in Scotland but this has little to do with religion or the Autumn Equinox and will form the subject of a future post.
Two end of week videos today because they are both quite short clips, but they convey the atmosphere of the traditional Chinese mid-autumn festival quite nicely.
First up is a clip from Claudia, who has posted this video of the street light-up for the mid-autumn festival at Chinatown, Singapore.
Next is a slightly longer and fascinating clip posted by chinarye, of last year's mid-autumn festival celebrations in Hoi An, Vietnam. The video features a man in dragon costume, dancing on top of a high pole. Spectacular and precarious in equal measure.
Stock up on the mooncakes and dig out the lanterns; 25 September, 2007, which is the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, is the date of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.
Chinese communities throughout the world will be celebrating one of their most colourful and happy festivals, when the harvest moon is welcomed with a sea of lanterns.
Florida is the hot US destination for Halloween month. Two of the biggest annual festivals are Biketoberfest at Daytona Beach, which this year celebrates its 15th birthday over the weekend of October 18-21, 2007 and the infamous Fantasy Fest at Key West, which this year, runs October 19-28, 2007.
During Biketoberfest, 100,000 bikers from throughout North America and Europe, converge on Daytona Beach to party, meet up with fellow bike enthusiasts, party, enjoy street festivals, concerts, charity rides, expos, seminars, celebrity appearances and parties. Fantasy Fest on the other hand, is focused on partying, bizarre and raucous costume competitions, street parties, body painting, parades and parties.
Both festivals provide an excuse to party. Just be careful not to mix them up, you might get away with the leathers at Fantasy Fest but I'm not sure how the toga would be received at Biketoberfest.
Fall is an important tourist season in the USA,. To consider how important, consider that nearly 8 million visitors are expected to visit the state of New Hampshire alone, enjoying nature's annual color spectacular and of course, buying their Halloween pumpkins. There is a Pumpkin Carving Festival in neighbouring Vermont, which includes a world record attempt for the Most Pumpkins Being Carved Simultaneously. I doubt they will be carving anything like the 3,000 pumpkins used at Van Cortlandt Manor, Croton-On-Hudson, NY, where Halloween is celebrated with the Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze in October. Artfully carved Jack O'Lanterns are arranged in different scenarios, including a bottom-of-the-sea aquarium and a scarecrow avalanche.
Just a 10 minutes drive south, in Sleepy Hollow, they celebrate Halloween with the tale of the headless horseman who rode through the grounds of Philipsburg Manor in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, written by Washington Irving.
Although the European summer is coming to an end, many German wine festivals are in full swing.
Germany's wine regions have a lot to offer tourists, especially during the summer and autumn. Deutsche Welle have provided a timely article about their numerous festivals, which offer the opportunity to enjoy local wines, food and entertainment.
Plenty of noise, loads of smoke and lots of people in oily boiler suits, walking around the small UK village of Tarrant Hinton, all indicate that this weekend is the middle of the annual Great Dorset Steam Fair, 29 August to 2 September, 2007. A bit like an alternative Burning Man Festival, the fair rejoices in bygone days, when most people's knowledge of a carbon footprint was that which appeared on the seat of slacking apprentices. Then after a week of chaos, the site returns to green fields and pastural calm. As always, there is plenty to see and do; a day is hardly enough time to enjoy everything on offer. The Great Dorset Steam Fair is regarded as the leading steam and vintage preservation event in the world and is attended every year by well over 200,000 people from around the globe.
More than 3,000 railway enthusiasts are expected to attend the Swindon Railway Festival, on Saturday 15 September and Sunday 16 September, 2007. The festival is to be held at STEAM, the UK's Museum of the Great Western Railway, which is housed in the beautifully restored Grade II railway building, right in the heart of the former Swindon railway works. In its heyday, 'the works' was the powerhouse of a railway network that was regarded as the most advanced in the world.
The Swindon Railway Festival celebrates the town's glorious railway heritage and features some of the UK's biggest and best model railway layouts. Pop guru Pete Waterman is also a keen railway enthusiast and he will be exhibiting his 'Just Like the Real Thing' models. Other features include Hornby and Bachmann roadshows, model making and repair workshops, railway art, talks, book signings and trade stands.
A large number of Railway Holidays from around the world, can be found in our listings.
The Rioja Wine Harvest is celebrated annually in Logroño, Spain, 16 to 26 September, with the Fiesta de la Vendimia Riojana. It is a week of festivities coinciding with the Feast of San Mateo (St. Matthew) on 21 September and is a gastronomic delight, uniting culture, tradition, music, theatre and sport.
On San Mateo's Day, there is a traditional, barefoot, grape treading ceremony in the main square, when the first must of the new harvest is offered to a statue of the patron saint of La Rioja, Our Lady of Valvanera.
This weekend, 24 through 26 August, 2007, sees the inaugural Australian Body Art Carnival at Eumundi, described as the vibrant heart of creativity on Australia's Sunshine Coast. Visitors to the festival were looking forward to being entertained by bands and street performers and to be mesmerised by some of the best artistry from around the world.
Then, climate change struck. Eumundi recorded the heaviest rainfalls in any 24-hour period since records began and there has been widespread flooding.
The downpour was caused by a low pressure system over south-east Queensland; such events usually occur in late autumn or early winter, but are very rare in August, and you have to go back to the early 1880s to find the last occurrence.
However, defiant organisers insist that the festival will go ahead, albeit in modified form.
Every year, tens of thousands of people converge on the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, USA, to create Black Rock City and celebrate one of the world's great modern festivals, the Burning Man Festival. They pride themselves on taking nothing but photographs and leaving nothing but memories. The festival is dedicated to self-expression, self-reliance, and art as the center of community.
This year, the festival takes place August 27 to September 3, 2007 and in keeping with the global awareness of environmental issues, the art theme for Burning Man 2007 is "The Green Man".
Some very creative minds are associated with the Burning Man community and besides creating some great art, also create great environmental projects. A subject I will expand upon in future posts.
During January, 2008, visual artists will have the opportunity to present their artworks at the first Fajr Festival of Visual Arts in Tehran, as part of ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
International Fajr Festivals have previously been devoted to film, theater, and music.
For the past eleven years, some of the world's most famous clowns meet in August at the International Clown Festival at the Bakken Amusement Park. There are daily shows on the open-air stage, a Clown Gala Show in the circus tent and the presentation of international prizes and awards, in recognition of comic performances and giving the public great, original and entertaining experiences.
Plenty of slapstick fun and outrageous behavior from masters of laughter. This year's festival runs 11 and 12 August, 2007.
For over thirty years, the first week in October brings the smell of roasting chilies and the spectacle of around 700 hot air balloons filling the big blue New Mexico sky. The extraordinary event is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and it is reckoned to be he largest ballooning event on earth. Visitors from all over the world travel to the huge, purpose built, Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, USA, to celebrate ballooning. This year's festival runs October 6 through 14, 2007.
Few people could be unaware that the UK has experienced exceptional rainfall. It seems that the cause is global warming, which has resulted in the Gulf Stream shifting its position. The almost continual rain, punctuated by torrential downpours has led to flooding throughout much of the UK, most recently in the heart of the country.
There has been a great deal of media attention on major tourist areas such as Shakespeare's Stratford upon Avon but thankfully the town itself did not suffer too badly, the surrounding areas were badly affected, though the flood waters are beginning to subside and transport links are unaffected. This is great news for festival goers who are converging on Long Marston Airport, just outside Stratford upon Avon, for the Global Gathering Festival, Friday 27 and Saturday 28 July, 2007. The organizers have confirmed that the site remains unaffected by the floods and that the festival is on. Come rain or come shine this weekend, Faithless, Basement Jaxx, 150 top DJs and 50,000 revellers will be partying at the biggest dance event in the world.
Tomorrow morning, 17 July, 2007, visitors to the Southbank will see a model of the Taj Mahal sail up the Thames to London Bridge Pier, marking the beginning of India Now, a three-month festival in the UK's capital which will showcase India's contribution to world culture. This is the most comprehensive festival of culture ever to be staged in London and celebrates the riches of India's diverse and dazzling traditions, including new Indian trends across art, film, theatre, food, music and fashion. The festival is to be launched by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, together with a host of celebrities, including Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, English actress Joanne Lumbley and Indian cricket team, Rahul Dravid.
The annual Yeats International Summer School in Sligo, is organised by the Yeats Society to celebrate the poet's life and work; this year the festival dates are Saturday 28th July to Friday 10th August 2007.
William Butler Yeats is considered to be Ireland's greatest lyric poet and one of the greatest lyric poets of the twentieth-century. He led a movement known as the Irish literary renaissance which revived Irish folklore, legends and traditions.
Yeats drew much inspiration from County Sligo's beautiful scenery and the town of Sligo makes a good base for a wide range of activities.
Liverpool, UK, is gearing up for major events to celebrate the 800th anniversary of its first royal charter. There will be one hell of a party around August, including the Hub, billed as the UK's largest, free, urban youth festival, which takes place at Otterspool Promenade on 14 and 15 July, 2007. Then next year, Liverpool becomes the European Capital of Culture 2008; this year's European Capital of Culture is Sibiu, Romania.
Hub is into its fifth year, and promises two days of live music, skating, skateboarders, parkour, BMX bikers, adrenaline wind tunnel, street art, urban fashion and more.
Ian Youngs has written a great piece about surviving the Glastonbury Festival mudbath. UK festival goers are looking forward to this weekend's Glastonbury Festival but true to form, the weather forecast suggests it is, as Ian graphically puts it, 'shaping up to be a full-on glorious mudfest'.
1997, 1998 and 2005, saw so much rain and mud that the dates have passed into festival legend. There are some great photos accompanying the article, including one from 2005 with the caption 'Come prepared - but not necessarily that well prepared'; the picture shows a couple of guys paddling across the camping ground in a canoe!
If you chicken out or just couldn't get tickets, you can enjoy the festival coverage by the BBC. They are even providing a webcam and live streaming of performances.
The Shrine, Los Angeles, is part of Hollywood's Golden Era. Home of the Emmy Awards and of the Oscars for over fifty years. Now for five days the Shrine, is to become the biggest movie theatre in America, with 6,300 seats. The Shrine Expo center is 56, 000 sq.ft. of independent and connected exposition space, where real exploration vehicles and mini-subs meet famous Sci-Fi props & miniatures. The event is the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival, December 6 - 10, 2007. Themed "from the abyss to the stars", the event is an extension of the annual Paris festival of films, based on or in the spirit of Jules Verne's novels, such as "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea" and "Around the World in Eighty Days". According to the sponsors, the Los Angeles event will not interfere with the annual event in France. Organizers, led by US astronaut Buzz Aldrin, said that the event would celebrate "the spirit of adventure and the preservation of our planet."
Jules Verne Adventures invites producers and directors worldwide to enter their documentaries into the competition for the Jules Verne Awards (unreleased programs will be privileged) and in the out of competition selection, showing the best of the international production. There is no entrance fee and in the competition : minimum duration is 26 minutes. Closing date September 15, 2007.
Next week, Munich celebrates its film and television industry, beginning with the Munich International Short Film Festival which runs 14 to 20 June, 2007, and then followed by Filmfest München, the Munich Film Festival, which runs from 22 to 30 of June, 2007.
Munich is Germany's film capital and this year, Filmfest München celebrates its 25th year; it is Germany's largest summer film festival with roughly 200 films on 15 screens. The general public are encouraged to participate in this audience-friendly festival, which attracts more than 65,000 ordinary movie lovers, over 600 members of the international press and 1000-plus film-related professionals.
Four hundred years ago, three settlers' ships made land at a swampy island, which became America's first permanent English settlement, Jamestown. In celebration of the 400th anniversary of their adventure, the neighbouring, larger harbour of Norfolk, has been asked to accommodate a fleet of more than 50 tall ships, military and character vessels, in Sail Virginia 2007. Running from Friday, June 8, to Tuesday, June 12, 2007, the fleet is expected to include a replica of one of the Jamestown settlers' ships, Godspeed, usually berthed at the Jamestown Settlement living history museum. Another of the ships, the Picton Castle, will be fresh from a starring role as a pirate ship in the new reality TV series, Pirate Master, where 16 modern-day pirates are sent on a high seas adventure, living the life of buccaneers, travelling around the Caribbean island of Dominica in search of hidden treasure.
Downtown Norfolk will be infused with the same adventuresome spirit of America's founders, by over 1,000 artists, actors, musicians, historians, Native Americans and sailing crews from around the world. Sail Virginia is being combined with Norfolk's 31st annual Harborfest, a festival with live music, good food and spectacular fireworks, held along the Elizabeth river, admission is free and includes tours of the ships.
Ravello, a small town on the Italian, Amalfi Coast, enjoys a geography that simultaneously excites and repels tourists. Clinging to the cliff-face, high above above the Gulf of Salerno, the unspoilt hamlet has played host to many a creative genius over the years, including Richard Wagner, Arturo Toscanini, D.H. Lawrence, Joan Miró and M. C. Escher. Every summer, the town is host to a festival celebrating its artistic connections, the Ravello Festival. Ravello Festival is the oldest of the Italian arts festivals after the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and is particularly famous for open-air concerts in the Villa Rufolo, with its wonderful Mediterranean backdrop.
The festival is notable for the concert program but features other events such as the visual arts section; this is dedicated to Maurits Escher, who acknowledged the influence that Ravello and the Amalfi Coast had on his work.
This year's festival runs 30 June to 30 September 2007.
Sixty years and still going strong, the Cannes Film Festival opens its doors again 16 - 27 May, 2007.
They reckon its the biggest party in Europe and its certainly the most cash-rich. There is actually some doubt that this year is really the 60th anniversary but what's a year or two when your enjoying yourself? More champagne?
19 June 2007 is the date for this year's Dragon Boat Festival, which is a Chinese lunar holiday, occurring on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the Chinese calendar. The festival, also known as the Double Fifth Day Festival or Duan Wu Jie, is a significant holiday in China, ranking alongside the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival is particularly well known for being celebrated by teams racing highly decorated, 12m boats in the shape of dragons, accompanied by a metronome drumbeat. And Dragon Boat Racing is now claimed to be the second fastest growing outdoor sport in the world. It combines the Chinese cultural tradition with teamwork and strategy, to create a fantastic spectacle of colour and sound.
Spark of Genius - Breaking Records, Pushing Boundaries, is the theme for the 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed which will be held over the weekend of 22-24 June in the picturesque parkland surrounding Goodwood House. The UK festival is motor racing's equivalent of Ascot or Wimbledon and provides an annual extravaganza of sound and colour.
Motor racing was first featured at Goodwood during 1936 when the 9th Duke of Richmond held a private hillclimb through the park and then in 1948 he opened the Goodwood Motor Circuit. These early events inspired his grandson, the present Earl of March, to bring motor sport back to Goodwood which resulted in the first Festival of Speed, held in 1993.
Breaking Records and Pushing Boundaries were the Bugatti Royales, one of which remains the most expensive car ever sold at auction, reaching $8.7 million in 1987. For the first time ever at a major European event, at least four Bugatti Royales (of the six built) will come together. Celebrating 80 years since its introduction, the incredible Type 41 Royale was built by Ettore Bugatti exclusively for Royalty and heads of state. Due it its size, opulence and rarity, each car became an immediate collectors’ piece.
p.s. Goodwood goes Green
Another innovation at the 2007 Festival will be a thrilling race by top motor sport stars using the ultimate environmentally friendly vehicles – bicycles!
In Christchurch, New Zealand, there is an annual event which is described as organized pandemonium, uncontrollable laughter, non-stop chaos and absolute fun. It is the World Buskers Festival, one of the largest performance festivals in the world.
This year's festival runs from January 18 through to January 28, 2007 and offers visitors more than 450 street and stage shows presented by performers from Canada, USA, Brazil, Portugal, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, UK, Australia and, of course, New Zealand.
Scream and scare events have long played a part if the Halloween celebrations in the USA and Fright Nights have now spread to the UK, with a number of seriously frightening events being organised for this weekend.
Children under 10 can enjoy a spellbinding Trick or Treat, cooked up by friendly witch sisters Toil and Trouble, 45 minutes of interactive theatrical experience. featuring songs and games designed to enthrall the young ones. Families and young adults looking for an adrenalin kick will find their blood runs cold as they experience Dead Alive: Legend of the Pumpkin Man, a fright fest set amid 8 acres of rotting mist covered cornfields, where lies the ghostly ruins of Strangleweed Hollow.
The last WOMAD festival of 2007 is again in the 
It might be long dark nights and falling leaves in the north but the southern hemisphere is celebrating the coming of spring. In one annual celebration, Canberra's Commonwealth Park is transformed into a tapestry of colour with more than a million bulbs and annuals in bloom at a free, month long, festival, the 
The extraordinary event is the 
The Dragon Boat Festival is particularly well known for being celebrated by teams racing highly decorated, 12m boats in the shape of dragons, accompanied by a metronome drumbeat. And Dragon Boat Racing is now claimed to be the second fastest growing outdoor sport in the world. It combines the Chinese cultural tradition with teamwork and strategy, to create a fantastic spectacle of colour and sound.
The UK festival is motor racing's equivalent of Ascot or Wimbledon and provides an annual extravaganza of sound and colour.
