Do you have a favorite local festival/event that you attend each year? Please share.

[Egret1986]

My all-time favorite is the annual Neptune Festival (45th). I'm headed to the beach on Sunday to spend the week leading up to Boardwalk Weekend, which is always scheduled for the last Friday of September. It's a fantastic time to be in Virginia Beach. The weather is usually great with temperatures in the 70s-80s and warm ocean temperatures. There is lots of outdoor dining all along the Boardwalk, which stretches 37 blocks. Hit the beach or ride a beach cruiser along the oceanfront bike path.

It's hard to say which Neptune Festival events are my favorite because I love them all!

The Boardwalk Arts and Crafts Show stretches 11 blocks along the boardwalk, featuring over 250 artisans.

The International Sand Sculpting Championships - 22 Fantastic Displays +

Neptune's Atlantic Regatta

Beach Volleyball Tournaments

The Grand Parade

3 Musical Stages with Great Local and National Talents


I'm excited!

 

[Free2Roam]

Maryland Seafood Festival is the weekend after Labor Day and we attend every year. We also attend a few wine festivals in MD every year.

I've heard a lot about the various VA Beach Neptune Festivals. We attended the Neptune Wine Festival in VA Beach a couple years ago. It must be a really popular one, because it was way too crowded for the small space they had cordoned off. We stood in line for nearly an hour for my first tasting. Sounds like maybe my next one to try should be the Boardwalk Festival.

 

[geist1223]

Stormy Weather Art Festival in Cannon Beach Oregon. It starts the first Friday of November and goes through Sunday evening. Weather on the Oregon Coast can vary a lot. Sometimes we have been in Shorts and T-Shirts and sometimes it is very stormy to include power going out and small flooding.

 

[AJCts411]

Now this is a hard one to decide. Conch Republic days held in Key West...or Song Writers Festival also in Key West. Conch days, lots of events, not too crowded...song writers, very busy time. Either offers some great, but different, festivities.

 

[tschwa2]

For a budget-y trip we enjoy Grand Illumination in Williamsburg and we combine it with the Christmas parade in Virginia Beach (usually the same weekend- the day before illumination). And although not festival while in the area we through in Lights on the Boardwalk in Va Beach and Christmas town at Busch Gardens.

This is around the 1st weekend in December and if you are a member of II with a platinum membership you can usually get a platinum escape for a 2 BR at Williamsburg Plantation or The Colonies for around $150 for the week. The kids are still in school so we usually have to do a Friday-Monday or Tuesday but still worth it. Even if you aren't platinum or want a nicer resort you can usually find a 5-7 stay this time of year for less than $300. Sometimes we just stay in VA Beach Friday and Saturday. Head off to Williamsburg after lunch on Sunday and then drive home after Grand Illumination and then we don't have to miss any work or school.

Take a drive on the Boardwalk ($5 per car on the weekends)

Grand Illumination (free)

Bring a frisbee or a ball and a picnic and dress for the weather. You have to get there pretty early to get a good parking spot and a nice spot on the grass with a view and then wait until sunset.

Christmas town at Busch Gardens- this one costs but you can sometimes from Groupons for discounts.

 

[kwelty]

Every year the Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d'Elegance gets better and is a "must do" item for me. It is also a great time to be on Hilton Head Island as the weather is great, as long as there are no hurricanes, and the crowds are gone. There is an abundance of timeshares so getting one at a good price is likely.
http://www.hhiconcours.com/

 

[Jan M.]

The annual Turkey Rod Run in Daytona Beach, FL. November 22-25 this year and always over Thanksgiving weekend, is a lot of fun for anyone who likes old cars. People come from all over the country bringing their cars. There are so many cars in town you don't have to pay to get into the Speedway to see them. Any shopping center parking lot will be full cars being displayed. People staying at the hotels up and down A1A/Ocean Blvd. also have their cars on display. People bring lawn chairs to sit on the sidewalk and watch the cars cruising up and down A1A. We don't do this every year but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[Luanne]

In Santa Fe the two big ones are:

International Folk Art Market

Indian Market

 

[x3 skier]

Closing days at Steamboat with the Cardbord Classic, Pond Skimming and other lunacy.

Cheers

 

[Glynda]

Torn between Piccolo Spoleto and Historic Charleston Foundation’s Festival of Houses & Gardens. I am a house docent most years.

 

[jehb2]

Fiesta in San Antonio and The Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio, Texas.

 

[Talent312]

Rib Fest in St. Petersburg, Florida...
November 9-11, 2018
-------------------------------------
RIBBERS
Blazin’ Bronko – Cleveland, Ohio
Cowboys BBQ & Rib Co – Fort Wayne, Tx
Desparado’s – Hinckley, OH
Fat Fred’s Famous BBQ – St. Petersburg, FL
Johnson’s BBQ – Chesapeake, VA
Texas Outlaw – Elizabethtown, KY
The Tender Rib – Brandywine Maryland

.

 

[Passepartout]

Great thread! And I thought our Craft Beer Fest was good. 50 brewers and 130 or so beers. Food trucks, music, auction of 'beer bling'. (free rides home)

Jim

 

[WinniWoman]

Mine is not local to where we live, but to where our New Hampshire timeshare is in Lincoln, NH. We do not own during the weekend it occurs, but we have exchanged the floating week from our other timeshare twice to stay at our NH resort during it.

And that is- The New Hampshire Highland Games. It is going on this weekend and I wish I was there. I love the music, the games themselves, especially the Caber Toss, the vendors and the mass bands and klan parade.

No I am not Scottish. Must have been though in my past life.

Check it out..and turn the volume up to hear the drums.

https://nhscot.org/

 

[AwayWeGo]

Every year the Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d'Elegance gets better and is a "must do" item for me. It is also a great time to be on Hilton Head Island as the weather is great, as long as there are no hurricanes, and the crowds are gone. There is an abundance of timeshares so getting one at a good price is likely.
http://www.hhiconcours.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

We go to Concours d'Elegance at Amelia Island FL every year. We started attending because my old gang of high school friends who stayed in touch ever since our school days felt the need for a reunion, so we could get together in person. One of the guys was on the board of directors of Amelia Concours. He suggested we all show up for that as our reunion event. He was a big wheel with the organization, so he comped us into the show el freebo -- even fixed us up with goody bags of shirts & hats, etc., like the ones VIPs & official entrants were given. He & his spouse were pretty much tied up with preparations leading up to the event, as well as the event itself on show day, so we stayed over 1 day so they could be part of our reunion in Jacksonville FL.

https://ameliaconcours.org​

Our old crew of high school pals is dwindling -- not exactly a surprise in that we're all hard-core old folks now. Half of us are gone, including our friend who was on the Amelia Concours Amelia board. His widow left Jacksonville & moved to Georgia (closer to her grandchildren). The survivors keep up the Amelia Concours d'Elegance tradition every year, paying our own way now. The good reason is the fancypants car show. The real reason is just to spend a few days together again while we survivors are still breathing air, still on the top side of the turf, & still able to travel. I am sorry my old friends are gone, but I am glad I am still here. We remember those who passed on, with fondness & gratitude, every time we get together.

Semi-Interesting Factoid: Of the 8 guys in our high school crew, 5 became career U.S. armed forces officers -- 1 each in the army, navy, marines, air force & coast guard. (I'm not sure any of them would have stepped forward if the draft board had not been breathing down their necks in the early & mid-1960s, but it was & they did.) Two of the others each served 1 enlisted hitch -- me in the army, the other guy in the air force. The air force guy's brother, who got drafted into the army (2-year hitch), lived in Jacksonville FL & was a race car enthusiast, so he became an honorary crew member & reunion participant. Of that bunch, only 1 guy was a civilian his whole life. As it happened, he was the 1st of that bunch whose life came to an end (prematurely, pancreatic cancer). Ironically, he was the strongest & best looking. So it goes.

​

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[kwelty]

I've been to Amelia 3 or 4 times and it is the premiere Concours on the east coast. They put on an amazing show with not only world class cars but some of the top drivers from the 60's and 70's, ie: Stirling Moss, Richard Petty, etc. This would be an every year event for me if there were more timeshares in the area. Once a buddy and I flew down to Jacksonville, staying in a hotel for it, but mostly my wife and I go to Hilton Head and I commute the 3 hours or so to Amelia for the day.

 

[bluehende]

Pennsylvania farm show in Harrisburg in early January. I love the animal displays.

 

[BobDE]

My wife and I have been together for 22 years and have only missed 1 Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland.

We were in Virginia Beach 1 year and caught the Neptune Festival by mistake. We are going to try to get a place for next year's festival.

 

[stmartinfan]

Minnesota State Fair (aka The Great Minnesota Get Together)...one of the biggest state fairs in the country. It's a quirky mix of old traditions, like the barns with prize winning milking stock, draft horses and pigs plus hundreds of entries in canning and baking to contemporary touches like trendy foods, nationally known music groups in the grandstand and lots of free music performances throughout the grounds.

 

[Bxian]

We have only been once, but we LOVED the Sonoma 4th of July parade when we attended about 10 years ago. Fun floats and high school kids lobbing water balloons at each other-a real throwback. Watched the fireworks from a farmer's field.

 

[am1]

Carnival. No admission, no violence, beer can be bought for a $1 but a lot of people bring their own coolers (small charge to bring one in) as it is cheaper and no line to buy, water trucks have hoses where people on top spray to the people on the street, family atmosphere, during the day, la reina passes by a few times with a few other floats. At night more relaxed, no water except for the first night and no hot sun. No place else like it.

 

[artringwald]

Minnesota State Fair (aka The Great Minnesota Get Together)...one of the biggest state fairs in the country. It's a quirky mix of old traditions, like the barns with prize winning milking stock, draft horses and pigs plus hundreds of entries in canning and baking to contemporary touches like trendy foods, nationally known music groups in the grandstand and lots of free music performances throughout the grounds.

In 2018 there were 2,046,533 people that agreed with you (including me).

My favorite fair foods are deep fried Spam curds, and Blue Barn's spicy chicken nuggets in a waffle cone, covered in sausage gravy, with a lump of chocolate at the bottom of the cone: