Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council
Calendar of Events
Take Great Pictures' Calendar of Events is a wonderful photo resource for any traveler. Here we feature some of the best photo ops throughout the US and the World, from hot air balloon festivals to various cultural celebrations to off-beat events, our Calendar is sure to get you some great photographs. Check out schedules for Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, New Year's Eve, July 4th, and dozens more holidays.
Whether or not this is, organizers claim, North America’s largest ethnic festival, it deserves attention for drawing the likes of Bob Newhart, the Smothers Brothers, Randy Travis, Paul Anka, the Oak Ridge Boys, and other big names to its lineup of performers in years past. The seven stages of continuous entertainment are complemented by such events as the Troll Beauty Contest, a Scandinavian baking competition, the Miss Norsk Hostfest pageant, exhibitions and demonstrations, nightly dances, and the yearly parade of flags. The Viking marketplace features products from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
October
6 - 16,
2004 Celtic Colours International Festival
The entire community celebrates this festive tribute to Celtic heritage at the height of Cape Breton’s fall colors. More than 300 artists from all over the Celtic world, including Scotland, Ireland, the United States, Brittany and Canada, perform at over 30 venues. In addition to nightly performances and other events, a full schedule of workshops allows visitors to be active participants in the Celtic culture. And traveling from event to event provides an ideal opportunity to absorb the beauty and character of Cape Breton, including Canada’s largest saltwater lake and one of North America’s most scenic drives.
Contact: Max MacDonald, 363 Charlotte St., Suite 1, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada B1P 1E1; (902) 562-6700.
The Jack O’Lantern Spectacular is aptly named. Roughly 5,000 illuminated pumpkins created by more than 30 carvers transform the Roger Williams Zoo into a Halloween fantasyland. With the Jack O’Lantern “Tree of Light” as centerpiece, the display encompasses a three-acre woodland trail and features scenes from children’s stories and depictions of historical figures, sports greats, and celebrities carved into the illuminated pumpkins. The Library of Congress in Washington has designated the event as a national “local legacy.”
Seafood, music, beach parties, arts and crafts, and fireworks are the main attractions as Panama City Beach celebrates Indian Summer. Food tents throughout Frank Brown Park are best known for seafood, including crab, lobster, grilled pompano, and fried grouper, but also serve kebabs, chicken, steak, and grilled vegetables. In addition to nationally known headline performers, the entertainment includes beach party music, bluegrass, jazz, and blues. Aisles of arts and crafts tents feature artisans from all over the South displaying their best work, including hand-decorated clothing, painted woodwork, and pottery. The festival concludes with a grand finale concert and fireworks display.
Contact: Ann Wodraska, P.O. Box 9473, Panama City Beach, FL 32417; (850) 233-5070. or E-mail: awodraska@800pcbeach.com.
October
12 - 24,
2004 Popular Photography Workshop Series: Egypt
Photograph the bustling city of Cairo, the awe-inspiring Pyramids of Giza, the splendor of the Nile River, the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, and so much more. Join us for the photographic journey of a lifetime and enjoy special photographic vantage points that have been arranged by the Popular Photography & Imaging special events team. Cairo, "the city of one thousand minarets,"and "mystical beauty of the past," will be the starting point of our photographic adventure. Modern Cairo, where you will have the opportunity to visit the Great Pyramids of Giza, The Hanging Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, with treasures that include a 14th-century wall-painting of the Nativity, and Salah al-Din's Citadel, of the Mamluke and Ottoman sultans. Take photographs that capture a city that is a living testament to civilizations past, while enjoying the comforts of a cosmopolitan 21st century capital.
New Orleans takes Halloween very seriously and holds its own idiosyncratic celebrations. Congo Square in Louis Armstrong Park does its own special bit by exploring voodoo. You may want to take along some nail clippings and pins, and of course don't forget to bring you camera along to capture the festivities.
The New River Gorge Bridge is 876 feet tall, making it the longest single arch birdge in the world, and there are people daring enough to jump off it, just for fun.
Every year, with whitewater rafters in the water below and the surrounding hills ablaze with fall color, some 250,000 spectators are witness to what has been called the largest extreme sports event on earth. Organizers stress that the jumping, by parachute-clad BASE jumpers who come from all over, is legal and safe.
In addition to the actual jumping, Taste of Bridge Day the Friday evening before features over 180 craft and food vendors. Bridge Day itself, which is free, is the only time visitors can can legally walk on the steel arch-span bridge.
Contact: Sharon Cruikshank, 310 Oyler Ave., Oak Hill, WV 25901; (800) 927-0263.
Time-traveling back to the Old West, Las Cruces puts on a show that brings alive every detail of cowboy life. The festival begins with a stage show featuring cowboy poets and live music. Day two kicks off with a traditional chuckwagon breakfast, followed by day-long cowboy poetry, music, and a western art show. Other activities include demonstrations of blacksmithing, horeseshoeing, and a Mexican-style rodeo with rope spinning, horse cutting, and statecoach rides. New Mexico’s top silversmiths and leather carvers are on hand to display their skills and wares, visitors can watch milking demonstrations and admire a collection of longhorn steer, and chuckwagon cooks serve up tasty lunches. The festival wraps up with an evening stage show and western dance with live western music.
Los Angeles has littered the world with its paraphernalia. Disneyland, movie stars, TV, fast-food and hype - it's all here in overdrive. LA may be a figment of its own imagination, but if you long to stand in the footsteps of stars and breathe their hallowed air, you've come to the right place.
Things to do in LA tend to gravitate around a common theme - stars. There are so many tours and shows to attend you could forget to do anything else. However, there is culture: it is housed at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. A night at the Hollywood Bowl is also a treat.
If civic politics is the American religion, then Washington DC is the nation's holy city. White houses, capital and pentagonal buildings, supreme courts - these monumental Lego shrines are rarefied with real power. A patriotic combination of history and histrionics: BYO wiretap.
Sightseeing in DC is a steady diet of museums and monuments. History, ethnography, flora, fauna, antiques and ancestral bones - anything you can display in a glass case, commemorate on a plaque, or stick in a cage - is available free of charge to the visitor.
New Orleans seduces with Caribbean colour and waves of sultry Southern heat. Enshrouding us in dreams and ancient melodies, its sweet-tasting cocktails are laced with voodoo potions. The unofficial state motto, laissez les bons temps rouler ('let the good times roll'), pretty much says it all.
The heart and soul of the city is undoubtedly the French Quarter, all of which is a National Historic District. Most of the city's museums, historic houses and markets are found here. The Tremé district was first home to the city's black population, and the cemetery here is a grisly highlight.
Red Bull Rampage, the premiere mountain bike freeride competition, is back in 2004. The fourth and final Red Bull Rampage to be held in Virgin, Utah will take place on the Kolob Reservoir Road just outside of Zion National Park. The mountain which has challenged so many in years past is back with a vengeance, only this time, there’s a twist.
Children all across the USA dress in costumes and prowl their neighborhoods seeking candy treats while many cities and towns host costume parades. The best parades are found in New York City's Greenwich Village and in San Francisco where the large gay communities turn out in elaborate and outlandish costumes.
