Festivals Near and Far
By Roxanne Silbaugh, RCPL
Reference Services
Festivals come in all shapes, sizes
and locations, but most of them have these things in common; food, musical
entertainment and folks having fun, and
South
Dakota has some of the best festivals. Some festivals have a craft and food booth
focus along with musical and sometimes dance and other performances, such as the
West Boulevard Festival held in Wilson Park in mid-June, the Canyon Lake
festival held at Canyon Lake park July 8 and 9, and the Black Hills Heritage
Festival held at Memorial Park the last two days of June and first two days of
July: http://www.bhheritagefest.com/. Other
festivals have a unifying theme, such as the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, August
7-13 for 2006. Information about the
rally can be found at: http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/ Still others have a musical focus, such as Hills Alive, a contemporary Christian music
festival held this year on July 14 -16 at Memorial Park.
The Corn Palace Festival in
Mitchell, which will take place this year from August 23 through 27, will have
lots of big name entertainment and a county fair type midway. There will also be a Polka Festival September
15, 16 and 17. All the information you
might need on this Festival can be found at: http://www.cornpalacefestival.com/ . Other festivals around the state
include the International Vinegar Festival held in Roslyn, South Dakota in mid
June, http://www.vinegarman.com/VinegarFestival.shtml,
the Czech festival held in Tabor, South Dakota, http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/es/sd/tabor_1,
and the many Celtic Festivals and activities http://www.blackhillscelticevents.org/
http://www.epodunk.com/festivals/ is
a good resource for finding American festivals. It has listings for all the states and month by month listings for many
local festivals.
One of the benefits of traveling
abroad in the spring and summer is the possibility of attending international
festivals. In the Lonely Planet guide “
Europe on a Shoestring,” there is a listing called
Festival Fever with the names and locations of a number of European festivals,
including several that are off the beaten track. A fairly thorough and accurate but quirky
listing of European festivals can also be found at: http://www.bugbog.com/festivals/european_festivals.html. In the Lonely Planet guide called “Scotland”
there is a comprehensive listing of Scottish festivals, including the Edinburgh
International Jazz and Blues Festival, a world renowned ten day festival which
takes place from July 28th to August 6th for 2006. More information on that festival, including
listings for many festivals in
Edinburgh
and environs can be found at: http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/.
Another famous European festival listed
in the “Great Festivals of the World” guide book from Pilot is Oktoberfest,
which is held in
Munich,
Germany
. Just remember, if you go in October you’ll be
too late since Oktoberfest starts on September 16 and ends on October 3rd. More information about Oktoberfest can be
found at: http://www.oktoberfest.de The “Great Festivals of the World” also
includes information on Carnival in
Rio
de Janeiro,
Brazil
. Most of the other festivals covered in this
book are very unusual and not exactly what you would call mainstream, but you
might find some interesting ideas. For
more information on Carnival you can find it at: http://www.ipanema.com/carnival/
In the book “1000 Places to See Before You Die”, the listing of festivals and special events
is very long and includes a fascinating array of festivities around the world. It includes camel races at Wadi Zalaga, in Nuweiba, Egypt; the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan; the
Whirling Dervishes of Konya, Turkey; and Medieval
Week in Götaland, Sweden just to name a few. The author, Patricia Schultz, includes a
short description of each festival, general time of year, how to get there,
telephone contact information and websites when available.
Many years ago while traveling, I
was fortunate enough to visit the ancient ruins of
Ephesus,
not far from
Izmir,
Turkey
while
there was an international folk dancing competition in progress. It was held in the enormous amphitheater at
the ruins on a perfect summer day and it was a wonderful surprise to come upon
it. It was the forerunner to The
International Izmir Festival which lasts all summer
long and is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary in 2006. Performances take
place intermittently throughout the summer in
Izmir and at
Ephesus, and include orchestras, theater
performances, dance ensembles and individual performers from around the world. You can find information about it, as well as
information on many other festivals held in
Turkey
throughout the year at http://www.mymerhaba.com,
or in the book “
Turkey
,”a DK Eyewitness Travel Guide.
The library has a variety of travel
guidebooks for destinations all over the
United States
and the world and
we’re also happy to help you do internet searches to find additional and more
current information. Festivals of the
world await you.
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