Traveling USA

Every Spring at Baytowne Wharf, wine aficionados from around the globe enjoy four very full days of wine, wine, wine at the Sandestin Wine Festival in Destin, Florida. More than 600 hand-selected wines are featured at the party and you can sample all of them, if you dare.

In addition to wine tasting, Emerald Coast festival goers can participate in cooking classes and gourmet dinners with wine parings. They can also attend educational seminars, charity events and fashion shows, play in golf tournaments, meet celebrity vintners, and bid at auctions for rare vintages.  Now in its 23rd year, the wine festival attracts over 2,000 connoisseurs and wines from more than 80 vineyards. The 2008 edition raised more than $850,000 for local charities.

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Winter festivals are an effective way of keeping?�down on the?�socially unacceptable craziness often brought on by cabin fever by replacing it with?�socially acceptable craziness, instead.

The natives of?�cold?�places with long winters tend to pull out all the stops for these rowdy town parties. Most of the events are held outdoors and nearly every form of ice or snow related competition is included. The McCall, Idaho Winter Festival is no exception.

There’s snowshoe golf, snow sculpting, tubing races,?� a snowmobile fun run and a closing ceremony with fireworks over the very frozen Payette Lake.

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The vibrant Mexican state of Jalisco is this month glowing with colour and cheer, for now is the time of their annual October Festival celebrations. This will be a month of many shows and attractions bringing with them a wide range of activities guaranteed to bring out the festival spirit of every visitor.
Lasting from the first Saturday in October until the first Sunday of November, the Benito Ju?rez Auditorium and other institutions in the city of Guadalajara will be hosting the following activities; arts and crafts exhibitions, Mexican cookery demonstrations, business seminars and concerts featuring many national and international artists.
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The most visited music and arts festival in Finland will return to Helsinki at the end of August, turning the Finnish capital into an enormous cultural centre. From August 20th to September 5th, every visitor will be able to find a show that satisfies their musical palate with an exciting programme offering concerts, art exhibitions, circus acts and other entertainment throughout the city, all day long.

For two whole weeks Helsinki will be in effervescence, putting the city on the international cultural map. Approximately thirty buildings (theatres, cultural centres, churches, galleries and even restaurants) will host a series of artistic events and shows, attracting a crowd of more than 300,000 every year.
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From the end of July until the beginning of September, the city of Edinburgh will become a glittering stage where the magic of the city really comes to life. Without a shadow of doubt, this festival truly offers something for everyone, including theatre, performance arts, dance, music and cinema. The only thing needed is a passion for entertainment.
A wealth of artists from all corners of the globe will come together for the festival, which will take place in a series of six separate yet cojoining events; The International Festival of Edinburgh, the Fringe, the International Cinematography Festival, The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, the International Book Festival and the People’s Festival of Edinburgh. Each event has its own unique programme and official website, and tickets are sold through their own organising bodies. The Fringe has its distinct personality, yet this nature has not always been welcomed by the official festival, particularly between the 1950s and 1970s. The competitive nature between the two festivals has gradually calmed down, yet the Fringe has retained its individual style and experimental touch, standing out from the the rest of the programme.
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