Local Festivals and Events

Jo. Great idea. unfortunately those of here in the states really do not know when all the local festivals and events are going on.

When I have stumbled across them in my travels they make some of the best memories....like stumbling upon a free Yo Yo Ma concert in Paris many years ago...

I guess I was thinking that our posters who live here in Europe, like Andreas, Corinna, or Ron would send suggestions. Or if you were traveling, and came upon a great festival, you would post it on here so the rest of us would know about it.

I will start with my favorite event in Frankfurt - The Museum Riverbank Fest otherwise known as the Museumüferfest. This is a HUGE party that covers both sides of the Main River, held the last weekend in Aug. every year. We have had over 3 million visitors the past 2 years and it is now one of the premier events in Germany. You buy a button for 4 € and this gets you in ALL of the museums and the art galleries for the entire weekend. 20 stages are set up, music is everywhere, Dragon boat races are held on the river the whole weekend, parties are going on in the courtyards of all the museums, 100's of stands are selling everything from African masks to Australian hats, from handmade jewelry and pottery, to original artwork and photography , sit in a Moroccan tent and sip mint tea, try your hand at eating the Ethiopian style, sample some Korean food or stick with bratwurst, fireworks on Friday night and Sunday night and basically, everyone just has a blast. The downtown churches participate by having an "Organ Mile" one night and a "Choir Mile" the next night. http://www.frankfurt-tourismus.de/cms/tourismussuite/en/events_trade_fairs_messe_frankfurt/museumsuferfest_muf_frankfurt.html

One we actually planned for, started out to be a bust, but ended with a bang:
On Mykonos, Greece, we had seen notice of a Wine festival, held the second weekend of September. We planned our island hopping to be there during that time. Come the day of the festival, we showed up at the site (the old windmill up on the hill above Mykonos town) shortly after the advertised start time. It was deserted. We came back a half hour later and there were a few people, sort of setting up, so we hung around. Eventually the place got going, with more people, but surprisingly never a great crowd as you might expect, lots of locals. There was no "entrance fee" but we made a donation to the museum holding the event, and dug into the wonderful free food (a full greek meal!) and wine they provided. As we were there we sort of recognized a lady, turns out it was Samantha Brown of Travel Channel fame, they were filming a segment for her Passport to Europe show, and yes my wife and I are seen (but not heard) in the shots, mainly chowing down on the great food. What we loved was the fact that it was a great festival, but small enough to get a local flavor. Had there been thousands of people, it would not have been as memorable.

Good idea. There are too many festivals. So I narrowed my interest mostly in folklife festivals in the Czech Republic and Slovakia where I visited few of them. Here are some websites: www.folklornisdruzeni.cz/en/festivals www.folklornisdruzeni.cz/dalsi-jednorazove-festivaly. Website where you can look at festivals in different countries. Countries are in alphabetical order: www.cioff.org/cioff/Evenements/festivals/indexfestivals.en.cfm#4 Of course many small and authentic folklife festivals in the CR and Slovakia (and elsewhere) are not listed in the above websites.

Well in the UK it is quite easy to find things on Google nowadays. In fact it is a strangely satisfying to search for old folk celebrations using the modern wonders of the Web!

For example I was told of the traditional 'Wassail' ceremony going on this weekend close to where I live in Brighton by somebody who saw it on the web. Wassailing is where the cider apple trees are celebrated with torchlit processions and songs by various groups usually including Morris Dancers.

Take a look:
http://www.huntersmoonmorris.co.uk/

and it's even on 'YouTube' from last year!:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?search=&mode=related&v=VMyNoy2T_1Q

Cheers
Steve.

Steve, that sounds so neat. I for one, would have never thought to google wassail though. So, this is a perfect example of what my idea was, local festivals that we, the traveller might not know about. I wish I had time to go to the UK this weekend! Party on with out me, I guess.

One of my favorites that is relatively unknown is Bonnfest. It's what Octoberfest should be - a giant bier tent (bigger than the O'fest tents) with two stages, a rock band and an oompah band that switch off, at least three generations of mostly locals enjoying the bier and music standing on tables and singing along. The party goes all night rather than closing up really early at O'fest. It's in early to mid September in, of course, Bonn.

I love the night of the museums thing. They have them all over the US. I did not know they had them in Europe too. We were going to France this year, so does anyone know if they have them in Paris or any other cities. I think they are fun for getting a little taste of a museum and then you can go back on another day and spend more time. I hate wasting my money on a museum that might be not so interesting. That would be perfect if we could do this in Paris.