Festivals / Fairs / Events Reviews

This was the 2nd antiques fair at Bakewell Showground this year, and what a fair it was. I had arrived and set up my stall by about 8.30am, and would have been happy to have stood there all day having not taken any money just to look at the surroundings, they are breath taking, and the weather, well was absolutely magnificent ! There was ...  Read the complete review

Thailand's songkran Festival. This event, rather like Christmas in the West, has been diluted somewhat from what it was originally meant to be. Celebrated across Indo-China, Songkran is a primarily Buddhist religious occurence, that also has strong astrological overtures. Whilst it relates to ths sun moving into any zodiacal ...  Read the complete review

Everyone loves a good party and no race can party like the Spanish. If you happen to be in Spain on the 23rd-24th June you should not expect to sleep because the whole country will be celebrating the festival of San Juan. The history of the celebration seems to date back to Pagan times and many of the rituals and customs are ...  Read the complete review

As Bloc Party where saving the world at Wembley, Americas elite artists flown into New York on Concorde and British acts the other way, it was left to the great Spinal Tap to expose this hypocrisy for what it was by suggesting:” hello Wimbledon, don’t exhale’ for the next year”! The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who were the first act with any ...  Read the complete review

Some festivals and holidays seem to be celebrated nearly everywhere. Others are unique to a particular country and culture. For those outside the area or culture of origin, those customs may seem mysterious at best, and downright odd at worst. I am to, for at least one festival, change that. This was originally written elsewhere as a ...  Read the complete review

WOW ... like nothing you've ever seen before, World of Wearable Art is mind-blowing, zany, unbelievably creative and best of all it transports you to another world. For a few nights in September, in Nelson, New Zealand the Trafalgar Centre has been a wonderland of outrageous creations from artists/designers/sculptors, ...  Read the complete review

Just before we left for San Francisco, we found out that it was Gay Pride month (June) and on Sunday 30th it would be the Gay Pride Parade down Market Street, so with nothing planned for that day, we decided to take a look. On the news the night before we saw pictures of thousands of people in the street celebrating and over a ...  Read the complete review

Venice's Carnival (or Carnevale) is one of the best known in the world, perhaps after Rio de Janiero, but for that, it is a relatively modern entity, being revived in the 1980s as an attempt to attract the tourist dollar (or Euro.. or pound, even!). It has certainly been successful. Indeed, so successful that this year they ...  Read the complete review

Today I wont to tell you about ‘Redentore festival’, a traditional venetian festival that is celebrated every year in the Saturday before the third Sunday of July. It is famous because of the fireworks show in the sky in front of St. Mark’s Square; but it is also a religious recurrence, and usually venetian people ...  Read the complete review

Singapore has very few 'local' customs - that is, things that are not borrowed from other locations in asia. Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Christmas are all celebrated here, but it's all a little fake. (although the Chinese New Year fireworks and parades are worth seeing) Fittingly enough, one of the main events ...  Read the complete review