Highlights & Hotspots

Spoleto Festival USA
Charleston, South Carolina
May 22 – June 7
A work by Japanese dancer-choreographer Hiroaki Umeda and a punk-rock operetta from Brooklyn, based on the life of actor Peter Lorre, are among this year's global performing-arts highlights.

Red Earth Native American Festival
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
June 5 – 7
More than 100 tribes, Navajo to Iroquois, gather for events including a three-day ceremonial dance competition and a parade showcasing traditional dress.

Dairyfest
Marshfield, Wisconsin
June 5 – 7
Got milk? A down-home breakfast starts things off in a town (and state) where cheeses from cheddar to Colby, yogurt and more, take top billing.

Swamp Stomp Music Festival
Tallahassee, Florida
July 11
Feast on watermelon and sway to singer-songwriter Del Suggs' homegrown acoustic-guitar sound, known as saltwater music.

Emmett Cherry Festival
Emmett, Idaho
June 17 – 20
More than 400 pounds of cherries set the stage for a trio of contests—pie-eating, seed-spitting, baking—in Idaho's orchard country.

Pioneer Days Bonanzaville USA
West Fargo, North Dakota
August 15 – 16
Vintage tractors and grain threshers rumble around the recreated historic village in a tribute to the Red River Valley's wheat-farming traditions.

Crown of Maine Balloon Fest
Presque Isle, Maine
August 27 – 30
In this town on the Aroostook River, commemorate the 25th anniversary of pioneering pilot Joe Kittinger's 1984 solo transatlantic balloon flight from Caribou, Maine, to Cairo Montenotte, Italy.

Cincinnati Hispanic Festival
Cincinnati, Ohio
September 12 – 13
Sample an array of traditional dishes from Mexico and Central and South America—enchiladas and tacos to chicken mole—as mariachi and salsa bands pound out a lively backbeat.

Festival of the Horse
Georgetown, Kentucky
October 1 – 4
More than 100 steeds, Morgans to Friesians, parade in a gala nod to the range and variety of the equine world.

Urbanna Oyster Festival
Urbanna, Virginia
November 6 – 7
Take in an oyster-shucking contest and the crowning of this year's queen of the fete in a village on the Rappahannock River in the Chesapeake Bay's Tidewater region.

Hot Springs Cool Art
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
November 14 – 15
Sierra County's artistic and cultural diversity are on display in workshops in painting, mask construction, sculpture and more, in a village renowned for its 101-degree waters.