Top New England Events
Dateline: 04/06/99
Click here for 2000
Top Events
Each year, The American Bus Association (ABA) selects North America's Top 100 Events. While the focus is on choosing those events that make great motorcoach destinations, the top events are a diverse selection of festivals and celebrations that you'll enjoy no matter how you get there! This year, the ABA's Selection Committee tapped a dozen New England and New York events for the Top 100 List. The Capital District Garden and Flower Show in Troy, New York, has already come and gone, but there's still plenty of time to make plans to catch one or all of the other eleven events.
Here's a round-up of the New England events that made the Top 100 List:
June 11-13
Festival
of Historic Houses
Providence, Rhode
Island
(401) 831-7740
Providence is home to one of the highest concentrations of Colonial homes in America, and during this annual Providence Preservation Society event, homeowners along the city's "Mile of History" open their doors to visitors. House, garden, and candlelight tours are offered not only of Colonial period structures but also of a wide variety of homes from other architectural periods as well. Among the homes open for candlelight tours is the former home of 10-time Rhode Island governor and Declaration of Independence signer Stephen Hopkins.
June 13-14
Market
Square Day
Portsmouth,
New Hampshire
(603) 431-5388
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is a 375-year-old port city, and this weekend event celebrates its commercial heritage. Downtown streets are closed off to traffic, and highlights include local foods, music, and sidewalk sales.
June 18-21
Elizabeth
Park Rose Weekend
Hartford, Connecticut
(860) 242-0017
Hartford's Elizabeth Park is the country's oldest municipal rose garden. In addition to boasting the third largest rose garden in the country, the park is also home to perennial and annual gardens, rock and herb gardens, greenhouses, ponds, and more than 100 tree species. Visit during Rose Weekend to see 900 varieties of roses in bloom--more than 15,000 bushes arrayed in beds, on arches, and on fences throughout the fragrant garden. There's also a special Antique Rose Garden with historic varieties. The Rose Weekend event features a rose show, concerts, poetry readings, and dining and shopping in the Pond House. Rose expert Donna Fuss will lead special garden and rose tours on Monday, June 21.
June 22-23
Windjammer Days
Boothbay
Harbor, Maine
(207) 633-2353
Celebrate the Boothbay Harbor region's shipbuilding heritage at this two-day festival that features a "Best of the Harbor" food competition, concerts, fireworks over the Harbor, an antique boat parade featuring more than 40 vintage boats, and more. Tour local shipyards and Coast Guard stations, as well as Navy and Coast Guard ships. The weekend's highlight is the arrival of the world-famous Windjammer fleet under full sail.
July 3 - August 15
Sterling Renaissance Festival
Sterling,
New York
(315) 947-5782
Step back in time to 16th century Elizabethan England without leaving the country or the twentieth century! The Sterling Renaissance Festival's 700 professional actors bring the European Renaissance to life; you'll see Shakespearean plays, jousters, the Queen and her court on parade, Renaissance artisans, magicians and musicians--all while gnawing on a big ol' turkey drumstick!
July 10-18
52nd Annual Maine Potato Blossom
Festival
Fort Fairfield,
Maine
(207) 472-3802
Did you know that potato plants have beautiful white, pink, or lavender flowers? Potato plants, one of Maine's most important crops, are in full bloom during this annual celebration in Fort Fairfield. The annual Maine Potato Blossom Festival features more than 85 events, including mashed potato wrestling, a beach volleyball tournament, a canoe race, a classic car show, a festival parade, a light parade on the Aroostook River, and fireworks.
August 7-15 [corrected August 5, 1999]
66th
Annual League of New Hampshire Crafts
Sunapee, New Hampshire
(603) 224-3375
If you love summer crafts fairs, you won't want to miss America's oldest--the League of New Hampshire Crafts on the grounds of Mt. Sunapee State Park. The crafts fair features hundreds of vendors and exhibits. Enjoy live music and feast on locally produced foods while you watch craftspeople demonstrate their skills and shop for unique, one-of-a-kind New England souvenirs.
September 10-12
Norwalk
Seaport Oyster Festival
Norwalk, Connecticut
(203) 838-9444
Veterans Park in Norwalk, Connecticut, is the setting for the Norwalk Seaport Association's annual Oyster Festival. Highlights of the three-day event include musical performances by legendary greats Chubby Checker, Little Richard and Maynard Ferguson; a juried arts and crafts show; harbor tours and tall ships; and, of course, oysters galore! Be sure to practice your oyster shucking and slurping skills so you'll be able to enter contests or just enjoy the crustacean bounty.
October 9-10
Vermont Farm & Food Fair
Manchester, Vermont
(802) 362-1788
Held on a spectacular autumn weekend in October on the beautiful grounds of Hildene, former 412-acre estate and working farm of Robert Todd Lincoln, this annual event celebrates Vermont's harvest. Activities include milking, shearing, and turkey calling demonstrations; cider pressing; pony and tractor rides, a petting zoo; country music and clogging; and a mouth-watering variety of specialty foods available for sampling and purchase.
November 20 - January 3
Festival
of Trees
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
(413) 443-7171
You'll "ooh" and "ah" at the 300 exquisitely decorated holiday trees displayed throughout the galleries of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, during this annual festival. Special events, including music and ballet performances and in-gallery luncheons, are scheduled throughout the festival's run.
November 27 - December 31
Christmas
in Newport
Newport, Rhode Island
(401) 847-3213
While Newport was a summer playground for America's elite families at the turn of the century, Christmas time is perhaps one of the best times of year to visit this seaside town today. The town's magnificent mansions are decked out in holiday finery, and townwide festivities include a crafts fair, concerts, candlelight tours, Victorian feasts, a Festival of Trees, and the North Pole Express, which takes guests on an old-fashioned train ride along Narragansett Bay.
About the American Bus Association
The American Bus Association (ABA) is a trade organization of North American intercity bus companies. Members include bus companies that offer scheduled service, charters, and tours, as well as others who represent the travel and tourism industries.
To request a free copy of the ABA's "1999 Top 100 Events in North America," email the organization, or send a postcard to: American Bus Association, 1100 New York Ave., N.W., Suite 1050, Washington, DC 20005-3934 or a fax to: (202) 842-0850.
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