Things to do / Travel Guide
January
Cannons boom as the Union forces once again victoriously claim Fort Fisher from the Confederates at the Anniversary of the Capture of Fort Fisher. This day-long event held at Fort Fisher State Historic Site on Kure Beach, North Carolina, every January 15th, includes tours, displays, and demonstrations about this historic event. Dress warmly: the winter gales can be wicked!
February
The largest heated tent on the East Coast, ice carving, arm wrestling contests, and live music concerts are just a few of the attractions at the annual Polar Plunge at Virginia Beach in eastern Virginia, which takes place in the beginning of February. The highlight of this annual, one-day event: 2,000 brave, thick-skinned swimmers dive into the icy Atlantic Ocean to raise money for charity. The minimum donation to take this privileged plunge is $50.
March
Parlez vous Francais? Not to worry, even English-speaking film buffs flock to the French Film Festival in Richmond, Virginia. At this several-day event held at the Byrd Theater in mid-March, all of the top-notch French films have subtitles, so you won't need a refresher course. The event also features a gala dinner kickoff. Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats si vous plait.
April
Having run for an impressive three-quarters of a century, Virginia's Garden Week is the oldest and largest statewide house-and-garden tour event in the nation. Held over seven days late in April, many of eastern Virginia's homes (both historic and contemporary), historic landmarks, and gardens participate in the event offering interesting tours and unique lectures. Some of Garden Week's many highlights are the tours of several beautifully-restored James River plantations (including Tuckahoe, Thomas Jefferson's childhood home) usually not open to the public.
More than 300,000 people attend the Annual North Carolina Azalea Festival held at the Wilmington Hilton Riverside in Wilmington. Taking place over four days during mid-April, this over-three-decades-old festival features an eclectic mixture of events, including music, dancing, a juried art show, boxing matches, a coin show, and a circus.
May
Every genre, style, beat, and bop you can imagine - blues, reggae, country, gospel, soft rock, and jazz - is on stage at the yearly Beaufort Music and Performing Arts Festival. Held during a weekend on multiple stages along the waterfront in Beaufort, North Carolina, the most enjoyable part of the event is that you can bob your head, slap your thigh, tap your foot, and sing along all for free!
June
Head to the Delmarva Chicken Festival - whether you like white meat or dark, the nearly three tons of chicken cooked every year in one of the world's largest frying pans will likely cater to the whims of your appetite. Of course, vegetarians can enjoy the boardwalk fries, funnel cakes, and kettle corn; other Delmarva favorites. Hosted by the Delmarva Poultry Industry, the Delmarva Chicken Festival (running for nearly six decades) is held at various Delmarva Peninsula locales, for two days at the end of June.
One of the best outdoor art shows in the U.S., the Virginia Beach boardwalk hosts more than 300 internationally recognized photographers, painters, sculptors, and craftspeople along a 14-block section of the boardwalk in the yearly Boardwalk Art Show and Festival. But that's not all: with the sea and beach as the most fitting backdrop scenery, a wide variety of visual and performing arts groups perform throughout this free-to-attend four-day festival in mid-June.
July
Pony Penning Day is one of the most beautiful events on the Delmarva Peninsula. During the last week of every July, more than 40,000 horse lovers and hobbyists from every corner of the country head to Chincoteague Island, Virginia, to watch the Pony Swim and auction. On the last Wednesday of July, the noble wild ponies take a three-minute swim from their grazing grounds in Chincoteague Island Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island, Virginia, across the Assateague Channel to Chincoteague Island, where an auction is held. You can watch the swim from either shoreline, or get hooked up with a local wild horse tour company to watch the spectacle from the sea. The time of the pony swim is announced the day before, when tidal conditions are assessed. Visitors can watch (or bid) during the auction.
What better place to celebrate the Fourth of July than in the exact spot where Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington's forces in 1781 in Yorktown, Virginia. The patriotic hoedown begins in the morning with a parade down Main Street (usually the United States Air Forces makes an impressive fly-by), and fireworks light up the Yorktown's coastal sky several hours after dark. Arrive early: area parking lots fill up quickly. Another fun spot to celebrate America's independence is on Norfolk, Virginia's waterfront at Waterside Drive in Town Point Park.
You'll fast become keen on peaches at the two-day the Knotts Island Peachfest held at Ruritan Community Park on Knotts Island, North Carolina. Featuring every peach concoction (cobblers, ice creams, jams, and pies) the locals can conjure, the event also showcases local clogging dance groups, live music, arts and crafts vendors, and a variety of foods that are neither sweet nor pink nor fuzzy.
August
Don't miss North America's oldest-running surfing competition, East Coast Surfing Championship, held in late August for four days at Virginia Beach. Amateurs and professionals can “ride the curl” at this crazy seaside event. Spectators enjoy live music, good eats, and a free surfing spectacle.
September
The Greyhounds Reach the Beach weekend event is held on Dewey Beach and Rehoboth Beach on the Delmarva Peninsula in Delaware. Literally thousands of greyhounds (and their owners, breeders, and all-around fans) grace the waterfront at this most unusual weekend-long event featuring a group dog/owner walk as well as a variety of informal beach activities.
October
The Delmarva Peninsula gets a little schmaltzy in its Bavarian fineries during the annual Oktoberfest Art & Craft Fair in Ocean City, Maryland. More than 100 exhibitors display their wares while local bands offer background music. Spectators scarf down schnitzels and bratwurst, washed down with some of the best German beers. Ocean City's Oktoberfest is generally held on a mid-October weekend.
Creativity becomes contagious at the Artrageous Art Extravaganza held at the Dare County Family Park in Kill Devil Hills on Bodie Island, in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Featuring artist “quick draws” and live demonstrations, a children's auction, and hands-on booths with arts and crafts activities, as well as a Professional Artist Show and Sell, this two-day event held at the beginning of October has been a family favorite for nearly two decades.
November
If you want top-quality, international films without any fanfare, try the Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, North Carolina. Held at various venues throughout Wilmington's downtown historic district, the Cucalorus film features more than 100 top-notch independent films made all over the world. The festival is usually held over a three-day period in early November.
December
For a taste of eastern North Carolina's holiday panache, watch a coastal Christmas flotilla. Generally held during an evening in early December, sailboats, motorboats, yachts, and working boats decked out with bright lights and holiday colors parade along rivers and waterfronts. You can catch this maritime spectacle at the Union Point Park in downtown New Bern (along the rivers), along the Morehead City and Beaufort waterfronts, or at Wrightsville Beach along Banks Channel.
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