Archive for the 'Festival' Category
Halloween events, from fun to frightful, in Southern California
October 25, 2009 6:00am
What are you doing for Halloween? Don’t be the last one left indecisively standing (or you might turn into a pumpkin). Here, we treat you to a bagful of Southern California options to consider for super-spooky good times. Some are great for the little children; others—like, perhaps, Scareview Farms, from where the above image originates—are not.
Balboa Park, San Diego
Museums at Balboa Park are going all out for Family Day on Oct. 31. Attractions include costume contests and parades, as well as museum-specific activities such as a science-themed pumpkin contest at Reuben H. Fleet Science Center; craft sessions to build paper pumpkins with parachutes at San Diego Air and Space Museum; and a scavenger hunt at the San Diego Automotive Museum
Queen Mary, Long Beach
Ongoing most evenings through Nov. 1, “Shipwreck: 15 Nights of Terror” at the Queen Mary seems set to scare the wits out of you (just have to look at the event website for a taste). The nighttime event —not recommended for mortals younger than 12— features vampires and ghosts, among its ship full of creepy creatures, and mazes on board and onshore. Read the rest of this entry »
Santa Barbara: Family-friendly Halloween fun with Boo at the Zoo
October 21, 2009 2:25pm
You might hear howls and growls among the boos and hisses, but Santa Barbara Zoo’s Halloween event promises to be more merry than scary. Boo at the Zoo, Oct. 23-25, is designed for adult-accompanied children, ages 2 to 12, and this year the theme is “Wild Wild West.”
Cowboys and cowgirls —as well as pirates, princesses, fairies, trolls and mermaids — will be among the more than 75 characters running rampant during the festivities, which will happen from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. each day. Mother Goose will be on hand to tell stories. Attractions will include a haunted mine and a nighttime train ride. And mazes and games and candy and prizes will all be part of the fun.
Of course, the setting itself offers its own attractions. There will be opportunities for animal encounters, and zookeepers will be giving talks. At the California Trails exhibit, which opened this year, attendees can see endangered or threatened animals, including four rare California condors.
This is a kid-centric event, and costumes are most definitely encouraged. Read the rest of this entry »
Halloween: Family-friendly haunt at Calico Ghost Town, near Barstow
October 16, 2009 2:10pm
Where better to rustle up old ghosts than a ghost town. The erstwhile silver-mining destination of Calico, six miles northeast of Barstow, is hosting its annual Ghost Haunt for two weekends beginning Oct. 23.
The ghost town — which was developed in 1881, booming till 1896 and deserted by 1904 — is a year-round attraction for its 19th century mining-camp sites, some original and others reconstructed. But this bit of the Old West apparently gets even more spirited for Ghost Haunt, when the attraction is set to inspire excited spooks and shivers from Halloween aficionados of all ages.
Family-friendly features include a haunted mine and a ride in a real coffin, as well as activities like trick-or-treating, costume and coloring contests, pumpkin carving, panning for gold in “bloody” water and a reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” Read the rest of this entry »
Hotel deals for Ojai-Ventura film festival, Nov. 5-8
October 8, 2009 11:57am
What’s better than watching a few good independent films? Seeing them in conjunction with a relaxing weekender, perhaps. It may be no Sundance; in fact, you may not have ever even heard of it. But the Ojai-Ventura International Film Festival, with lauded documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America” among its features, is coming up Nov. 5-8 and is the perfect excuse to give yourself a little getaway to the charming small town of Ojai, in Ventura County.
Most of the festival’s screening venues are in Ojai, though films are also being shown at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Ventura, 15 miles southwest of Ojai.
See indie and classic flicks by night and/or day, and, out of the theaters, take in the area’s other offerings, which include good food, great hikes, day spas, a mellow vibe and spectacular sunsets. Following are a few festival-related packages being offered by hotels in the region. Contact venues directly for more details, cancellation policies, etc.: Read the rest of this entry »
‘National Parks’: Screenings, events and travel deals related to the Ken Burns documentary
September 25, 2009 2:26pm
On Sunday, the new Ken Burns documentary “National Parks: America’s Best Idea” will begin its 12-hour trek (in two-hour segments) through the wilds of American living rooms, coloring TV screens everywhere with the sights and ’scapes of our public lands.
The documentary may have — even before you’ve set eyes upon it — gotten you itching to visit a national park. And that’s likely just fine with Burns. As Times writer Mary McNamara put it in her review of the “gorgeous and exhaustive” film: “The main goal of Burns and his co-creator Dayton Duncan appears to be launching people off their backsides and into the wilderness.”
At the more popular parks, you may want to prepare for lots of company on the trail. But thankfully, since the U.S. is home to 391 national parks, there should be enough love to go around. Below are details to plan a viewing — or better yet, an inspired trip, so you can see for yourself what all the fuss is about.
Where & when to see it
The documentary will start airing on PBS on Sunday at 8 p.m.
And there are plenty of opportunities to see portions of it out and about. Read the rest of this entry »
Moon cake alert: Mid-Autumn Moon Festivals in L.A. and beyond
September 24, 2009 1:19pm
It’s about time for the Mid-Autumn Festival, an important harvest event for Chinese and Vietnamese communities internationally. Every year, for about 3,000 years now, people come together to celebrate, dance and eat — among other traditional foods — moon cakes, which are dense pastries filled with red bean, lotus seeds and salty egg yolk.
The annual holiday occurs on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, which this year is Oct. 3. San Francisco’s Chinatown is ahead of the game, having already celebrated the popular cultural event this month. This coming weekend, you can partake of the festivities in Chicago or San Jose (both on Sept. 27), among other places.
But for the Los Angeles celebration, you’ve got a little more time to ready your taste buds. The free, annual Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3, 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. at Central Plaza in Chinatown. Read the rest of this entry »
Search for Northern California’s perfect mushroom
September 22, 2009 12:15pm
Fall brings mushroom madness to Northern California’s Mendocino County, where seasonal rains cause more than 3,000 mushroom varieties to spring to life from October to January. Fungi fanciers hunt the 500 edible varieties, then celebrate with special events such as tastings, dinners, tours and lectures.
Dozens of events take place throughout the mushroom season, but the highlight is Mendocino County’s Mushroom Festival, Nov. 6 to 15, which includes activities as diverse as wine- and beer-pairing workshops, mushroom hunts by kayak, musical performances and guided mushroom foraging walks.
“We have so many incredible varieties of mushrooms. Everyone gets involved in showcasing this great local bounty,” said Ryane Snow, a local mushroom expert and member of the Mycological Society. During mushroom season, Snow offers identification walks, helping foragers find the precious candy cap mushroom, in addition to chanterelles, porcinis, morels and hedgehogs. Read the rest of this entry »
Island fun in L.A.: ‘Day of Hawaii Smiles’ hits the Grove, Sept. 12 and 19
September 11, 2009 11:44am
If an island getaway is more fantasy than reality right now, you’re in luck this weekend and the next. Among the goings-on related to a current Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau campaign is “A Day of Hawaii Smiles,” here in Los Angeles.
Taking place on two different Saturdays, this festival will give Hawaii-philes and the simply curious a taste — literally and figuratively — of the aloha spirit.
Happening at the Grove, the free festival will offer fun for the family with arts and crafts, food demonstrations and tastings, and Hawaiian music and hula lessons by the Polynesian Cultural Center. Get your photo taken at the “Big Wave” photo station. And shop for Hawaii-made goods or even a vacation.
Each festival day will include a free outdoor film screening in the Park area of the Grove. The scheduled time is 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., though the film won’t start until after sunset. On Saturday, Sept. 12, it’ll be “South Pacific,” the 1958 film adapted from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name. Up on Sept. 19 is “Lilo & Stitch,” the popular 2002 Disney animation set in Kauai. Read the rest of this entry »
Holland meets Japan, 2009
September 6, 2009 10:24am
The Netherlands is celebrating 400 years of close relations with Japan that began in 1609, when Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu granted a trading permit to Dutch merchants based on Deshima Island in Nagasaki Bay. For centuries after that, the Dutch alone were granted access to the mysterious, closed Asian kingdom, fostering cultural ties between the two mini-nations that persist today.
Japanese-inspired events are scheduled all around Holland. But the celebration’s epicenter is the town of Leiden, about 25 miles southwest of Amsterdam, home of the Siebold House museum.
In addition to its stunning Japanese art and artifacts collected in the 19th century by Philipp Franz von Siebold, the museum is mounting a full year of special exhibitions on Japanese subjects, including artist Takako Hamano (through Oct. 4), Japanese swords from the Sugita family (through Oct. 11) and Japanese tattoos (Dec. 18 to Jan. 31).
Raise a toast to Big Bear Lake’s Oktoberfest
September 5, 2009 1:51pm
If you can carry 15 steins of beer at one time, or if you excel at log sawing, sausage eating, yodeling or limbo dancing, Big Bear Lake has a festival just for you: its annual Oktoberfest, which begins Sept. 19 and runs each weekend through Oct. 31.
The event, held at the Big Bear Lake Convention Center is chock-full of odd entertainment. You can dance and cluck to the Chicken Dance or enjoy professional cloggers, polka dancers and musicians.
But if you aim to become a star yourself, there are plenty of opportunities for participants with unusual talents.
“Who’s going to become the next Oktoberfest idol?” asked Monica Marini, the event’s managing director. “TV shows like ‘American Idol’ give people a chance to become stars. We want to extend that opportunity at Oktoberfest.”
