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Must-See Festivals & Events
Californians know how to throw a party—especially outdoors. That’s the mood at these premier festivals, fairs, and celebrations statewide. While some might include dress-up affairs indoors, such as gala dinners pairing celebrity chefs with top winemakers, most are casual affairs out in the sun, where you can relax California-style, and really get a taste of what it’s like to live, work, and play in the Golden State.
Love food? Time your visit to include a top food, wine, or craft beer event, such as Pebble Beach Food & Wine along the Central Coast. Music fan? Head for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival near Palm Springs, or rollicking (and free) Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Or target an event that is 100-percent California, such as the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, the iconic Gilroy Garlic Festival, jumping frogs in the Gold Country, or San Diego’s new arts and entertainment phenom, Comic-Con.
America's largest and most prestigious cycling event brings many of the world’s top riders to the Golden State. The 8-stage race changes it up every year, with new courses connecting cities and...
Vampires beware: the Gilroy Garlic Festival is one garlic-infused weekend that creatures of the night may want to avoid. Everyone...
Get ready for the Central Coast’s ultimate gathering of the culinary world. First launched in 2008, Pebble Beach Food & Wine is one of those...
Part frog-filled folklore, part classic country-fair fun, the annual mid-May Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee stands out as...
Countdowns don’t get any more exciting than this. When conditions are just right, ocean swells pile up against an offshore reef, about three-and-a-half kilometres off the Northern California...
From its humble origins as a fringe gathering of comic book fans in 1970, when barely 100 participants attended, Comic-Con has grown into...
Pack a blanket, some snacks and your dancing shoes for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, a massive, free, three-day...
Arguably one of the most unique events in the world, this eye-popping pageant presents tableaux vivants ("living pictures"), ultra-detailed recreations of classical and contemporary works of art,...
So amazingly popular that it has had to move out of its namesake town and 18 miles south to Monterey, the two-day Castroville Artichoke...
Dive into over a week’s worth of all-you-can-eat crab feeds, winemaker's dinners, wine competitions, crab cruises, cooking classes, and family-style cioppino feeds at this regional celebration of...