Summerfest which is also referred to as the ‘Big Gig’ takes place each year at the 75-acre Henry Maier Festival Park which is along the beautiful shore of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The festival normally lasts for 11 days right in the middle of summers and is made up of 11 stages involving performances by 700 bands and artists. Such an elaborate music festival attracts about a 100,000 people each year and the good thing about this festival is that it offers much more than music.

Not only does Summerfest offer you and your family to enjoy live performances by your favorite artists but you can also enjoy a variety of food items from different locations in Milwaukee, comedy performances, fireworks and a lot of other family activities. Another major attraction of the festival is the huge Marcus Amphitheatre which seats about 23,000 people.

You can log onto www.summerfest.com for information regarding the location and timings of all shows as well as information as to accommodations if you will be traveling from outside the city. The musical performances will be held throughout the day from noon to midnight including fireworks. You can also find out more about the details of family attractions and special features on the website of the Summerfest.

As far as tickets are concerned, for all weekdays, the admission ticket is $8 for adults and kids above the age of 10. In the evenings, however, the ticket is $15 for adults and kids above the age of 10; this admission ticket price is also valid over the weekends. For children under 10 and for seniors, the admission ticket is $3 and for infants and babies, admission is free. You can also find out more about promotions and ticket sales and discounts if you are looking for tickets for yourself and family. Festival tickets can also be bought online at www.festivals.com, so join the Summerfest this year and make the summer something to remember.

Author Bio

Richard Jacobs is a chief editor since early 2007, and he currently works for MyDUIAttorney. A website that helps you to find the right DUI lawyer, you can search for a Scottsdale DUI or for Atlanta DUI Attorney online, anytime!

In January, 1908, Clarence B. Wilson, a newcomer to Aurora, had the idea of staging an agricultural show. He talked on the subject with Edward Chambers, a local businessman and chicken fancier, William Ketcham, a prominent Dearborn County farmer, Joseph R. Houston, the public school superintendent, Adam hill, a wharf-boat owner and local coal merchant, and William Hoskins, a manufacturer. Thus was born the first Aurora Farmers’ Fair and Indiana’s oldest street festival.

At that first fair, no rigs or teams were permitted on Main Street or Second Street. Extra hitching posts were erected in other sections of town to accommodate the visitors. A ladies rest room was placed in the Neff Building on Second Street.

Exhibit entries were accepted by Llewellyn E. Davies, fair secretary, and all were displayed out in the open where they could easily be seen. Long tables, constructed of trestles and boards, were placed in the gutters at the edge of the brick and cement pavement on both sides of Second Street from Bridgeway to Judiciary Streets. J. C. Wright and sons performed this task.

The day of the first fair dawned warm and pleasant, and huge crowds swarmed into town. Horses and buggies, two-horse wagons, surreys and spring wagons, people on horseback, and a few in single and double cylinder automobiles all make their way to Aurora. From Kentucky and Ohio they came, from Switzerland, Ohio, Ripley, Jennings and other counties they came, over roads thick with dust to where the huge event was staged. The old Aurora ferry, which was powered by two horses, which walked a treadmill to turn the paddle wheels, worked overtime that day.

And it continued. Clarence B. Wilson was chairman for the second fair. Edward Chambers was elected chairman, for the third fair, by the Aurora Business Men’s Association. In 1912, Robert L. Johnson was elected president of the Fair Association, a position he held until 1959, with the exception of two years when William Neukom and T.J. Martin held the office for one year each.

In 1940, a building on the riverfront was purchased from the Indianapolis Chair Company, and all exhibits were housed there. Prior to this, exhibits were placed in the old tobacco warehouse on Exporting Street.

As the years passed, concessions were brought in to form a midway on Second and Main streets. Stage shows providing the finest inn entertainment were added. A huge street parade has continued to be a featured annual event.

In 1958, there were over 25,000 people in attendance, with over 1,600 exhibit entries, twice the number a half century ago when it all began.

In February, 1959, the Aurora Business Men’s Association invited the Aurora Lions Club to assume sponsorship and management of the fair. The invitation was accepted, and continues to this day.

In May, 1969, the Aurora Lions Club purchased the former Aurora Casket Company office building at the corner of Second and Main Streets to house all exhibits and a fair office. The building was tragically lost to arson in July, 1997. However, construction of a new facility began in the summer of 1999 and was ready for the 2000 fair.

The Aurora Lions Club pledge to continue the Farmers’ Fair and their service to the community. Reffered from Read more

Date: September 30, October 1-3, 2009 September 29 & 30, October 1 & 2, 2010

The United States Congress, in 1935, proclaimed the first Sunday of August as National Friendship Day. Since then, celebration of National Friendship Day became an annual event.

Following the popularity and success of Friendship Day in US, several other countries adopted the tradition of dedicating a day to friends. Today, Friendship Day is enthusiastically celebrated by several countries across the world. In 1997, the United Nations named Winnie the Pooh as the world’s Ambassador of Friendship.

Many friends wish each other with exchange of gifts and cards on this day. “Friendship bands” are very popular in India. With the advent of social networking sites, friendship day is also being celebrated online. The commercialization of the Friendship Day celebrations has led to some dismissing it as a “marketing gimmick”.

May Day

May Day can refer to various labour celebrations conducted on May 1 that commemorate the fight for the eight hour day. May Day in this regard is called International Workers’ Day, or Labour Day. The idea for a “workers holiday” began in Australia in 1856. With the idea having spread around the world, the choice of May 1st became a commemoration by the Second International for the people involved in the 1886 Haymarket affair.

The Haymarket affair occurred during the course of a three-day general strike in Chicago, Illinois that involved common laborers, artisans, merchants, and immigrants. Following an incident in which police opened fire and killed four strikers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant, a rally was called for the following day at Haymarket Square. The event remained peaceful, yet towards the end of the rally, as police moved in to disperse the event, an unknown assailant threw a bomb into the crowd of police. The bomb and resulting police riot left at least a dozen people dead, including seven policemen. A sensational show trial ensued in which eight defendants were openly tried for their political beliefs, and not necessarily for any involvement in the bombing. The trial lead to the eventual public hanging of seven anarchists. The Haymarket incident was a source of outrage from people around the globe. In the following years, memory of the “Haymarket martyrs” was remembered with various May Day job actions and demonstrations.

As such, May Day has become an international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the labour movement. Although May Day received its inspiration from the United States, the U.S. Congress designated May 1 as Loyalty Day in 1958 due to the day’s appropriation by the Soviet Union. Alternatively, Labor Day traditionally occurs on the first Monday in September in the United States. People often use May Day as a day for political protest, such as the million people who demonstrated against far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in France, or as a day for protest against government actions, such as pro-immigrant rallies across the United States.

Mothers Day Celebration

The modern Mother’s Day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis as a day for each family to honor its mother, and it’s now celebrated on various days in many places around the world. It complements Father’s Day, the celebration honoring fathers.

This holiday is relatively modern, being created at the start of the 20th century, and should not be confused with the early pagan and Christian traditions honoring mothers, or with the 16th century celebration of Mothering Sunday, which is also known as Mother’s Day in the UK.

In most countries the Mother’s Day celebration is a recent holiday derived from the original US celebration. Exceptions are, for example, the Mothering Sunday holiday in the UK.

Different countries celebrate Mother’s Day on various days of the year because the day has a number of different origins.[citation needed]

One school of thought[who?] claims this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.

Mother s Day in Australia Mothers Day in Canada Mother’s Day in India Mothers Day in Ireland Mothers Day in Mexico Mothers Day in New Zealand Mothers Day in South Africa Mothers Day in UK Mothers Day in US

The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.

In addition to Mother’s Day, International Women’s Day is celebrated in many countries on March 8.

Dates around the world

Mother’s Day is celebrated on different days throughout the world. Examining the trends in Google searches for the term “mother’s day” shows two primary results, the smaller one on the fourth Sunday in Lent, from the British tradition of Mothering Sunday (it is also called ladies day and women’s day), and the larger one on the second Sunday in May.

The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one’s mother not to mark Mother’s Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture (compare the celebrations of Diwali in the UK and the United States).

Corpus Christi Feast

Corpus Christi (Latin for Body of Christ) is a Christian feast. Its purpose is to honour the Eucharist, and as such it does not commemorate a particular event in Jesus’ life. Its celebration on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday is meant to associate it with Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper, on Maundy Thursday. Because of the sorrow of Holy Week, no festivals are celebrated within it; the Thursday after Trinity Sunday is the first Thursday after Holy Week, Eastertide, and the (now obsolete in the ordinary form) Octave of Pentecost have ended. Within the Roman Catholic Church, the feast is officially known as the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. In most English-speaking countries, Corpus Christi is transferred to the Sunday after Trinity Sunday by the national Episcopal Conferences. At the end of the Mass, it is customary to have a Procession of the Blessed Sacrament (often outdoors) followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Corpus Christi is primarily celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, but it is also included in the calendar of a few Anglican churches, most notably the Church of England. The feast is also celebrated by some Anglo-Catholic parishes even in provinces of the Anglican Communion that do not officially include it in their calendars. In Roman Catholic parishes that use the Mass of Paul VI, the feast is known as “the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ”. In the Church of England it is known as “The Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi)” and has the status of a Festival. It is also celebrated by the Old Catholic Church and by some Western Rite Orthodox Christians, and is commemorated in the liturgical calendars of the more Latinized Eastern Catholic Churches. The feast was also retained in some Lutheran churches up until about 1600.

In medieval times in many parts of Europe Corpus Christi was a popular time for the performance of mystery plays.

The Feast of Corpus Christi, which is a moveable feast, is celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday or, in countries where it is not a Holy Day of Obligation, on the Sunday after Holy Trinity.

The earliest possible Thursday celebration falls on 21 May (as in 1818 and 2285), the latest on 24 June (as in 1943 and 2038). The Sunday celebrations fall three days later.

Pentecost

Pentecost is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian liturgical year, celebrated on the 49th day (7 weeks) after Easter Sunday – or the 50th day inclusively, hence its name. Pentecost falls on the tenth day after Ascension Thursday. Historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot or the day, fifty days after the Exodus, on which God gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, Pentecost now also commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2 in the New Testament. Pentecost is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, Whit Sunday, Whitsuntide or Whitty Sunday, especially in the United Kingdom. King Arthur gathered all his knights at the round table for a feast and a quest on Pentecost.

Pentecost is part of the Moveable Cycle of the ecclesiastical year. According to Christian tradition, Pentecost is always seven weeks after Easter Sunday; that is to say, 50 days after Easter (inclusive of Easter Day). In other words, it falls on the eighth Sunday, counting Easter Day (see article on Computus for the calculation of the date of Easter). Pentecost falls in mid- to late spring in the Northern Hemisphere and mid- to late autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

Since the date of Easter is calculated differently in the East and West (see Easter controversy), in most years the two traditions celebrate Pentecost on different days (though in some years the celebrations will coincide, as in 2007). In the West, the earliest possible date is May 10 (as in 1818 and 2285), and the latest possible date June 13 (as in 1943 and 2038). In the East, the earliest possible date is May 24, and the latest possible date June 27.

Happy Couple Valentines Day

Valentine’s Day or Saint Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the English-speaking countries, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine’s cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of “valentines”. Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain, and, in 1847, Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards based on British models. The popularity of Valentine cards in 19th century America, where many Valentine cards are now general greeting cards rather than declarations of love, was a harbinger of the future commercialization of holidays in the United States.

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend on average twice as much money as women.

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Christmas in New Zealand

Many of Australia’s Christmas traditions also apply to New Zealand: as with its larger neighbour, New Zealand celebrates Christmas with traditional Northern Hemisphere winter imagery, though to some extent the symbols of the holly and ivy common to the British and North American Christmas are replaced by the P?hutukawa tree, which blossoms annually in late December and is thus often called the “New Zealand Christmas tree”. This does not stop New Zealand homes being decorated with the more standard pine tree however. Children in New Zealand are also told of the surreptitious visit of Father Christmas to leave presents.

Traditional winter-styled hot roast food also has a role in New Zealand’s festivities, Christmas dinner is also the place where Christmas Crackers are used, people will pull a cracker with another before eating. Traditional (generally British) Christmas desserts are also consumed, i.e. Christmas Pudding, Trifle, Christmas Cake and Mince Pies. Also served is the traditional dessert of pavlova.

House decoration is also popular in New Zealand and people put up strings of lights on windows, roofs, decks and fences. Store chain, The Warehouse hosts a competition to find the best-decorated house of the year.

As with Australia, the watching of television is not a strong part of New Zealand Christmas traditions, though some Christmas-specific programmes are usually shown, usually including a mix of religious programmes and special one-off episodes of regular television series (many of them British or American shows). The Queen’s Christmas message is also broadcast at around 6pm on Christmas evening.

The Australian tradition of Carols by Candlelight is popular in New Zealand, especially in Auckland and Christchurch, where there is usually a large outdoor carol-singing gathering known as Christmas in the park.

In keeping with the festive season a number of parades are held in the major centers of New Zealand (not including local parades around the country). The most popular of these would be the Auckland Santa Parade down Queen Street with numerous floats and marching bands attracting large crowds every year, although it is held during late November (to accommodate the holidaymakers), it is seen as the preamble to the later festivities.

Christmas in Australia

In Australia, as with all of the Southern Hemisphere, 25 December occurs during the height of the summer season.

According to tradition, children are told Santa Claus visits houses on Christmas Eve placing presents for children under the Christmas tree or in stockings or sacks which are usually hung by a fireplace. Gifts are opened the next morning, 25 December. In recent decades many new apartments and homes have been built without traditional combustion fireplaces, however with some innovation the tradition persists. Biscuits, Christmas cake and milk (sometimes liquor) may be left out for Santa to consume during his visit.

Traditionally, extended families gather on 25 December for a Christmas lunch similar to a traditional United Kingdom Christmas meal that includes decorated hams, roast turkey, roast chicken, salads and roast vegetables, accompanied by Champagne, and followed by fruit mince pies, trifle, and plum pudding with brandy butter. Christmas crackers are a feature of the meal. Candy canes are a popular confectionery in Australia in the Christmas period. More recently, as appropriate to the sometimes hot weather on the day, lighter meals featuring fish and seafood may be served, along with barbecue lunches. However, the typical roast remains popular.

The Australian traditions and decorations are quite similar to those of the United Kingdom and North America, and similar wintry iconography is commonplace. This means a red fur-coated Santa Claus riding a sleigh, carols such as Jingle Bells, and various snow-covered Christmas scenes on Christmas cards and decorations appear in the middle of summer. The traditional Christmas tree is the most crucial decorative item, while strings of lights and tinsel are common. Decorations appear in stores and on streets starting in November, and are commonplace by early December. The tradition of sending Christmas cards is widely practised in Australia; the price of a Christmas postage stamp is lower than that for a standard letter; senders are required to mark the envelope “Christmas card only” when using the lower priced stamps. As novelties, some Australian songwriters and authors have occasionally depicted Santa in “Australian”-style clothing including an Akubra hat, with warm-weather clothing and thongs, and having his sleigh pulled by kangaroos, (e.g. Six White Boomers by Rolf Harris) but these depictions have not replaced mainstream iconography.

As Christmas falls in summer, the watching of television is not a strong part of Australian Christmas traditions, unlike in the United Kingdom, in which it is one of the most important days for television ratings. Television ratings in Australia are not taken during the summer and schedules are mostly filled with repeats of old programmes or previously cancelled shows. Some Australian-produced programs have a Christmas special, though often it will be shown early December and not on Christmas Day itself. Many television stations rerun old Christmas-themed films in the weeks leading up to and including Christmas Day, such as Miracle on 34th Street, and various film versions of A Christmas Carol.

Some homeowners decorate the exterior of their houses. Displays range from the modest to elaborate, sometimes with hundreds of lights and decorations depicting seasonal motifs such as Christmas trees, Santa Claus, reindeer, or nativity scenes. Particular regions have a tradition for elaborate displays, and attract a great amount of pedestrian and vehicular traffic during the Christmas season.

Carols by Candlelight is a tradition that started in Melbourne in 1938 and has since spread around Australia and the world. At the event people gather on Christmas Eve, usually outdoors, to sing carols by candlelight in a large-scale concert style event. The Vision Australia’s Carols by Candlelight which takes place at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on Christmas Eve, is televised nationwide and it has become a tradition for many Australians to watch the performance. Carols in the Domain takes place in Sydney the Saturday before Christmas.

A popular tradition celebrated in Adelaide is the Adelaide Christmas Pageant. This parade is the largest of its kind in the world, attracting crowds of over 400,000 people. Begun in 1933, the pageant is staged in early November every year, usually on a Saturday morning, marking the start of the Christmas season. It comprises a procession of floats, bands, clowns, dancing groups, and walking performers, all culminating in the arrival of Santa Claus. At the terminus of the pageant Santa proceeds to the Magic Cave in the David Jones department store where he can be visited by children. Smaller scale pageants are also held in regional centres.

Special events for international tourists away from their families are held on Bondi Beach in Sydney. These may involve a turkey barbecue and such humorous stunts as a fake Santa dressed in a Santa suit surfing in to appear to the crowd.

Most workplaces conduct a “Christmas Party” some time during December, but rarely on Christmas Eve itself. As many people take their holidays between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and many workplaces completely close for that period, these parties are effectively an end of year or break-up party and frequently feature little or no reference to Christmas itself. Often they will not even be named the “Christmas Party” but called the “end of year party” or a “break-up party”.

Two major sporting events traditionally commence on the day after Christmas Day in Australia: the Boxing Day Test cricket test match, and the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.