Events January 2012
This month’s greatest events
Niagara Icewine Festival
© NORMAN POGSON
JAN. 5-15
The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival Chicago
Have your funny bone tickled for 10 straight days at this fest that floods Chicago with comic legends like The Cupid Players, BriKo and Heavyweight. Home to comedy club and sketch birthplace The Second City—which boasts alums like Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert—it's no surprise the Windy City hatched the largest festival the genre has seen. www.chicagosketchfest.com
JAN. 12-15
San Sebastián Street Festival San Juan, PR
Vamos! Join hundreds of thousands of boricuas (natives) and visitors as you shake your bootie salsa-style in the streets of Old San Juan at this enormous, four-day block party. San Juan's most hotly anticipated annual event has been going strong since 1954 and attracts armies of artisans, food vendors, musicians and performers. www.seepuertorico.com
JAN. 13-29
Niagara Icewine Festival St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada (42 miles from Buffalo/Niagara)
Hop on over to Canada, eh, to celebrate one of the cold country's favorite products: Ontario icewine, a type of sweet dessert wine made from grapes left on the vine to freeze. The three-week festival features chestnut roasts, ice bars, winery tours and, of course, wine tastings galore. www.icewinefestival.com
JAN. 19-22
The Metro Show New York
Antiques are so old-fashioned! Check out this new arts and design fair, a modern replacement for the traditional American Antiques Show. Around 50 exhibitors, fine and decorative arts specialists, galleries and dealers will show off the very best in 20th-century design, modern painting and photography for four straight days. www.metroshownyc.com
JAN. 19-22
Frog Leg Festival Fellsmere, FL (85 miles from Orlando)
They say that alligator tastes just like chicken. But what about frog? Find out for yourself at this festival, where gator and frog-leg dinners are only part of the fun. It's a hoppin' good time for the whole family, with live music, frog jumping contests and something called the Red Neck Olympics, where one of the more exciting events is "Pig's Feet Bobbin'." Tasty. www.froglegfestival.com
JAN. 20-22
US Pond Hockey Championships Lake Nokomis, MN (7 miles from Minneapolis)
Forget your fancy arenas and multi-million dollar contracts. This competition showcases hockey the way it was meant to be played—outdoors, on a frozen pond, in temperatures so cold that sweat freezes to your face. Bundle up to watch 160 teams of beer leaguers, D-1 alums and NHL legends faceoff for the honor of having their names etched into the Golden Shovel. Yeah, it's that hardcore. www.uspondhockey.com
JAN. 24-28
Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships Breckenridge, CO (105 miles from Denver)
Imagine sculpting a 20-ton, 12-foot high block of snow into a work of precise, striking art with nothing but your shivering hands and archaic tools. Teams from around the globe will converge on Breckenridge to do just that. Last year's dark horse champ, Mexico (what did they practice on?), is the team to beat. www.townofbreckenridge.com
JAN. 28
Maryland MSP Polar Bear Plunge Baltimore
The plunge "first-timer" pamphlet matter-of-factly states "You will be cold, and possibly numb." Still, thousands of hearty people take a swift—and likely shrieking— dip into the freezing cold Chesapeake Bay in this annual ritual to raise funds for the Special Olympics Maryland. Up for it? You'll be rewarded at the spa tent as well as with skate and snowboard demos, live performances, artisan vendors and a commemorative sweatshirt (trust us, you'll need it). www.plungemd.com
BEST OF THE FESTS
Make it your 2012 New Year's resolution to attend the biggest and baddest events our destinations have to offer.
NEW ORLEANS
MARDI GRAS Feb. 21 155 years old, 60+ parades, 8,000,000 pounds of beads, $1 billion in revenue
www.mardigrasneworleans.com
SAN ANTONIO
FIESTA SAN ANTONIO Apr. 19-29 121 years old, 11 days, $284,000,000 revenue, 3,500,000+ visitors
www.fiesta-sa.org
INDIANAPOLIS
INDIANAPOLIS 500 FESTIVAL May 10-27 101 years old, 200 laps, 500 miles, up to 230+ mph, 300,000+ spectators
www.indy500.com
DENVER
GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL Oct. 11-13 36,000 gallons of beer, 2,375 American beers, 45,000+ visitors
www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com
KANSAS CITY, MO
AMERICAN ROYAL BBQ CONTEST Oct. 4-7 20 acres, 500 teams, four competitions, 100,000+ spectators
www.americanroyal.com
NEW YORK
THE ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON Nov. 4
26.219 miles, five boroughs, more than 45,103 finishers, 2,000,000+ spectators
www.nycmarathon.org
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