February is Museum Month in San Diego

Throughout February 2011, visitors to San Diego have the opportunity to experience the region's rich cultural offerings at half-price during San Diego Museum Month. Guests can participate by picking up a free San Diego Museum Month Pass at any area Macy's location; with the pass, they can receive half-price admission for up to four guests per visit at 40 of San Diego's museums, cultural attractions and historical sites.

Visitors can take advantage of San Diego Museum Month at facilities located throughout the region; for example:

The USS Midway Museum, Maritime Museum of San Diego and The New Children's Museum in downtown San Diego;
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla;
LUX Art Institute and the San Diego Botanical Garden in Encinitas;
13 world-class facilities like the Mingei International Museum, the Museum of Photographic Arts, Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park, which is often referred to as the "Smithsonian of the West."
 
Visitors can pick up a San Diego Museum Month Pass, valid February 1 to 28, 2011, at any Macy's store location in San Diego County or neighboring Temecula and El Centro. 

San Diego Museum Month was created in 1989 by the San Diego Museum Council to promote the region's museums, historical sites and cultural offerings. In 2010, nearly 24,000 visitors used Museum Month Passes to explore San Diego museums at half-price.

For more information about top events in California take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in California.

For more information on San Diego offerings, including exciting vacation packages and valuable coupons for attractions, restaurants and more, visit the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau at www.sandiego.org

Piratical Escapades in Key West

The spiritual descendants of Blackbeard, Calico Jack Rackham, pirate queen Anne Bonny and even Captain Jack Sparrow are to descend on Key West Friday, November 26, through Sunday, December 5, for the 11th annual Pirates in Paradise Festival.

Designed to appeal to children and adults alike, the colorful gathering typically brings hundreds of buccaneer aficionados and re-enactors to celebrate the island city's adventurous seafaring history.

The festival schedule features tall ship sailing adventures, a plank-walking championship, living history pirate encampments, swashbuckling soirees and parties, a "village thieves' market" and pirate pub, pirate tours of Key West, an educational tall ship sailing seminar and the staged re-creation of the trial of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, real-life female buccaneers who were captured in Caribbean waters in the early 1700s.

Throughout the 2010 Pirates in Paradise Festival, aspiring seafarers can experience tall ship pirate sailing excursions aboard the Schooner Wolf, the flagship of the Keys' Conch Republic including sunset sails, and join Captain Finbar in lighthearted attacks on "land forces" and unsuspecting vessels in the harbor.

Nonstop entertainment is to be provided by strolling minstrels and combative stuntmen. Little buccaneers can enjoy games and treasure hunts in a special kids' area, and vendors plan to offer period arts and crafts. A homemade brew competition is "on tap" as well.

In addition, living-history pirate encampments, "invasions" and demonstrations by military re-enactors are scheduled at Fort Zachary Taylor, an authentic Civil War fortification adjacent to Truman Waterfront Commons. Fort Taylor events are planned for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 3-5.

For more information about top events in Florida take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Florida.

For more information about the Pirates in Paradise Festival visit www.piratesinparadise.com

W.C. Handy Music Festival in Top 100 for 2011

The American Bus Association (ABA) has announced that the W.C. Handy Music Festival to be held from July 22 to 30, 2011, has been designated as one of the Top 100 Events in North America for 2011 by an experienced expert tourism industry selection committee.

Inclusion in the Top 100 list, published as a supplement to the September/October issue of Destinations magazine, indicates that the W.C. Handy Music Festival offers excellent entertainment value to both tour groups and individual travelers from around the world, according to ABA.

With the release of the American Bus Association's 2011 Top 100 Events in North America, ABA celebrates 29 years of the program. What began as a way for motorcoach operators to incorporate new product into their itineraries has grown to one of the most sought-after lists by travel professionals, motorcoach operators and the general public.

"The attractiveness of the W.C. Handy Music Festival as a don't-miss entertainment value is only part of why its selection this year is such a distinction for The Shoals," said Peter J. Pantuso, CTIS, ABA's president and CEO. "The real news here is that the W.C. Handy Music Festival has been recognized as a potential magnet for tourism dollars.”

ABA's 2011 Top 100 Events Selection Committee chose the W.C. Handy Music Festival from among a record number of more than 650 event nominations submitted by ABA members. Judges considered the event's broad appeal, its accessibility to motorcoaches and skill at handling large groups, and a variety of other relevant criteria.

For more information about top events in Alabama take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Alabama.

For more information on the W.C. Handy Music Festival visit www.wchandymusicfestival.org