Wisconsin Jazz Festival

Shades of Blue Kicks Off Wisconsin Jazz Festival

The 44th annual Eau Claire Jazz Festival from April 7 to 10, is a weekend packed with live entertainment, over a hundred Midwestern bands, interactive clinics and thousands of jazz enthusiasts. 

Guest artists this year include jazz saxophonist Eric Marienthal, Afro�Latin drumming sensation Bobby Sanabria, The Hornheads and The United States Air Force Band of Mid America � Shades of Blue. 

The jazz festival kicks off March 29 with a two-week community-wide celebration of jazz, culminating in the four-day festival in Eau Claire and Menomonie.

The United States Air Force Band of Mid America � Shades of Blue kicks off the festival weekend Thursday with a free concert at Memorial High School in Eau Claire at 7:30p.m. Headliner concerts on Friday at 7:30p.m. and Saturday at 7p.m. will feature Marienthal and Sanabria, along with award-winning UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble I, also at Memorial High School in Eau Claire. The Hornheads will perform in the finale concert, Sunday at 2p.m., at Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts in Menomonie, WI.

In addition to guest artists, education is a main focus of the festival. Middle schools, high schools, and colleges from a six-state area travel to Eau Claire to perform, be critiqued, and learn how to enhance their jazz skills. Students also have the opportunity to receive scholarships to Shell Lake and Birch Creek summer music camps and win instruments. Several free clinics are offered Friday and Saturday both for attending schools and community members. All clinics and master classes are free and open to the public.

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

For more information about the Eau Claire Jazz Festival visit www.eauclairejazz.com 

Taliesin 100 Years

Wisconsinites are right to lay claim to celebrity architect Frank Lloyd Wright as a native son. 

The proof of that resides in Spring Green, where the 100th Anniversary of Taliesin, the residence and workshop of the legendary designer, is being duly marked with a variety of special events, tours, artist workshops, lectures and performances. 

The celebration includes a reception on April 28 not in Spring Green but in Milwaukee � stay with us here � where the Milwaukee Art Museum will be featuring through now to May 15 a special exhibit, Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century. 

Back at Taliesin in Spring Green, visitors will want to check out the centennial exhibit entitled Taliesin: The Work of a Lifetime, with rare photographs of Wright, the Taliesin Fellowship and Taliesin pre-1914. Other events include an exhibit by Wright�s personal photographer Pedro E. Guerrero entitled Wright and Taliesin: A Retrospective, a concert by Chicago Chamber Musicians, art workshops and dance performances.

Everyone knows summer in Milwaukee is not complete without a trip to Summerfest, the world�s largest outdoor music festival which takes place this year from June 29 to July 3 and (closed on July 4) from July 5 to 10. 

Coming to Milwaukee for the first time, the bi-yearly U.S. Indigenous Games from July 10 to 17 invites thousands of Native American youth to compete in sporting events. 

In the northwest corner of the state there�s the 50th Bayfield Apple Festival set for October 7 to 9, listed as one of the �Top Ten Autumn Festivals in North America� by the Society of American Travel Writers. 

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

Travelers looking for year-round Wisconsin getaway ideas, travel planning, events and free guides can discover their own fun at TravelWisconsin.com. 

Fall Colors Peak in Northern Wisconsin for Cable Area�s Fall Fest

Record crowds are expected to descend on northern Wisconsin this upcoming weekend September 24 and 25 for the Cable Area�s annual Fall Festival.

The event draws thousands of spectators over the 2-day event but near peak fall colors and an excellent weather forecast, partnered with some new events should boost traffic to record numbers.

Sharon Haney with the Cable Area Chamber of Commerce says inquiries about lodging and travel have been extremely high. �Everyone loves the northland in fall. Warm sunshine and roads lined with trees that look like a painter�s canvas coupled with a lot of fantastic events at our festival make this one of the best weekends to be in Northern Wisconsin.�

Data from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism backs up her statements. Fall colors are the driving influence for fall travel within Northern Wisconsin from mid September through mid October. This year fall color looks to peek sometime later this week or early next week, just in time for the Cable Area�s Fall Festival.

James Bolen, Executive Director of the Cable Area Chamber of Commerce, credits both the fall colors and opportunities for fun experiences as the draw for travelers to his area this week. �We offer an authentic fish boil, lots of craft vendors, a harvest dessert bake off, pumpkin pecan pancake breakfast, wine and cheese event, almost non-stop live music all weekend long, kids games, a sportsman�s alley for the outdoor enthusiast, chainsaw carving demonstrations, lots of festival food and much more!� he said.

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

For more information on the Cable Area Fall Festival contact the Cable Area Chamber of Commerce at 800-533-7454 or online at www.cable4fun.com

Betty Boop Celebrates Her 80th Birthday

If you�re a Betty Boop fan, don�t miss the official Betty Boop Festival Wisconsin to be held in Wisconsin Rapids on August 5 to 8. The festival will mark the anniversary of Betty Boop�s animation debut on August 9, 1930, and honors Grim Natwick, a Wisconsin Rapids native and Betty�s original top animator at Fleischer Studios, for his lifelong achievements. The event will showcase an expanded Grim Natwick animation exhibit, scenic motorcycle tours, an animated film festival, visual art gallery and an animation art collectors show.

Green Bay is one of only six ports in North America (and the only port in Wisconsin) to be honored as a host for the 2010 Tall Ship Festival when 12 vintage vessels will sail into the Port of Green Bay and dock on the shores of the Fox River on August 13 to15. Visitors can experience the history and romance of maritime life during ship tours and sails on these sailing vessels, including Wisconsin�s own flagship schooner the S/V Denis Sullivan. Entertainment and food round out this unique festival. The ships race to five ports on the Great Lakes.

Indulge in America�s Dairyland at the second annual Wisconsin Original Cheese Festival at Madison�s Monona Terrace on November 5 to 7. Taste hundreds of unique cow, goat and sheep milk cheeses at the Cheesemaker�s Gala. New this year is a Festival Marketplace that will showcase the state�s cheesemakers, dairies, wineries, microbrews, authors and artists in a farmer�s marketplace setting.

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

For more information on the Wisconsin events visit http://tourism.state.wi.us/

Wisconsin Honors Nation�s Vietnam Veterans

One of the largest gatherings of Vietnam and Vietnam-era veterans in US history � some 30,000 veterans from Wisconsin and around the country � will convene to be honored for their service and sacrifice for the country at a special weekend of activities in Green Bay, Wisconsin, from May 20 to 23.

This touching event � LZ Lambeau�: Welcoming Home Wisconsin�s Vietnam Veterans � will include several days of concerts, reunions and exhibits, including The Moving Wall�, a traveling half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC.

Named for the landing zones that military service members were deployed to during Vietnam, LZ Lambeau was developed by a partnership of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT), The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, the Wisconsin Historical Society and many veterans organizations. It will feature educational initiatives, oral presentations, museum exhibits, a portrait display and other community engagement activities. Including the families and friends of attending veterans, the event is expected to draw approximately 100,000.

Telling emotional stories that haven�t been heard before, Wisconsin Vietnam War veterans have recounted their experiences in a three-hour television documentary being screened by Wisconsin Public Television. �Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories� will feature dozens of veterans from all regions of Wisconsin who reflect on their memories of the Vietnam War and their experiences during and after the war.

In addition to the television documentary, all of the veterans� interviews will be archived for posterity with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, ensuring that the lasting stories from the Vietnam War will be available for future generations.

For more information about top events in Wisconsin, take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Wisconsin at www.topeventsusa.com/state-events-wisconsin.html

For more information on LZ Lambeau visit http://lzlambeau.org