ABA announces top 100 events in North America for 2007

Oklahoma’s capital city is buzzing with Centennial activity. Celebrations have started in ernest across the city and will end with a spectacular extravaganza on Statehood Day – November 16, 2007.

To celebrate the centennial, the Sooner State has 14 months of more than 400 special events, historic reenactments and heritage experiences planned. In preparation of the event, communities and organizations across the state are restoring historical sites and creating monuments, fountains, parks, and cultural facilties that reflect local or state history.

It’s the year to celebrate motorcoach and group travel, with the release of the American Bus Association’s (ABA) 25th Anniversary of the Top Events in the U.S. and Canada in this month. In its 2007 edition, the annual guide to professional travel planners and the general public highlights the top fairs, festivals, parades, exhibits, theater and shows across the U.S. and Canada.

ABA, the leading trade organization for the motorcoach and group travel industry, compiles the list, which is chosen from among hundreds of events nominated by state and provincial tourism officials, and convention and visitors associations from across North America. A panel of U.S. and Canadian travel professionals bases its selections on the events’ broad appeal, their accessibility to large groups arriving by motorcoach, and a variety of other criteria.

While the 100 Top Events are not ranked, ABA does highlight the top 100 U.S. events for 2007 and top 100 Canadian events for 2007. The top Canadian event is the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 1-8. It strikes a balance between a history lesson and fun entertainment. The show was created for Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s 1979 visit to Halifax. Today, more than 2,000 military and non-military performers join together for this fast-paced, two hour, family-oriented show featuring pipes and drums, military and civilian bands, historic reenactments, dancers, acrobats, comedians, choirs, military displays and competitions.

Among the hundred events, this year’s list highlights many events celebrating their own anniversaries, including events like Bellingrath Gardens and Home 75th Anniversary, Theodore, Alabama, beginning in January, which celebrates Walter and Bessie Bellingrath’s home and garden. In April, Wilmington, North Carolina celebrates the 60th Annual North Carolina Azalea Festival that highlights as much about Southern culture and hospitality as it is about flowers.

Jamestown, Virginia celebrates history in 2007 in May, with America’s 400th Anniversary Weekend that commemorates the founding of Jamestown in 1607, America’s first permanent English settlement. The event includes major events, exhibits, educational programs and the opening of new attractions in Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown, and throughout Virginia. Also in Virginia, as well as Maryland and Delaware is the 400th anniversary of Capt. John Smith voyage in May with a 28-foot reproduction of Smith’s shallop and a major traveling exhibit thoughout the states. Capt. John Smith 2007 Reenactment Voyage will travel to more than 20 stops along the Chesapeake Bay.

Further North is the French and Indian War 250th Celebration in New York and Pennsylvania where in May, where clorfully costumed, well-armed British, French, Colonial soldiers and their Indian allies recreate French and Indian War (1754-1763) battles with canon blasts and muskets on the original Fort sites as Britain and France fought for control of the North American colonies.

There are anniversaries on the West Coast too, beginning in May with the 50th anniversary of Fiesta Days, Vacaville, California. Fiesta Days continues to honor the area’s Western and Hispanic heritage and draw crowds with a variety of activities, including the Whiskerino Contest, where men are challenged to grow a beard to win prizes for the longest, best trimmed, and most unique whiskers.

For balloon lovers, the 25th anniversary of the Freedom Weekend Aloft in Anderson, South Carolina, May 25-28, has all eyes looking upward when hot air balloons from around the United States take to the skies, competing daily for various prizes.

The King lives on in Tupelo, Mississippi, in June, with the Tupelo Elvis Presley Festival’s 50th Anniversary of Elvis’ 1957 Tupelo Concert, where the city celebrates the return to the Tupelo fairgrounds for a second homecoming performance just one year after his debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. To mark this event and celebrate the king of rock ‘n’ roll, this honorary festival boasts re-creations of Elvis’ homecoming parade and his performance.

In August, the 25th anniversary Festival at Sandpoint, Sandpoint, Idaho, celebrates classical music, as well as blues, country, pop, rock ‘n’ roll, and jazz concerts under the stars. Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Yukon International Storytelling Festival, in August, featuring storytellers of every description from across Canada and around the circumpolar world spinning yarns for three days outdoors.

And later that month, Charlestown, Rhode Island features the 10th Annual Rhythm and Roots Festival, where New England’s hottest festival of roots music and dance boasts a main stage with a dance tent, a workshop stage, a dance pavilion with dancers from around the world, and even a family stage. It also presents ethnic and regional foods; clothing, crafts and music vendors; and more.

The American Bus Association is the trade organization of the intercity bus industry with about 1000 motorcoach owner and tour company members in the United States and Canada. Its members operate charter, tour, regular route, airport express, special operations and contract services. Another 2,300 members are travel and tourism organizations and suppliers of bus products and services who work in partnership with the North American motorcoach industry.

The full 2007 list can be found at buses.org.

Report by Chitra Mogul