Festivals

Chinese New Year at Austin-Bergstrom and Changi airports

Airport shops, Events, Exhibits, Festivals, Holidays, , ,

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is celebrating the Chinese New Year with live performances ranging from ancient to Pop Chinese music styles. Local Asian musicians will perform on the airport’s main stage between 11 a.m. and noon on Thursday, February 3, 2011.

Singapore’s Changi airport is also celebrating the Chinese New Year with free samples of ting tang and dragon beard candy, opera mask paining, Chinese paper cutting, New Year fortune-telling and New Year decorations that include pussy willows, pots of tangerines, cherry blossoms, gold bunny sculptures and giant bunny topiaries.

Changi Airport golden bunnies

Friday is Customer Appreciation Day at Pittsburgh Airport

Air Travel, Airport shops, Airports, Deals, Entertainment, Festivals, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Holidays, ,

People are generally nice at Pittsburgh International Airport, but on Friday, morning December 3rd they’re going to be extra nice.

PIT Customer Appreciation

That’s because on Friday, from 10 a.m. until noon, it’s customer appreciation day at the airport.

In addition to live music and tree decorating in the pre and post-security areas, you’ll find many airlines and car rental agencies hosting activities at their counters and airport ambassadors handing out candy canes and cookies. Anyone who makes a donation (of any amount) to United Way will get a chance to spin a prize wheel for some of the great gifts donated by airport merchants.  Many airports shops will be having special discounts and promotions as well.

Why is the airport being so nice?  Pittsburgh International Airport has trained hundreds of its employees in Resiliency Edge’s N.I.C.E. (Neutralizing Irritations Customers Experience) program, which is designed to solve customer problems.  So having a customer appreciation day is, well, just nice!

To find out more about Pittsburgh Airport’s customer appreciation day and see a list of discounts and specials being offered by various shop,see the notice on the  PIT website.

If there’s any chance you will be at the airport, be sure to print out the page – some extra discounts are being offered to those who show the N.I.C.E. day notice.

Free movies and free popcorn at Toronto Pearson International Airport

Entertainment, Events, Festivals, Food, Free Stuff, Movies, Snack Saturday, , , ,

Toronto Pearson TIFF previews at the airport

There are a lot of things you can do while hanging around the airport: eat, drink, snooze, shop, read, talk to a stranger or maybe get some work done.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could also take in a movie?

If you happen to be spending any time at the Toronto Pearson International Airport between now and September 19th, you can do just that.

The 35th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is underway, and from now through September 19th, 2010 travelers passing through the airport can watch TIFF movie trailers in small pop-up theaters.

The 10 X 10 foot screening rooms are set up near gate 140 in Terminal 1 and near gate C35 in Terminal 3. Better yet – each evening theater-patrons can watch the trailers while munching on free popcorn.

Toronto Pearson proud to support TIFF from GTAA Toronto Pearson on Vimeo.

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When was the last time you danced at the airport?

Airports, Entertainment, Events, Festivals, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Layover, Music, ,

On the first Sunday of each month, the terminal at Düsseldorf International Airport turns into an event space. One Sunday last winter a circus showed up. Last month, it was a platoon of chefs.

This coming Sunday, it will be dancers.

Dancers

During “Dance Terminal, Dance, ” professional dancers will descend on the airport to teach and perform Latin dance moves and compete in a dance tournament.

Travelers can watch the championship tournament, take a turn on an airport dance floor or join a workshop in Salsa, Merengue, Disco, Neotango, Bachata, West Coast Swing or Dirty Dancing.  There will also be a kids’ disco and performances by a variety of dance groups, including Step Dance World Champion Bernd Paffrath.

So when was the last time you danced at the airport?

Party alert for Miami International Airport

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Some airports are pulling out the stops this summer and throwing parties for travelers.

One example: Miami International Airport is hosting themed weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) events from noon to 3 pm through the end of August.

Miami Airport Havana-themed party to feature dominoes tables

Havana-themed party at MIA to feature dominoes tables

This weekend’s theme is Havana Nights and will include domino tables, mojito demonstrations, a DJ, rumba dancing and cigar rolling.

Miami Airport Havana-themed party to feature cigar rolling

MIA Havana-themed party to feature cigar rolling

August 6-9 it will be a Miami-themed Kids Weekend.  August 13-16 will focus on music. And from August 20-23 get ready for a flamenco dance show, Latin food sampling, photo opportunities, games and more.

Flamenco dancing coming to Miami Airport

Flamenco dancing coming to Miami Airport

Photo courtesy National Endowment for the Arts Millennium Project, via Flickr Creative Commons.

All photos courtesy Flickr, via Creative Commons.

Kid Bands return to Austin-Bergstrom Airport (AUS)

Entertainment, Festivals, Fun Stuff, Kids, Music, , , , , ,

Stop by any weekday at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and chances are you’ll hear some really great local music. Austin is just chock full of great musicians (“You can’t spit without hitting a Grammy winner” is how someone once explained it to me) and the airport takes advantage of that with four post-security performance spaces and eleven live performances each week.

Next week, from Monday, July 19th through Friday, July 23rd, it’s “Kid Band Week,” with performances scheduled from 3:30 to 5:30 pm at the airport’s Asleep at the Wheel stage at Ray Benson’s Roadhouse by Gate 10.  If you’re around, you should definitely check it out.

Here’s the line-up:

Monday: The Peterson Brothers Band: blue music from brothers Glenn (13) and Alex (11).


Hide Away (By Freddie King) Live @ Momo’s

Peterson Brothers Band

Tuesday: 15-year-old bassist and vocalist Livvy Bennett.
“Bennett is a member of Aftermath, an Austin band that won the first SchoolJam USA National Teen ‘Battle of the Bands’ contest January in Anaheim, Calif.  At the event, Bennett was named “Best Bassist.”

Wednesday: The Aviators. The classic rock group is made up of six students, age ten to thirteen, from the Natural Ear Music School.

Introducing the Aviators!

The Aviators

Thursday: The Apple Trio, an all-girl string trio.

And Friday: The Fireants, the group that won “Best Teen Band” at the 2008-2009 Austin Music Awards.


Fireants “Frankenstein” Edgar Winter Cover

Fireants

Dusseldorf Airport’s far-out food festival

Airports, Etiquette, Events, Exhibits, Festivals, Food, Fun Stuff, ,

On the first Sunday of each month you’ll find a party or some sort of unusual event going on in the vast public lobby area of Dusseldorf International Airport (DUS).

Last Christmas it was a circus, complete with aerialists and clowns. Last month, the airport was the site of the 2010 German’s best parkour championship. And during the winter Olympics, they trucked in snow and built the world’s largest indoor ski jump right there in the lobby.

What’s on tap for this month’s “Airlebnis,” or air experience?

On July 4th from 11 am until 6 pm, the airport will be hosting a food festival at the airport.

Open to travelers and the general public, “The Terminal Cooks” will include celebrity cooking shows and the opportunity to sit down at one of two long dining tables for a 6-course gourmet meal.

No time to dine? The ‘air experience’ will include cooking classes and lectures on everything from cocktail mixing and sushi rolling to table etiquette and napkin folding.

Tidbits for travelers: LAX views, Orlando news, & KCI cruise

Airports, Architecture, Events, Festivals, Free Stuff, free Wi-Fi, Fun Stuff, Layover, Observation Decks, Openings, Wi-Fi, , , , , , ,

Here’s great news for anyone who finds themselves stuck at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on the weekend.

The Observation Deck at the top of the Theme Building, which has been closed since 9/11, will finally re-open to the public this Saturday.

(A view of the old version of the observation deck; courtesy LAX. New version: under wraps!)

There will be a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday morning (June 21, 2010) but the official public hours of the deck will be Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Go take a look through the new telescopes and enjoy the view!

Orlando Airport getting Google-ized?


According to this story in the Orlando Sentinel, the Orlando International Airport (MCO) is in discussion with Google for a two-year deal in which Google would pay the airport more than $100,000 a year to sponsor the existing (free) airport Wi-Fi and provide a variety of other amenities, including free Internet kiosks for passengers traveling without laptops and phone booths at the international gates offering free long distance calling.

Sounds like Google is talking to other airports about this same sort of ‘experiment,’ but no word yet on where.

And this sounds like fun:

(courtesy Hot Rod)

This Saturday (June 19th, 2010) Kansas City International Airport will be hosting its fourth KCI Cruise. Not a sailing ship cruise, but the sort of cruise where hundreds – in this case up to 500 – owners of classic, muscle and special-interest automobiles gather in a parking lot to show off their cool cars.

The event runs from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. (weather permitting; wouldn’t want anything to happen to those cars!) and money raised from the sales of donated food and prizes will go to area charities. The prizes are nothing to sneeze at. They’ll be giving away Frontier Airlines tickets, Chiefs and Royals tickets, Justin Bieber concert tickets (!), hotel stays and more. For more details and for directions to the event, see the KCI Cruise page on the Kansas City International Airport website.

Jazz in the Atrium series at Atlanta airport

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(The Eldridge Simms Jazz Quintet during 2009 Jazz in the Atrium music series. Photo courtesy ATL)

The 33rd annual Atlanta Jazz Festival is taking place throughout the month of May, with a giant 2-day festival Memorial Day weekend in Piedmont Park and, for lucky travelers, two weeks of live jazz performances at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

ATL’s ninth annual Jazz in the Atrium music series, featuring mostly local artists, will take place in the airport Atrium from 5-7 pm each weekend from May 17th through the 28th.

Here’s the line-up:

May 17 Tony Waters
May 18 Charles Marshall
May 19 After Hours Quintet
May 20 Darren Winters
May 21 Gary Harris

May 24 Trey Wright
May 25 Takana Miyamoto
May 26 Mike Blackburn
May 27 Joe Jennings
May 28 Eldridge Simms Jazz Quintet

More Wacky Festivals

Festivals, Souvenir Sunday, , , ,

(Dillsboro, N.C. is having its Easter Hat parade today)

I knew this would happen. And I’m really happy about it.

People keep sending emails with the subject line “Heh! You forgot….” in response to my Wacky Festivals slide-show on msnbc.com this week.   Here are a couple that showed up yesterday.

“I am disappointed you missed the Heeney, Colorado, World Famous Tick Festival, held during the second weekend of June each year.”

“You should have Sauk City Wisconsin on your list…the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw and Festival.”

And we all just missed Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland, CO! “One of the wackiest festivals that celebrates a cryogenically frozen man that has been in a Tuff Shed for over 12 years. They hold coffin races and frozen salmon toss-off.”

(song written & performed by Sister Merry Harmony; discovered on Nederland Area Chamber of Commerce website.)

All wonderful! Thanks, everyone. I could – and maybe should? – start an entirely new website, or a book, to gather up all the offbeat festivals in North America alone.  But right now, I’ve got to get started on tomorrow’s Souvenir Sunday feature.  You’ll be tickled when you see what a Stuck at the Airport fan found!