- Ice Cream, You Scream
- Watered Down Fun
- A Recipe for Fun
- When the Stars Come Out
- Celebrating Civil Rights Heroes
 |
| Credit: Anthony Dake, MooFest |
Yeah, like anyone needs an excuse to eat ice cream. But that won’t stop Athens, TN, from celebrating one of life’s greatest pleasures at its annual National MooFest on June 5-6. Athens is the natural place to hold a festival celebrating ice cream, as it is home to Mayfield Dairy Farms, which has been making ice cream there since 1923.
The festival includes many competitions that include ice cream as their key component. The Scoop Stackin’ Contest is just what its name implies, as individuals in seven different age groups race to see who can stack the most scoops of ice cream on a cone in a designated time. The Frozen T-Shirt Contest pits two-person teams against one another in a race to take a frozen T-shirt from an ice cream carton, unfold it, and one team member put it on.
In addition, there will be a Scrumptious Sundae Celebration, as well as contests for Mooing, Milk Chug-a-Lug, Homemade Ice Cream and Ice Cream Eating.
For more information, call (423) 746-9041 or visit www.NationalMooFest.com.
 |
In a perfect world, May 21 will be a hot and steamy day along Georgia’s Atlantic Coast. That’s because Tybee Island, a laid-back beach community 20 miles east of Savannah, is hosting a parade that day. Now most people would think that a sunny but cool day provides the perfect environment for a parade, but those people have never attended Tybee Island’s Beach Bum Parade. Because whether you stand along the parade route observing or are in the parade itself, you will get wet…really, really wet.
Like most parades, there will be floats pulled behind cars and trucks. Unlike most parades, however, the floats will be filled with water-throwing paraphernalia. Spectators lined up along the parade route will be armed with water guns. What will result is an all-out water war for fun-loving beach bums of all ages.
To ensure that everyone has fun and no one gets hurt, there are a few common-sense rules. Participants and on-lookers may not use ice water, water balloons, buckets or power washers, and garden hoses are discouraged. The squirting will stop as soon as the parade officially ends. Following the parade, everyone is invited to take part in activities at many of the local businesses. And one final tip if you plan to attend: Bring an extra set of clothes and keep them—and a towel!—dry in sealed plastic bags.
 |
| Celebrity chef Bobby Flay Credit: Eddie Arrossi Photography |
Take three celebrity chefs, cooking demonstrations, workshops for tasting and entertaining, and 150 exhibitors showing off the latest in foods and kitchen essentials. Combine them in Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria Centre on May 1-2, and what do you have? The Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show, a fun, exciting and unique educational experience for cooking and entertaining enthusiasts.
Now in its second year in Atlanta, the show attracts attendees with demonstrations by award-winning and celebrity chefs, reveals fresh ideas for cooking and entertaining, and offers tasting and entertaining workshops filled with useful tricks and trends. It’s a fun, all-ages event where even the youngest cooks can gain valuable food preparation experience.
Joining top local chefs from Atlanta for the event will be celebrity chefs Paula Deen, Bobby Flay and Mario Batali, who will each be giving demonstrations. On top of that, fans of Deen and Flay will have the opportunity to meet their favorite chef and get an autographed cookbook.
For more information, call (703) 321-4890 or visit www.metrocooking.com (click on the Atlanta, GA button).
 |
| Kenny Chesney Credit: Country Music Association |
Rest assured there will be at least four starry nights (and days!) in Nashville this June. From June 10-13, Music City USA will be home to the world’s largest celebration of country music—the 2010 CMA Music Festival. This annual event gives country music fans a unique treat not provided to fans of most music genres: the opportunity to both listen to and meet their favorite country music star
Most are not aware that the artists who perform at the festival do not get paid for their appearances—they donate their time and talent to both show their fans how much they appreciate their support as well as raise money for worthy causes, as half of all proceeds from the event are donated to charity on the artists’ behalf. And the list of charitable artists at this year’s festival is a veritable who’s who of country music’s biggest stars. Included among this year’s performers are Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and Reba McEntire, to name just a few.
But the real draw that brings most to Nashville for this event is that besides seeing their favorite stars in concert, fans also have the opportunity to meet them for pictures and autographs at the festival’s Fan Fair.
 |
| Credit: Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center |
Celebrating Civil Rights Heroes
Fifty years ago, the Atlanta Student Movement emerged out of the fight for justice and equality for African-Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Students from Atlanta University Center (AUC) schools formed the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights to help define their role in the struggle. On March 9, 1960, these student leaders published “An Appeal for Human Rights,” a full-page advertisement in the Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta Journal, Atlanta Daily World and, eventually, The New York Times. The appeal was followed by the first organized sit-ins with students from the AUC schools on March 15, 1960.
Through photographs, documents, videos and contemporary oral history interviews with Atlanta student leaders, the Atlanta History Center is presenting “Voices Across the Color Line” through Sept. 25. This free exhibit commemorates the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Atlanta Student Movement and celebrates the contributions of the individuals whose bravery, perseverance and commitment to equality changed the city of Atlanta and the entire country.
In conjunction with this exhibit, author and historian Andrew B. Lewis will be giving a lecture on June 17, discussing the sweeping narrative of the Civil Rights Movement from its origins in the youth culture of the 1950s to the near present.
For more information, call (404) 814-4000 or visit www.atlantahistorycenter.com.