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Tet in the OC — Vietnamese New Year Festival 2027

Coming Soon

10 Gathering

209 days away

Tet in the OC — Vietnamese New Year Festival 2027

Jan 28 – Feb 1, 2027 Asian Garden Mall, 9200 Bolsa Ave,…

Tet in the OC is the largest Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration outside of Vietnam, held annually in Garden Grove at the Asian Garden Mall complex. The 2027 celebration — marking the Vietnamese New Year alongside the Lunar New Year calendar — draws hundreds of thousands of visitors over its multi-day run to the heart of Little Saigon in Orange County. The festival sprawls across the Asian Garden Mall and surrounding parking areas with traditional Tet decorations, flower markets (hoa Tết — the buying and displaying of fresh flowers for the new year is a central ritual), carnival rides, food vendors serving bánh chưng, phở, bánh mì, chè, and every regional Vietnamese dish imaginable, and nightly entertainment on multiple stages including Vietnamese pop acts, traditional performers, and pageant competitions. The lion and dragon dance troops perform throughout the festival grounds, and the firecracker ceremonies mark key moments of the celebration. Tet is a deeply family-oriented holiday — the crowds at this festival skew toward multigenerational Vietnamese American families alongside curious visitors from across Southern California who've heard that this is something you have to see. The Asian Garden Mall is at 9200 Bolsa Ave in Westminster, CA — at the heart of Little Saigon. Parking in the surrounding lots fills quickly; arriving by rideshare or public transit is recommended during peak hours. Admission to the festival grounds is free; individual vendor purchases apply.

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11 Gathering

210 days away

LA Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade 2027

Jan 29, 2027 Chinatown Central Plaza, 970 N Bro…

The Los Angeles Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade and Festival marks the start of the Lunar New Year calendar with one of the oldest and largest public celebrations in Southern California. The 2027 edition celebrates the Year of the Goat with a parade down Broadway in Chinatown, traditional lion and dragon dances, firecracker ceremonies, and a full festival spanning the surrounding blocks. The parade route runs through Chinatown's Central Plaza and along Broadway, with viewing positions available along the sidewalk for free. The parade includes marching bands, lion dance troupes from kung fu schools throughout the region, community floats, elected officials, and cultural organizations that have been part of this procession for generations. The surrounding festival extends into Chinatown's plazas and vendor areas — traditional foods, lanterns, decorations, calligraphy demonstrations, and cultural performances fill the neighborhood for the full festival weekend. The Central Plaza becomes the hub of celebration, with the lion dances performing throughout the afternoon as the crowd grows. Chinatown is located in downtown Los Angeles along North Broadway, accessible via Metro Gold Line (Chinatown Station) and the nearby Union Station transit hub. Street parking in the surrounding area becomes scarce during the festival — Metro is strongly recommended. The festival is free to attend; food and vendor purchases are individual. The Lunar New Year in 2027 falls in late January.

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211 days away

San Diego Lunar New Year Festival 2027

Jan 30 – Jan 31, 2027 Balboa Park, 1549 El Prado, San Di…

San Diego's Lunar New Year Festival brings the celebration of the new lunar calendar to Balboa Park in January/February 2027, one of the largest public Lunar New Year celebrations in Southern California outside of the Los Angeles basin. The event draws San Diego's Chinese American, Vietnamese American, Korean American, and broader Asian Pacific communities alongside the general public. Balboa Park provides an ideal setting — the Spanish Colonial architecture of the park's central plaza creates a dramatic visual backdrop for the festival's red lantern decorations, dragon and lion dance performances, and the outdoor stages that run cultural programming throughout the weekend. The park's museums and cultural institutions open their doors with Lunar New Year programming during the festival. The two-day event features multiple lion and dragon dance troupes performing throughout the grounds, traditional martial arts demonstrations, calligraphy and traditional craft activities, cultural performances ranging from classical Chinese music to Korean drumming to Vietnamese áo dài fashion showcases, and a food marketplace with dishes from the full range of East and Southeast Asian culinary traditions. Balboa Park is located in central San Diego, accessible from the I-163 (Park Blvd exit). Parking throughout the park; the Zoo's north parking structure is typically accessible during festival events. Free admission to the park and festival grounds; individual vendor and activity purchases. The Lunar New Year 2027 falls in late January — specific dates confirmed through the San Diego Lunar New Year website.

Surf City USA Half Marathon 2027 — Huntington Beach

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219 days away

Surf City USA Half Marathon 2027 — Huntington Beach

Feb 7, 2027 Huntington Beach Pier, Huntington …

The Surf City USA Marathon in Huntington Beach is one of the premier beach-city running events in Southern California, drawing thousands of participants each February for a flat, fast course along Pacific Coast Highway with ocean views stretching the full length. The finish line deposits runners steps from the iconic Huntington Beach Pier — one of the most photogenic race finishes in the country. Full marathon and half marathon distances are both available. The half marathon is particularly popular for its manageable course and strong post-race scene: craft beer garden, live music on the beach, and the full HB pier plaza as celebration space. The PCH course is largely flat, making Surf City one of the faster half marathons on the Southern California circuit — a Boston qualifier for the full marathon distance. Registration opens well in advance and typically sells out before the new year. Book accommodations early if traveling; Huntington Beach hotels fill for race weekend. Check runrocknroll.com for current registration status and race weekend schedule.

Mardi Gras New Orleans 2027 — New Orleans, LA

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🌎 Nation's Best 221 days away

Mardi Gras New Orleans 2027 — New Orleans, LA

Feb 9 – Feb 16, 2027 0 French Quarter and parade routes, …

New Orleans lives for this. Fat Tuesday is the peak, but the buildup runs two weeks — parades rolling through neighborhoods, krewes throwing from floats, a city rehearsing the same ritual it has been rehearsing since before Louisiana was a state. What Mardi Gras in New Orleans feels like is impossible to adequately describe and worth attempting anyway. The parades are not the background to the event — they are the event. Krewes that have been parading since the 1850s roll elaborate floats through the city's streets for two weeks, throwing beads, doubloons, shoes, plush toys, and decorated cups to the crowds that line the routes. The music does not stop. Every bar on Frenchmen Street has a live band; the French Quarter is uninhabitable in the best possible sense; the neighborhoods of Uptown, Mid-City, and Treme have their own parade routes and their own crowds and their own relationship to the season. Mardi Gras is not one party. It is an entire city operating as a city-sized party for two weeks. Is Mardi Gras worth attending? The honest answer: it depends on which Mardi Gras you attend. The French Quarter on Fat Tuesday night is genuinely overwhelming and not for everyone. But the family-friendly neighborhood parades on the two weekends before Fat Tuesday — particularly Endymion, Bacchus, Orpheus, and Zulu — are accessible, joyful, and the reason New Orleans locals are in their front yards with barbecue grills and ladders for children. If your version of Mardi Gras is the beads-and-balcony image from every movie, you can find that. If your version is 200,000 people watching a parade route that has been running for 140 years while a brass band plays from a truck behind the floats — that is also available, and it is spectacular. What to know before you go: Book accommodation 3-6 months in advance — New Orleans hotels during Mardi Gras are among the most in-demand in the country. Fly into MSY (Louis Armstrong New Orleans International). The streetcar and walking are the most reliable transportation during peak parade days — driving is effectively impossible on parade routes. The best parades are in the days before Fat Tuesday, not on Fat Tuesday itself. Eat at local restaurants before 8pm; popular spots fill. Rex and Zulu (Fat Tuesday morning/midday) are the signature daytime parades. The Krewe of Barkus (dog parade) is what Frenchmen Street sounds like distilled into one block. Mardi Gras is on Falkor's Nation's Best list because it is the rarest kind of event: a tradition that has survived, adapted, and grown more itself over 300 years in a single city. The music, the food, the social structure of the krewes, the rhythm of the season — none of it was designed. It evolved in a city where the culture was strong enough to hold it. Knowing about Mardi Gras, knowing which weekend to attend, which parades to watch, which neighborhoods to be in — that is the intelligence that turns a flight to New Orleans in February from a trip into an experience. The affiliate click is the receipt. Discovery is the point.

National Cherry Blossom Festival 2027 -- Washington, DC

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24 Gathering

🌎 Nation's Best 260 days away

National Cherry Blossom Festival 2027 -- Washington, DC

Mar 20 – Apr 11, 2027 Tidal Basin, 900 Ohio Dr SW, Washi…

Every spring, for a period of four to seven unpredictable days, the Tidal Basin in Washington DC becomes the most photographed place in America. The National Cherry Blossom Festival -- running March 20 through April 11, 2027 -- celebrates the bloom of roughly 3,000 cherry trees gifted to the United States by Japan in 1912. In the 115 years since, those trees and their descendants have transformed a stretch of the National Mall into one of the most achingly beautiful seasonal events in American public life. The bloom does not wait for a schedule. That is precisely what makes it worth chasing. The experience is organized around the Tidal Basin, a man-made reservoir framed by the Jefferson Memorial to the south and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to the northeast. When the trees hit peak bloom -- typically in the last week of March or first week of April, depending on the year's temperatures -- the Tidal Basin becomes a pink-and-white canopy suspended over the water. Walking the two-mile loop at dawn, when the light is soft and the crowds are thin, is a genuinely transcendent experience. The Kite Festival on the National Mall, the Lantern Lighting Ceremony in East Potomac Park, and the parade through downtown DC fill the surrounding weeks with organized events -- but the trees themselves are the destination. Is the Cherry Blossom Festival worth visiting? Yes, with one essential caveat: peak bloom is not on the calendar. The National Park Service issues rolling bloom forecasts beginning in late winter, with updated predictions as temperatures develop. Peak bloom lasts only four to seven days -- visitors who book around the festival dates without tracking the forecast frequently arrive early or late and miss it entirely. The safest strategy is to build flexibility across a 10-day window centered on the last week of March. Crowds near the Tidal Basin during peak bloom are intense on weekends. The best approach: arrive before 7am on a weekday, or go to the Kenwood neighborhood in Bethesda, Maryland -- a residential area with hundreds of cherry trees and a fraction of the Washington traffic. The National Arboretum in northeast DC is another low-crowd option with exceptional bloom density. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is on Falkor's Nation's Best list because Japan's 1912 gift of 3,000 trees has become one of the most emotionally legible events in American culture -- a reminder, on the same timetable every year, that beauty is worth planning around. The trees do not last. That is the point.

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282 days away

Long Beach Grand Prix 2027

Apr 11 – Apr 13, 2027 Long Beach Street Circuit, Shoreli…

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach returns in 2027 for its annual run as one of the premiere street circuit races in North America. The Long Beach GP transforms the streets of downtown Long Beach into a 1.968-mile temporary racing circuit, and the event has been a fixture of the IndyCar calendar and international motorsport scene since 1975. The 2027 event runs across a full race weekend in April — practice sessions on Friday, qualifying on Saturday, and the featured IndyCar race on Sunday. The circuit runs through downtown Long Beach, using streets that are open to traffic the rest of the year. The combination of the permanent grandstands at Turn 1 and the temporary seating throughout the circuit gives spectators a wide range of viewing experiences and price points. Beyond the IndyCar main event, the Grand Prix weekend includes support series races (IMSA, Formula Drift, and others that rotate annually), a vendor midway with automotive brands and sponsors, car shows, and the motorsport culture that fills the Long Beach waterfront for the full weekend. The surrounding Shoreline Drive and nearby restaurants and bars run special Grand Prix hours and programming. The circuit is accessible from downtown Long Beach's waterfront. Water Shuttle service from ports in the harbor operates during race weekend. Multiple parking locations within walking distance. Weekend passes and single-day tickets available via the GPLB website.

Coming Soon

287 days away

Coachella 2027 — Weekend 2 Friday

Apr 16, 2027 Empire Polo Club, 81800 Ave 51, In…

Coachella 2027 Weekend 2 — Friday April 16 — opens the second run of the festival at the Empire Polo Club with the same lineup as Weekend 1, delivering it to a distinctly different crowd. The Weekend 2 experience benefits from a week of learning: social media coverage of Weekend 1 has given the Weekend 2 audience advance knowledge of where to position for each headliner, which Sahara sets packed beyond expectation, and which food vendors had lines worth waiting in. Weekend 2 Friday draws the local crowd more strongly — Southern California residents who couldn't make Weekend 1 due to work schedules, families with school-age children who need to wait for the school week to end, and the festival veterans who deliberately chose Weekend 2 for its more relaxed overall energy. The festival infrastructure on Weekend 2 Friday benefits from a week of optimization — vendors who under-supplied on Weekend 1 have restocked, logistical bottlenecks identified during Weekend 1 are adjusted, and the staff is operating with full event experience rather than first-weekend orientation. The Empire Polo Club opens gates midday. Camping for Weekend 2 is accessible from Thursday. The campground has different energy than Weekend 1 — more intentional, less overwhelmed. The programming is identical to Weekend 1 with any technical issues identified during the first run addressed.

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10 Gathering

294 days away

San Diego Comic Fest 2027

Apr 23 – Apr 25, 2027 San Diego, CA 92108

SD Comic Fest returns for its 2027 edition in the spring — the annual San Diego gathering that celebrates print comics, vintage collecting, and creator culture in the mode of conventions before the entertainment industry discovered them. The 2027 edition continues the festival's commitment to the medium of comics as an art form rather than as IP source material. Comic Fest's vendor room is the reason to attend: original comic art pages from established and significant creators, silver and bronze age books at prices set by sellers who know their inventory, Golden Age finds in protective sleeves, and the small press aisle where independent creators sell and sign their self-published and micro-press work. The conversations in the Comic Fest dealer room are different from any other show — this is a collector space where condition, variant identification, and print run knowledge are shared currencies. Programming covers comics history, creator conversations about craft and process, and the discussion of the medium's development that comics scholars and serious readers value. Guest creators at Comic Fest are there because they care about the community, not because they're promoting a film adaptation. The venue for SD Comic Fest 2027 will be announced through sdcomicfest.com. The festival has run at the Town and Country Resort and similar venues in San Diego. Admission charged. April/May timing is typical. All ages.

Coming Soon

303 days away

OC Marathon 2027 — Huntington Beach

May 2, 2027 Huntington Beach, CA 92648

The OC Marathon is one of Southern California's premier road racing events, routing participants through the streets of Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach each spring before delivering them to one of the most scenic finish lines in American distance running: the sand and surf of Huntington Beach. Multiple race distances serve the full spectrum of participants: full marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K, and a dedicated kids' run. The event draws thousands of participants from across the region and beyond. The full marathon course qualifies for Boston Marathon qualification standards, attracting serious competitive runners. The half marathon is the most popular distance and routinely sells out months in advance. Packet pickup and race expo run in the days before race day at a dedicated location — check ocmarathon.com for the current expo venue and schedule. Live bands and volunteer crowds line the route through downtown Huntington Beach. Post-race celebration area includes food, beer garden, and live music. Register early regardless of distance — the event fills well ahead of the entry deadline.

Coming Soon

26 Gathering

338 days away

San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon 2027

Jun 6, 2027 Balboa Park to Embarcadero, San Di…

The Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon runs through the streets and canyons of San Diego in June 2027, one of the flagship events of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon series and one of the most musically themed marathon experiences anywhere. Every mile of the course features live bands positioned along the route — local and regional musicians in every genre provide continuous entertainment for runners as they cover the 26.2-mile course through downtown San Diego, Balboa Park, and the beach communities. The Rock 'n' Roll format has transformed marathon running's social culture since its launch in San Diego in 1998 — the combination of running and live music makes the marathon accessible as a community event for non-runners who come to spectate and participate in the street festival atmosphere, and it provides runners with entertainment that makes the distance genuinely more manageable. The San Diego course starts in the Little Italy/Balboa Park area, passes through downtown, Mission Hills, and Old Town, and winds through the neighborhoods that make San Diego's urban terrain distinctive. The finish line festival on the waterfront Embarcadero features headliner concert performance after the main finish window. Registration available through RunRocknRoll.com — the San Diego race fills quickly and registration often opens for priority access before the general public sale. The accompanying half-marathon and 5K events run on the same weekend. Spectating is free along the course; parking throughout downtown with heavy demand on race morning.

Coming Soon

15 Gathering

362 days away

Shrek 5

Jun 30 – Jul 4, 2027 From $15 Major theaters nationwide, USA (Ch…

Theaters nationwide. Summer 2027. From $15. Shrek 5 — the return of the Far Far Away universe, the ogre who became the genre that ate itself, the animated franchise that ran so successfully that its cultural footprint outlasted the original studio that made it — arriving in theaters for the fifth time. The Shrek films have moved through enough cultural cycles that they now exist simultaneously as children's entertainment, nostalgia object, and internet mythology. The first film is a genuine piece of work. The second one is arguably better. The third and fourth ones are the evidence that the franchise ran longer than the idea. The fifth one arrives into a world where the fanbase has been waiting through the meme era and come out the other side still interested. From $15 at theaters everywhere when the 2027 summer season opens. The opening weekend of a Shrek film is a specific experience — the theater demographic is broader than almost any other animated franchise, and the audience reaction when something earns it is the version of that moment the theater format provides that home streaming doesn't. Opening weekend. Be there for the cultural event, not just the movie.

Anime Expo 2027 — Los Angeles Convention Center

Coming Soon

97 Gathering

363 days away

Anime Expo 2027 — Los Angeles Convention Center

Jul 1 – Jul 4, 2027 Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

Anime Expo 2027 returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center over the Fourth of July weekend, marking another year of what has become the largest anime convention in North America. AX draws over 100,000 attendees annually to experience the full spectrum of Japanese animation, manga, gaming, music, and pop culture in one of the most densely packed convention weekends in the world. The LACC footprint spans multiple halls and the adjacent JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, hosting industry panels, world premiere announcements, screening rooms, an exhibit hall with hundreds of vendors, autograph sessions with voice actors and anime composers, and concerts and live performances that sell out weeks in advance. Industry guests from major animation studios in Japan make AX their primary North American announcement platform — if a major sequel, adaptation, or licensing deal is going to be revealed, AX is often where it happens first. For fans of specific series, the AX floor is where you find rare imported merchandise, exclusive collaboration products, and limited-run items that do not appear anywhere else. For casual anime watchers, the convention is a crash course in the depth and breadth of the community surrounding the medium. Badge types range from Premier Fan badges (early access, priority room entry) to general admission single-day passes. The convention runs Thursday through Sunday over Independence Day weekend. Plan for crowds and book hotels inside the connected hotel corridor months in advance for the most convenient experience.

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