USA Festivals and Events. Some precise festival dates

January 1: Los Angeles, California Rose Parade - Tournament of Roses Parade - in Pasadena, an immense, floaty, flowery spectacle of floats and bands.
January 1: Philadelphia Mummers Parade, Pennsylvania - the biggest, wildest event of the year, incredible outfits and lots of comedy. If the weather's bad the event moves to the following Saturday. From 9am.
Mid-January: Miami, Florida Art Deco Weekend - in the Miami Beach Historic Art Deco District with 1920's-30's style music and parades. A colourful blast from the past.

Mid February: Galveston, Texas, Mardi Gras Galveston - live bands, parades, balls and costumes.
February: New York City, Chinese New Year - Chinatown Parade and Festival, with floats, bands, dragon dancers, musicians, acrobats etc etc. Parade 1-3pm.
February or March: New Orleans, Louisiana, Mardi Gras - locals start celebrating up to 2 weeks before, dressed bizarrely, intent on mayhem and well oiled good times. An outrageous must-see.
Late February-March: Daytona Beach, Florida Bike Week - the world's biggest motorbike feast of all with events of all kinds. 2 wheels god, four wheels baaad.

Early March: Anchorage, Alaska, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race - 1131 miles from Anchorage to Nome in doggy style...it's the white stuff. The start is the best bit.
Mid March: USA, St Patrick's Day Parade - especially good in Chicago, Boston, New York and San Francisco. Aaargh, everything is green!
Mid March: Houston, Texas, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the world's biggest animal and cowboy event, but also includes laser shows and music.

April: San Antonio, Texas, Fiesta San Antonio. Over 150 different events ranging from masked balls to the Pooch Parade; the biggest party in Texas!
Late April: New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - forget Mardi Gras if you just want to relax and enjoy some of the best live music in the country.

Mid June: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival. Over 100 tribes pow-wow and celebrate their heritage with song and dance.
Mid June: Chicago, Illinois Chicago Blues Festival - the world's largest free blues concert. Six stages and admission free!
Late June-Early July: Washington DC, Smithsonian Folklife Festival - Smithsonian Institute, National Mall. Music, song, dance, crafts, cooking, storytelling, discussions.

July 4: USA Independence Day, a major celebration of the stars and stripes, especially good in Washington DC, New York and Boston (Harborfest).
Late July: Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne Frontier Days - wild west festivities of every kind at the world's largest rodeo.

Early August: Sturgis, Black Hills, South Dakota Sturgis Rally, also known as Sturgis Bike Week - Hog Heaven as tens of thousands of big bikers make a terrible, colourfully obese noise.
Early August : Newport, Rhode Island, Newport Folk Festival and Jazz Festival (the world's longest-running jazz festival)
End of August: Nevada, Burning Man Festival - one week of raving mad, liberal, artistic utopia in the desert.

Early September: Seattle, Washington State, Bumbershoot at Seattle Center - over 2,000 artists, many world famous, perform art of every kind from top flight rock to comedy, drama and poetry to bizarre sculptures.
September: California, Los Angeles, L. A. County Fair. The largest fair in the USA features everything from pig racing to rodeos and big name bands.
Early September: Chicago, Illinois, Chicago Jazz Festival - a free event on the picturesque shore of Lake Michigan.
Mid September: Monterey Jazz Festival in California. This, the oldest and longest running jazz festival in the world, always hosts some big names but also has workshops, exhibitions and other appropriate entertainment.
Late September: San Francisco, California, San Francisco Blues Festival - the world's oldest ongoing blues festival.
Late September: Hawaii, Aloha Festival Floral Parade - a hugely colourful and scented occasion in Oahu starts a series of events all over the islands.

October: Albuquerque, New Mexico, International Balloon Fiesta - a lot of hot air about.
October: Florida, Miami Carnival, a city-wide rave, with much Latin influence, especially dancing. The last Sunday in Calle Ocho culminating in a parade to the Orange Bowl is the highlight of the week.
October or November: Las Vegas Professional Bull Riders Finals - the 45 toughest hombres in the west ride the baddest bulls in one of the world's most colourful cities.
31 October: New York City, New York's Village Halloween Parade - a colourful and spooky occasion with over 20,000 scary monsters on the prowl among the bands, puppets and assorted weirdos. From 7pm.

Late November: New York City Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - specialising in monster helium balloon figures. 9am-noon.

Some useful USA links:

Sporting Events Calendar.

Sports in the United States.

National Park Service - the national park concept was invented in the USA, and the NPS represent thousands of national parks, monuments, historic sites and recreation areas throughout the country, and the site is comprehensive.

ABC | CNN | MSNBC | Fox - the biggest news services for the USA including general weather forecasts.

USA Today | New York Times | Washington Post | Los Angeles Times - some of the leading newspapers in the USA.

National Weather Service - official weather predictions, particularly warnings, for the whole of the country.

FirstGov - first stop website for all things to do with the US government.

These United States - provides an overview of each of the 50 states and with links to related websites.