Here are a few of this weekend's highlights;

One of my favorite cities, Santa Barbara, California, is hosting their annual French Festival this Saturday and Sunday. Some of the food on offer includes Brittany crêpes, Alsatian Sausages and Choucroute, escargots, mussels and fries and French wine and apéritifs to taste.


Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Anneke Schram


Our local wine co-op, les Trois Blasons in Azillanet, France, is celebrating wine and art at their annual Pin'Art Festival this weekend. There will be wine tasting, dancing, art exhibits and local food to enjoy.

The 16th Annual International Mango Festival takes place at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida.

This year we are celebrating the mango heritage of Africa. In the fields and gardens of tropical Africa, the mango is a treasured fruit. In Egypt, it is one of the gifts of the Nile, where varieties such as 'Ewais,' 'Zebda,' 'Mabrouka' and 'Taimour' are grown for home markets or exported to the Gulf. Further south, huge mango trees line the river banks, and oases of the dry countries in the Sahel, the dark green foliage of the mango trees mark the positions of villages in dry bleached landscapes. In all of the these countries, whether Burkina Faso, Kenya or Ghana, the mango is an integral part of village economies and a sweet, tangy aromatic pleasure in an often dusty land.

A day of live music, dancing, sampling the spoils from the Crab Cook-Off competition and a Watermelon Eating Contest is on offer this Saturday at the annual Taste of Cambridge in Cambridge, Maryland.

The folks in Trempealeau, Wisconsin are celebrating the Trempealeau Catfish Days this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There is endless entertainment on offer for festival goers.