Wisconsin Jazz Festival

Shades of Blue Kicks Off Wisconsin Jazz Festival

The 44th annual Eau Claire Jazz Festival from April 7 to 10, is a weekend packed with live entertainment, over a hundred Midwestern bands, interactive clinics and thousands of jazz enthusiasts. 

Guest artists this year include jazz saxophonist Eric Marienthal, Afro�Latin drumming sensation Bobby Sanabria, The Hornheads and The United States Air Force Band of Mid America � Shades of Blue. 

The jazz festival kicks off March 29 with a two-week community-wide celebration of jazz, culminating in the four-day festival in Eau Claire and Menomonie.

The United States Air Force Band of Mid America � Shades of Blue kicks off the festival weekend Thursday with a free concert at Memorial High School in Eau Claire at 7:30p.m. Headliner concerts on Friday at 7:30p.m. and Saturday at 7p.m. will feature Marienthal and Sanabria, along with award-winning UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble I, also at Memorial High School in Eau Claire. The Hornheads will perform in the finale concert, Sunday at 2p.m., at Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts in Menomonie, WI.

In addition to guest artists, education is a main focus of the festival. Middle schools, high schools, and colleges from a six-state area travel to Eau Claire to perform, be critiqued, and learn how to enhance their jazz skills. Students also have the opportunity to receive scholarships to Shell Lake and Birch Creek summer music camps and win instruments. Several free clinics are offered Friday and Saturday both for attending schools and community members. All clinics and master classes are free and open to the public.

For more information about top events in Wisconsin take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Wisconsin. 

For more information about the Eau Claire Jazz Festival visit www.eauclairejazz.com 

Taliesin 100 Years

Wisconsinites are right to lay claim to celebrity architect Frank Lloyd Wright as a native son. 

The proof of that resides in Spring Green, where the 100th Anniversary of Taliesin, the residence and workshop of the legendary designer, is being duly marked with a variety of special events, tours, artist workshops, lectures and performances. 

The celebration includes a reception on April 28 not in Spring Green but in Milwaukee � stay with us here � where the Milwaukee Art Museum will be featuring through now to May 15 a special exhibit, Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century. 

Back at Taliesin in Spring Green, visitors will want to check out the centennial exhibit entitled Taliesin: The Work of a Lifetime, with rare photographs of Wright, the Taliesin Fellowship and Taliesin pre-1914. Other events include an exhibit by Wright�s personal photographer Pedro E. Guerrero entitled Wright and Taliesin: A Retrospective, a concert by Chicago Chamber Musicians, art workshops and dance performances.

Everyone knows summer in Milwaukee is not complete without a trip to Summerfest, the world�s largest outdoor music festival which takes place this year from June 29 to July 3 and (closed on July 4) from July 5 to 10. 

Coming to Milwaukee for the first time, the bi-yearly U.S. Indigenous Games from July 10 to 17 invites thousands of Native American youth to compete in sporting events. 

In the northwest corner of the state there�s the 50th Bayfield Apple Festival set for October 7 to 9, listed as one of the �Top Ten Autumn Festivals in North America� by the Society of American Travel Writers. 

For more information about top events in Wisconsin take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Wisconsin. 

Travelers looking for year-round Wisconsin getaway ideas, travel planning, events and free guides can discover their own fun at TravelWisconsin.com.