This ad card promotes the annual Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival, celebrating the illustrated world that takes place on the first Saturday in November every year. In 2019, it will be held at the Clark County Library on November 2, 2019 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, featuring publishers, vendors, film screenings, panels and workshops, special comic and animation guests, live music and cosplay.
The 18th annual Tel Aviv Pride Parade took place on June 3, 2016 with more than 200,000 participants from Israel and oversea. It's the largest event ever in the Middle East. The theme for the 2016 event was “Women for Change,” highlighting the role of women in the LGBT community.
Postcard TW-1958271 from Taiwan shows the Tel Aviv Pride Parade from a previous year. The 2017 Tel Aviv Pride Parade will be held on June 9, 2017.
In the United States, thousands turned out in Columbus, OH, Denver, CO, Olympia, WA, New Orleans, LA, Portland, OR, Chicago, IL, Albuquerque, NM and Providence, RI. for pride festivals and parades over the weekend. The mood for many people was somber as forty-nine people were killed and more than 50 others were wounded in a mass shooting inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL last weekend on June 12, 2016. Security were tightened at events over the weekend. Participants declare that they refuse to live in fear, with more people come out to show support.
While the summer will not officially start until June 20, 2016, it certainly feels like one already when the high temperature hit 95ºF / 35ºC in Las Vegas yesterday. Fortunately, pool parties have returned to cool us off as the blistering heat is coming soon. More concerts, festivals and out-door activities are being announced. It looks like an exciting summer in 2016. Postcard US-3975290 to the United Kingdom shows a photo taken by the pool at Luxor on July 12, 2015.
Postcard TH-191063 from Thailand shows an elephant with texts of "Chiang Mai" forming as in circles as rays from the sun. Located 700 kilometers or 435 miles north of Bangkok, Chiang Mai is the largest and most culturally significant city in Northern Thailand. Surrounded by the highest mountains in the country, the city sits astride the Ping River, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya River. The location helped Chiang Mai to gain historic importance due to its close proximity to major trading routes associated with the river.
Today marks the first day of the Songkran festival (潑水節) that is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year. The festival lasts from April 13 to April 15. It coincides with the New Year of the Buddhist and Hindu solar calendar used in South and Southeast Asia. The traditional water pouring during the festival symbolizes a ritual of washing away all of the past evils and sins.
Las Vegas rings in the Year of the Sheep, Goat or Ram with lion and dragon dances today. Postcard US-3202717 to Oklahoma, USA shows one of the three 600-pound ram sculptures gilded in gold leaf to mark the occasion at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore at Wynn Las Vegas. Fruiting tangerine trees, begonias, calandivas and red, yellow and orange chrysanthemums greet guests throughout the Wynn Atrium.
Las Vegas Spring Festival will be held at at The LINQ Promenade on February 20 and 21, 2015, featuring cultural performances, a live dragon and lion dance, martial arts demonstrations, a car show and a culinary show. The 2015 Las Vegas Spring Festival Parade, part of CNY in the Desert/Las Vegas Spring Festival, will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on February 21 in downtown Las Vegas.
Postcard DE-3748381 from Germany arrived with a message "I love snow" on December 22 when meteorological winter starts in the Northern Hemisphere. However, there is no white Christmas in sight as the temperature at McCarran International Airport reached a record high at 22.8°C or 73°F today.
Winter Solstice Festival (冬至), one of the most important seasonal festivals celebrated in China and other East Asia countries during the winter solstice, falls on Monday, December 22 in 2014. Since the winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year, the festival celebrates the beginning of a period when the daylight hours are getting longer with an increase of positive energy pouring in from the sun. The favorite snacks during the festival are dumplings in the Northern China, wantons in the Eastern China, and red bean sweet rice cakes in the Southern China.
Postcard BY-1460654 from Belarus shows an illustrated Belarusian Cat by artist Ekaterina Shmirina, dressing like Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost), a fictional character who in some Slavic cultures plays a similar role as Santa Claus does.
Culture Day (文化の日) is a national holiday celebrated annually in Japan on November 3. There are many festivities where art exhibitions, parades, and recognition ceremonies for distinguished artists and scholars are held to promote art and culture.
Postcard JP-597442 shows an illustration of Momijidani Park (紅葉谷公園), one of the most famous maple leaves valley parks located at the foot of Mt. Misen, along Momijidani River, in Miyajima, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima. In the middle of November, fall foliage will be in full bloom in the park.
Outgoing postcard US-3038777 to China was an advertising card that promoted a benefit event for the Vegas Valley Book Festival. A program of Lost and Found schemes, scenes and stories by authors and performers was presented in the Clark County Sahara West Library at 7 p.m. Friday October 17, 2014.
The annual festival in its 13th edition, held from October 16 to October 18, 2014, was a three-day celebration of the written, spoken and illustrated word. Past keynote speakers included Dennis Lehane in 2010.
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo family band played Gotta Be Me at the Children's Main Stage on October 18, 2014, combining hip hop funk music with a message of self assurance and diversity appreciation.
"鉄道の日" is the annual Railway Festival in Japan on October 14 to commemorate the opening of Japan's first railway between Shimbashi Station (新橋駅), Tokyo and Sakuragichō Station (桜木町駅), Yokohama on October 14, 1872. In 2014, the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) issued a three-day unlimited-ride pass to celebrate the occasion.
Postcard JP-591605 from Japan shows the Super Sōya, express train service between Sapporo and Wakkanai in Hokkaido, operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) which is one of the six regional operators in the JR Group for the passenger services.
I got this postcard from a Capital Pride Festival in Washington D.C. more than 10 years ago, showing Badlands that was located near the Dupont Circle and first opened in 1983. Once billed as Washington D.C.’s most progressive and longest running gay dance club, it later changed its name to Apex and was abruptly shutdown on July 5, 2011 after 28 years. The space, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Codman Carriage House and Stable, is now occupied by Phase One of Dupont, a 21+ lesbian venue.
Today, for the first time in the Annual Capital Pride Parade's 39-year history, the U.S. Armed Forces color guards marched along with the rainbow flag. An eight-member color guard team from the U.S. Army Military District of Washington led off the parade, started at 4:30 pm on June 7, 2014. It is the same team that presents the flags at congressional and White House events. The Department of Defense authorized the participation. Celebrations continue tomorrow at the Capital Pride Festival from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm on June 8, 2014.
Postcard RU-2600386 from Russia shows "Sky Fair of the Urals”, an annual hot-air balloon festival held in a historic small town of Kungur in Russia since 2001. Located at the western slope of the Ural Mountains, Kungur has a population of 66,074 as of 2010. As the Ural Mountains range is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia, balloon racers have unique opportunities to flight cross over the two continents.
Postcard US-2698997 to Japan shows a Victorian Easter postcard, created by golden_oldies, with some charming bunnies and Easter eggs. Easter is a festival and holiday celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead three days after his crucifixion by Romans at Calvary. Easter occurs between March 22 and April 25. In 2014, it is celebrated on April 20.
Postcard US-2643460 from Washington D.C. area shows the famed cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin with the Washington Monument in the background. The 2014 National Cherry Blossom Festival runs from March 20 to April 13, commemorating the 102nd anniversary of the gift of the cherry blossom trees from Japan.
The peak bloom period only lasts for a few days; and the precise time period varies each year depending on weather conditions. The average peak bloom date from 1992 to 2013 for those cherry trees is March 31. However, the colder-than-usual winter is causing a late peak for cherry blossoms this year. The National Park Service forecast put the peak bloom period for the cherry blossoms this year as from April 8 to April 12. An alternative forecast by Washington Post‘s Capital Weather Gang predicted a peak bloom period between April 11 and April 15, centered on April 13. Meanwhile, you can watch the live cherry blossom cam on Earthcam.
Se-tenant Cherry Blossom Centennial Forever Stamps issued by USPS on March 24, 2012
St. Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious holiday that celebrates the death date of the most commonly-recognized patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick on March 17. While the festivals are underway this Sunday, Guinness became the third beer company to withdraw sponsorship of a major St. Patrick's Day parade in the U.S. because the organizers banned LGBT groups from openly participating in the parades.
Earlier, according to Boston.com, Boston Beer Company, which manufactures Sam Adams, announced on March 14 to pull out today's parade in Boston after South End restaurant Club Cafe said that it would no longer serve Sam Adams due to the brewer's sponsorship with the parade. Boston's Irish-American Mayor Martin Walsh skipped his city's St. Patrick's Day parade after failing to broke a deal with organizers to allow a group of gay and lesbian activists to march openly.
In New York City, Heineken ended its relationship with the 250-year old parade for the same reason; and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will not be marching in the parade on Monday, March 17 to protest the exclusionary policies, becoming the first mayor in decades to break the tradition.
Postcard DE-2971447 from Germany shows nightglow of the hot-air balloons at the Kiel Week, a week-long annual sailing festival and Volksfest in Kiel, Germany. The sailing event is the largest in the world; and the Volksfest (People's Festival), a beer/wine festival with a traveling carnival that features amusement rides and food and merchandise vendors, is one of the largest in Germany.
Postcard US-2628163 to Japan shows a fun map of Austin, the capital of Texas, designed by FunGraphix. It is the 11th-largest city in the U.S. and the fourth-largest city in the state of Texas, and home to the University of Texas at Austin.
Austin hosts South by Southwest (SXSW), a cluster of festivals of film, interactive media, and music, and technical conferences every year in spring. It will run from March 7 to March 16 in 2014.
The Vegas Valley Book Festival just concluded a three-day celebration of literature and imagination from October 30 to November 2, 2013. Founded by Nevada Humanities in 2002, it has featured authors from around the globe participating in a full schedule of panel discussions, book signings, readings, workshops, poetry, children's literature, and special events.
Postcard US-1920289 to the Netherlands shows Dennis Lehane as the closing keynote speaker of the 2010 festival at the Clark County Library on November 7, 2010. Dennis has written several novels, including A Drink Before the War, Mystic River, "Gone, Baby, Gone", and the latest Moonlight Mile. My favorite quote of Dennis came from his book Shutter Island: “Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?”
I received a postcard from Taiwan today. It is one of the serious of Taiwan Retrospective Exhibition by Jau Pang Hsu, documenting farming with black and white. Its arrival coincides the Mid-Autumn Festival which is September 19 in 2013.
The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節/中秋节) is a popular harvest festival celebrated by people from Asia on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, during a full moon, which occurs in late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar, close to the autumnal equinox. Family members are gathering and eating moon cakes for celebration. It's similar to the Thanksgiving in the U.S.
Summer Display at Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) Las Vegas 2013 starts a few hours ago in the evening on June 21, 2013 and will last for three days until June 23, 2013. It is an international annual electronic dance music festival that drew more than 300,000 people last year in 2012. It is held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway where the organizer Insomniac has transformed this 1,000-acre race field into six areas of music, carnival rides, vendor village, interactive art installations and other festival attractions. Sirius XM channel 52 has EDC radio throughout this weekend.
