A CALENDAR OF BAJA EVENTS
Baja 'Close Enough' Calendar of Events
Early January:
Not many events take place in January, though the snowbird season is at its peak.
El D?a de los Santos Reyes, January 6, marks the end of the Christmas holiday season. It is on this day, not Christmas Day, that Mexicans feast and
exchange gifts.
During February:
In Ensenada, San Felipe and La Paz, Carnaval (the Latin Mardi Gras) is celebrated with five days of parades, fireworks, costumes and dancing in the
streets.
Late February:
Sports car racers compete in the Mexicali Grand Prix.
San Felipe hosts the Mid-Winter West Hobie Regatta, a three-day sailing event for Hobie Catamarans.
Early March:
The desert around San Felipe provides the course for extreme off-road racing in the Score San Felipe 250, a scaled-down version of the famous Baja
1000.
March:
Ensenada?s Carnaval, held on the six days leading up to Lent (40 days before Easter), fills the streets with live music, dancing and costumes. Monday
of Carnaval week is ?henpecked husbands? day,? when men are allowed 23 hours to indulge every desire?at their own risk.
Late March:
Over Spring Break, traditionally the third and fourth weeks of March, college students from all over the western United States descend on Baja.
The San Felipe area is hit hardest; Rosarito, Ensenada and Los Cabos are also packed with student bodies.
The Fiesta de San Jos?, honoring San Jos? del Cabo?s patron saint, falls right in the middle of Spring Break.
During April:
Holy Week (Semana Santa), the week before Easter, is not as crowded in Baja as elsewhere in Mexico. But many people visit relatives on the
?mainland,? and many businesses shut down from Wednesday through Sunday.
San Felipe hosts a series of beach-style sporting events through the month, including the Posada del Mar Aerobics Meet, the San Felipe Triathlon, and
the Beach Volleyball Slam Festival.
Around the same time:
10,000 cyclists participate in the semiannual Rosarito to Ensenada Bicycle Race, and the Newport-Ensenada Yacht Race draws so many boaters that it
claims to be the world?s largest regatta.
Late April:
What better place to recover from the month?s fitness events than at the Tijuana Pizza Festival?
Early May:
The streets of Cabo San Lucas are the scene of the annual Fireman?s Chili Cookoff Festival, which also features dancing, entertainment and a
pie-eating contest.
Late May:
Vaqueros (Mexican cowboys) come from all over Baja and northern Mexico to compete for prizes in the Tecate Rodeo.
Early June:
The biggest happening of the month is D?a de la Armada (Navy Day), when Mexican naval bases stage military boat processions for the people of nearby
coastal towns.
During June:
The Baja 500 race
Late June:
The Mexico International Volleyball Tournament, the world?s largest volleyball event, attracts more than 2000 players to Playa Estero south of
Ensenada.
During July:
July 11 marks the Anniversary of Tijuana, founded in 1899. The fiesta lasts all month. Baja?s economic development, from factories to farming
cooperatives, is the focus of Expo Ensenada.
During August:
Tecate?s La Pamplonada is patterned after the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and every bit as dangerous.
The event is followed by the Guadalupe Valley Wine Festival in the vineyard country around Tecate.
The Feria de Tijuana features entertainment, carnival rides and livestock shows at Agua Caliente racetrack from mid-August through mid-September.
Early September:
The Fiesta de Santa Rosal?a is colorfully celebrated in both Santa Rosal?a and Muleg?.
A few days later, Loreto?s D?a de la Virgen de Loreto climaxes with a spectacular street procession.
Mid-September:
Many Baja towns celebrate Mexico?s Independence Day, September 16, with fireworks and festivities.
In Mexicali and La Paz, the observance lasts for two days and includes an array of cultural events.
During October:
El D?a de la Raza (The Day of the Race, referring to mestizos) is celebrated in place of Columbus Day.
Late October:
The Mexicali-San Felipe Sports Weekend features a Mexicali-San Felipe Bicycle Ride (55 miles or 125 miles), a San Felipe Mountain Bike Ride (10 miles
or 20 miles) and a Mexicali-San Felipe Five-Person Running Relay.
Around the same time:
the 50-mile Rosarito-Ensenada Bicycle Race draws even more participants than the same race held in the springtime; cyclists have numbered around
16,000 in recent years.
Cabo San Lucas honors its patron saint with the Fiesta de San Lucas on October 18.
Early November:
El D?a de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead?actually two days, November 1 and 2?is generally a quiet, stay-at-home time in Baja; most businesses close.
Soon afterward:
San Felipe?s biggest party of the year, the Shrimp Festival, fills three days with music, dancing, seafood and beach fun.
Mid-November:
Granddaddy of backroad Baja races, the Baja 1000 follows different routes in different years, alternating between the traditional 1000-mile
Ensenada-La Paz race (a Baja institution long before the highway was paved) and a 1000-kilometer circuit of Baja California Norte. The race has four
divisions?motorcycles, dune buggies, stock cars and four-wheel-drive trucks.
Early December:
San Felipe stages a Snowbird Welcome Fiesta in observance of the annual mass migration of RVers to its beaches.
That's about it, but still a full plate!...Quite possibly I have omitted your birthday or some favorite celebration...like the Moving of the Mothers,
Coyote Bay Flapjack-Off & Bloody Mary Busthead...or the Pig Races, etc...so fill those in as you know them.
Lots to do! No excuses, now!!...get out of those hammocks!
[Edited on 3-26-2006 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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