5 Unique Events For Your Next Road Trip

If you're looking for an excuse to get in the car and drive somewhere new, this list is for you. The five events featured here take place in locations across North America, from Texas to Toronto, and feature everything from author talks to magical sports. Whether you need to plan a vacation or live close by, consider checking them out. This video was made with Ezvid Wikimaker.

Fun Events Worth Traveling For

Name Location
U.S. Quidditch Cup N/A
Forest of Reading Festival Toronto, Canada
L.A. Design Festival Los Angeles, CA
Chippewa Valley Book Festival Chippewa Valley, WI
ATX Television Festival Austin, TX

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In Depth

The vast expanses of North America are home to an astonishing range of events and festivals celebrating all kinds of subjects and activities. This list, presented in no particular order, surveys five such gatherings, centering on everything from sports to design. Consider checking one or two of them out the next time you're on the road.

#1 on the list is The U.S. Quidditch Cup. Adapted from the fictional game described in the Harry Potter books, Quidditch is a mixed gender, full-contact sport with a unique mix of elements from rugby, basketball, and dodgeball. Teams are made up of seven athletes who play with brooms between their legs at all times. The Cup is the sport's premier event of the season, featuring teams from collegiate and community divisions.

Held annually in mid-April at a new location every year, the event was first staged in 2007 by U.S. Quidditch, the national governing body for the sport. Teams qualify through regional championships and at-large bids. The top clubs are then sorted into round-robin-style brackets and required to win five matches before reaching the championship game. Tickets are available for a single day of match-ups, while weekend passes grant admission to every game.

Teams qualify through regional championships and at-large bids.

At #2, the Forest of Reading Festival is the largest literary event for young readers in Canada. The event is the culmination of a recreational reading series run by The Ontario Library Association. It's a three-day awards celebration, with the winners chosen by school-aged students in the program, that is designed to be the equivalent of a rock concert for reading.

The big weekend festival in Toronto is preceded by a series of satellite events throughout the country, in cities like Waterloo, London, Thunder Bay, and Ottawa. In addition to the awards ceremonies, activities include author and illustrator workshops, book signings, and games. With more than 250,000 kids participating in the reading program annually, the festival is a major effort to encourage Canadian fiction and non-fiction children's publishing.

For #3, we've got The L.A. Design Festival. The event honors Los Angeles's rich design culture. The organizers define the field in the broadest manner possible, in order to reflect the city's diversity. From architecture and interiors to graphic, industrial, fashion, set, costume, and experiential craft, it showcases the best of the local scene, and spotlights a smaller number of national and international figures.

From architecture and interiors to graphic, industrial, fashion, set, costume, and experiential craft, it showcases the best of the local scene, and spotlights a smaller number of national and international figures.

Events include lectures, conversations, parties, tours, installations, awards, and more. Founded in 2011 by publicist Haily Zaki and writer and consultant Michael Sylvester, the festival has grown to encompass more than 80 happenings. It takes place annually in early June. Most of the events are free, though a small number require tickets. The proceedings draw a mixture of practitioners and professionals, as well as consumers.

In the #4 spot, The Chippewa Valley Book Festival celebrates the written word through author readings and book signings, school visits, meals with authors, and programs for writers of all ages. Taking place each October in the area around Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, it brings more than twenty authors to locations like libraries and schools.

The festival is a program of the Pablo Center at the Confluence and works collaboratively with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Foundation to provide literary programming to area residents. Since 2000, it has hosted numerous writers, including playwright Ayad Akhtar, and novelists Rebecca Makkai and Hillary Jordan, as well as local writers and Wisconsin Poets Laureate.

The festival is a program of the Pablo Center at the Confluence and works collaboratively with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Foundation to provide literary programming to area residents.

Finally, at #5, it's the ATX Television Festival, a four-day event that celebrates television: looking at its history, where it is now, and where it is headed. Held annually in Austin, Texas, it consists of panels, screenings, and events where attendees and leaders in the TV industry talk, watch, and experience the medium together as one community.

The programming ranges from never-picked-up pilots and reunions, to current series going into a new season and premieres of brand-new content. Discussion events include one-on-one conversations and large panels, dealing with single shows or broader industry currents. A pitch competition invites emerging creators to present their ideas to some of TV's greatest showrunners and executives.