March 2019 calendar: Looking for something to do or visit?

1-31 – American Red Cross Month.
1-3 – INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF OWLS. Houston, MN. Web: festivalofowls.com.
1-31 – IRISH-AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH.
1-14 –  JAPAN: OMIZUTORI (WATER-DRAWING FESTIVAL). Todaiji, Nara.
3-9 –  NATIONAL CHEERLEADING WEEK. Web: nationalcheerleadingweek.com.
1-31 – NATIONAL COLORECTAL CANCER AWARENESS MONTH. To encourage regular screening. Web: www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal.
1-31 – NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH. Web: eatright.org.
1-31 – NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH. Web: www.nwhp.org.
1-31 – POISON PREVENTION AWARENESS MONTH. Web: www.ppsinc.org.
1 – WALES: SAINT DAVID’S DAY. Celebrates patron saint of Wales. Welsh tradition calls for the wearing of a leek on this day.
1-31 – WORKPLACE EYE WELLNESS MONTH. Accidents at work are a major cause of preventable blindness. Web: preventblindness.org.
1 – World Day of Prayer.
1-9 – BRAZIL: CARNIVAL. Rio de Janeiro. Begins on Saturday night before Ash Wednesday and continues through Shrove Tuesday.
2 – IDITAROD TRAIL SLED DOG RACE. 47th running. Web: iditarod.com.
3-5 – BELGIUM: CARNIVAL OF BINCHE. Binche. Dates back to the 16th century. Annually, Shrove Sunday to Shrove Tuesday.
3-5 – SHROVETIDE. The three days before Ash Wednesday: Shrove Sunday, Monday and Tuesday – a time for repentance and festivity before the beginning of Lent.
3-6 – FRENCH WEST INDIES: CARNIVAL. Martinique.
3-9 – NATIONAL CONSUMER PROTECTION WEEK.
3 – KREWE OF BACCHUS PARADE. New Orleans, LA. Web: kreweofbacchus.org.
3 – ORTHODOX MEATFARE SUNDAY. No meat is eaten after Meatfare Sunday.
4-5 – FASCHING. In Germany and Austria, Fasching or Feast of Fools is a Shrovetide festival with processions of masked figures. Always the two days (Rose Monday and Shrove Tuesday) between Fasching Sunday and Ash Wednesday.
4-5 – TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: CARNIVAL. Port of Spain.
4 – CARNIVAL. Festivals immediately before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Ordinarily, Carnival includes only Fasching (the Feast of Fools), which is the Monday and Tuesday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday.
5-10 –  NORTH DAKOTA WINTER SHOW. Valley City, ND. Agricultural expo Web: northdakotawintershow.com.
5 – ENGLAND: SHROVETIDE PANCAKE RACE.
5 – ICELAND: BURSTING DAY. Feasts with salted mutton and thick pea soup. On Shrove Tuesday.
5 – KREWE OF REX MARDI GRAS PARADE. New Orleans, LA. Main event of New Orleans’s Mardi Gras festivities.
5 – MARDI GRAS. Last feast before Lent.
5 – SHROVE TUESDAY or Pancake Tuesday.
5 – ZULU MARDI GRAS PARADE. New Orleans, LA. Established 1916. Web: kreweofzulu.com.
6 – ASH WEDNESDAY. Beginning of Lent.
6-Apr. 18 – LENT. 40 days.
7-10 – ENGLAND: CRUFTS DOG SHOW. National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, West Midlands.
7-17 – RIO GRANDE VALLEY LIVESTOCK SHOW. Mercedes, TX. 80th annual. Web: rgvls.com.
10-NOV 3 DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS. Daylight saving time begins at 2 am.
12 – GREAT BLIZZARD OF 1888: ANNIVERSARY. In the early hours of Monday, Mar. 12, 1888 the northeastern US began to dig in as one of the most devastating blizzards in US history came on strong. From 40 to 50 inches of snow fell, accompanied by gale-force winds. Drifts were as high as 30-40 feet. More than 400 persons died in the storm (200 in New York City alone). Some survivors of the storm, “The Blizzard Men of 1888,” held annual meetings in New York City as late as 1941 to recount personal recollections of the event.
14-17 – EMERALD CITY COMIC CON. Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA.
14 – PI DAY. A day to celebrate pi – the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Since that mathematical constant is about 3.14, Mar 14 became the day to observe it.
15 – INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR THE SEALS. Also known as International Day of Action against Seal Slaughter. This day calls attention to and urges action against the commercial slaughter of seal pups.
16 – SAINT PATRICK’S DAY PARADE. New York, NY. 2 million attend.
16 – SAINT PATRICK’S DAY PARADE: “WEARIN’ OF THE GREEN.” Baton Rouge, LA. 160,000 attend.
17-23 – NATIONAL POISON PREVENTION WEEK.
17 – SAINT PATRICK’S DAY.
20 – SPRING BEGINS.
20-24 – CHICAGO FLOWER & GARDEN SHOW. Navy Pier, Chicago, IL. Web: chicagoflower.com.
21 – PURIM. Begins at sundown March 20.
23 – ACTION AND SKILL TOYS CONVENTION. Spinning Top and Yo-Yo Museum, Burlington, WI. 24th annual. Web: topmuseum.org.
25 – ENGLAND ABOLISHES SLAVE TRADE, 1807.
27 – MANATEE APPRECIATION DAY.
29 – NIAGARA FALLS RUNS DRY: ANNIVERSARY. Ice blocks formed upstream of Niagara Falls late on Mar 29, 1848, and by midnight stopped water flow over the falls. The ice jam held until Apr 1. In the meantime, hundreds of the curious swarmed into the waterless gorge to hunt for geologic souvenirs while spectators watched from above. Although the American Falls had stopped before, this was the first recorded time all three falls (American, Horseshoe and Bridal Veil) stopped.