By Todos Santos Eco Adventures

The festival scene is exploding here in Todos Santos! The talented, creative and energetic people of the town have organized a wonderful array of festivals to celebrate the many things that make Todos Santos such a great place to live and visit: food, wine, music, art, ranchero culture and more. Following is a list of festivals currently planned for 2013. For more in-depth coverage of these events, their organizers and other Todos Santos happenings, be sure to check out Wendy Rains’ weekly radio program Todos Santos Today, as well as Janice Kinne’s magazine, Journal del Pacifico.Visitors – time to start planning your 2013 trip to Todos Santos! Locals, if you have updates to the information or know of more festivals being planned, please let us know. We’d love to get the word out!

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Peter Buck & Friends Play the Palapa Society. Photo by Vivian Johnson

Todos Santos Music Festival

• Date: January 10-26, 2013
• Organizers: Peter Buck of REM and the Hotel California (and Todos Santos Eco Adventures is a sponsor!)
• Benefits: The Palapa Society, helping the children of Todos Santos
• Why it’s fun: Peter Buck of REM recruits his famous musician friends to come jam in Todos Santos over three weekends to raise money for an excellent cause. It’s awesome!
• Inception: 2012

• Date: February 13-17, 2013
• Organizer: Jorge Barajas
• Why it’s fun: It’s a week-long celebration of Mexican culture that typically features live music, dance and theatre performances, painting and drawing exhibitions, lectures on local environmental and social issues, piano and poetry recitals and lots more. Artisans from different parts of Mexico also set up shop next to the church to sell their crafts. Diverse, fun and engaging.
• Inception: 1997
• Special Note: The Todos Santos Open Artist Studio Tour will be held on February 10, just before the art festival. 31 studios participated in 2012 and mediums included oils, pastels, watercolors, mixed media, encaustic, ceramics, sculpture and photography. Proceeds go to the Children’s Art project of the Palapa Society.

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Artist Jill Logan’s painting of Mexican actress Maria Felix

Todos Santos Film Festival / El Festival de Cine de Todos Santos 

• Dates: February 20-25, 2013 (Todos Santos) February 26-28 (La Paz)
• Organizer: Sylvia Perel, director of the San Francisco Latino Film Festival and the Latino Festival of Redwood City, California.
• Benefits: Youth in Video program, teaching the children of the Todos Santos area about film making.
• Why it’s fun: This fantastic festival brings together a terrific selection of feature films, documentaries and shorts from across Mexico and Latin America that many folks would otherwise never have the opportunity to see. Many well-known film directors attend to present their films and lead audience discussions. Great event!
• Inception: 2004

Todos Santos Own Sierra Laguna Vintners Zach and Kristianna

• Date: May 4-5, 2013
• Organizers: Perla Garnica and Mac Sutton of La Bodega de Todos Santos
• Benefits: Silent auction to benefit thethe bomberos – the firemen – of Todos Santos
• Why it’s fun: It’s a wonderful celebration of the food and wines of Baja California – and you get to indulge in plenty of both! It’s a great opportunity to get to know local chefs from Todos Santos (and their food) and winemakers from both Todos Santos (yeah, we got that!) and Baja’s Valle de Guadalupe wine-growing region (and their wines). Terrific live music performances throughout the day. It’s fabulous!
• Inception: 2012

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Escaramuza Riders at Todos Santos Horse Festival

Todos Santos Horse Festival / Festival del Caballos de Todos Santos

• Date: May 12, 2013
• Organizers: Arturo Geraldo and Kaia Thomson
• Why it’s fun: It’s an exciting celebration of Baja ranchero culture that starts with a cabalgata, or parade of horsemen, and features the colorful escaramuza female show riders, trick ropers, barrel races, dancing horses and expert horsemanship.
• Inception: 2012

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Festival del Dia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar / Todos Santos Foundation Festival

• Date: October 10-13, 2013. There will be lots of sporting events like baseball, football, chasing a greased pig, climbing a greased pole and bicycling, as well as lots of great food and dancing. The first half of the cabalgata, or parade of horsemen, is October 12, and the second half when they ride into Todos Santos is October 13.
• Why It’s Fun: It’s a celebration of the founding of Todos Santos and our patron saint, Pilar. Lots of music, dancing, regional foods, arts and more. Great time for the whole family.

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Other Festivals

There is also an annual Chili and Strawberry Festival in late March/early April in Pescadero, an annual Baja Reggae Festival at Los Cerritos Beach in April (or so), a Mango Festival  in July and there’s even a Shark Festival in November. And that’s just the festivals! Please feel free to contact us to learn more about the many interesting/exciting/engaging events organized in town each year – and to plan your adventures to accompany them. Todos Santos Eco Adventures.

© Copyright Sergio and Bryan Jauregui, Casa Payaso S de RL de CV, 2013