29 Fun Things to See and Do in February 2024

February is the season of carnivals, big sporting competitions, historical commemorations, festivals and, of course, Valentine’s Day. Don’t stay in hibernation and let it pass you by, there are plenty of fun activities for the whole family happening across the country. We’ve gathered a list of some of our favorite events — indoors and out — happening this February.

Jan. 25-Feb. 11
For fabulous winter fun, head to Canada for the annual Winter Carnival in Quebec City. Bonhomme, the 7-foot-tall snowman pictured above, has been the ambassador of the carnival since 1954. The city pulls out all the stops for this long-running tradition with daily events, performances and competitions. Some of the downtown streets are closed and iced over to allow for snow rafting. For the adventurous type, there is ice canoe racing, ice climbing, electric ski racing and snow baths (clothing optional). For the more laid-back tourist, there's a tiki bar inside a geodesic dome, a mustache competition, night parades, circus acts and musical performances.

All Month

Looking for a way to commemorate Black History Month? Blackpast.org has an extensive list of black history museums and African American heritage sites all across the US. Here is just a sampling: The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama (pictured, above) is an interpretive museum that chronicles the struggles of the civil rights movement and its mission to ensure the legal rights of Black people. The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is located at the former Lorraine Motel, where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. The museum offers visitors a chance to walk through history and learn about the civil rights movement through interactive exhibits and historic collections. If you’re in the nation’s capital, visit the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. It is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African-American life, history and culture.

Starts Feb. 10

Get ready to ring in the Year of the Dragon. Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is celebrated all over the world. Many celebrations include parades, fireworks and lots of feasts. Cities including Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. all hold large parades and celebrations to usher in the new year.

Find More Ideas: Lunar New Year Dishes That Will Bring You the Best Luck

Feb. 2-11

Party Adirondack style. Since its start back in 1897, the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival has grown into one of the oldest winter carnivals in America. The 10-day event showcases plenty of unusual winter sporting events including a snowflake volleyball competition, snowshoe races, Arctic golf and a bathing suit-clad round-the-town bike ride known as the "Blue Buns Wheel-a-Palooza." If you make the pilgrimage to this northern New York state destination, be sure not to miss the fry pan toss contest. It keeps competitors and spectators coming back year after year.

Feb. 2

Bundle up, grab some hot coffee and bring your lawn chair to Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, before dawn on Groundhog Day. Then watch as Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, the Prognosticator of Prognosticators, reveals his end-of-winter prediction.

All Month

It’s all about magnolias at San Francisco Botanical Garden from mid-January through March. During this time, nearly 100 rare magnolias erupt in vibrant pink and white flowers. If you miss the garden’s magnolias, you can still feast your eyes on a towering redwood grove and rare cloud forest plants. The garden is located in Golden Gate Park, which is also home to a Japanese garden and flower conservatory. Can't get to San Francisco? There are many public gardens across the country with conservatories full of lush greenery to melt away the winter blues. Here are just a few:

Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis
Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA
The Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, OH
The US Botanical Garden in Washington, DC
Atlanta Botanical Garden
The Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh
Longwood Gardens in East Pennsylvania
Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC
New York Botanical Gardens

Feb. 4

The Lowcountry Oyster Festival held in Charleston, South Carolina, is the world’s largest oyster festival — they’ll be serving up more than 45,000 pounds of oysters! Located at Boone Hall Plantation, the festival includes live music, a children’s area, oyster eating and shucking contests, beer, wine and specialty cocktails, and a food court showcasing a variety of local favorite restaurants to satisfy everyone’s taste. If you can’t make it to Charleston for the big oyster fest, February is still a great time to visit the Lowcountry. The weather is good — averaging around 60 degrees F — and the crowds are gone. You’ll be able to find all sorts of events from a rodeo to a punk-rock flea market.

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Feb. 8–18

Musical, comedy, improv or drama — no matter your taste, you’ll be able to find it at a discounted rate during Chicago’s theater week. During that time tickets average $15 to $30 for more than 100 performances at theaters across the city. Tickets go on sale in early January and there are limited quantities available for some shows, so get your tickets early.

Feb. 22–March 3

The Fur Rendezvous winter festival — known locally as Fur Rondy — has been an annual tradition since 1935. The 12-day festival offers all types of wild and wacky events for all ages. There are carnival rides, a parade, fireworks, art shows, a snow sculpture competition and the Running of the Reindeer (a tamer version of the Running of the Bulls). Two of Alaska’s cultural traditions are the biggest events — dog sledding has been part of the festival since 1946 and the blanket toss, an ancient Alaska Native tradition, joined the festival in 1950. Other sporting competitions include outhouse races, curling, pickleball, snowshoe softball and fat-tire bike races.

Feb. 2-10

This year’s theme, "What glows under pressure," celebrates the mysteries of the deep and what glows in the black of the ocean. So get on your best bioluminescent gear and head to this all-outdoor Portland Winter Light Festival. Large-scale interactive art installations, performances, dance parties and pop-up art can be seen all over the city in storefronts, retail spaces, front yards and public spaces. There is also a citywide art scavenger hunt — the perfect way to get the kids excited about art.

All Month

There are plenty of great skiing options around the world, but if you’re looking for an unusual extreme ski getaway, try heli-skiing in Alaska. The heli-skiing season only lasts for 12 weeks — from February through April — so take advantage of the adrenaline rush before it's too late.

Feb. 29

First introduced in 46 B.C. by Julius Caesar, Leap Day only happens once every four years, so it seems like a pretty momentous occasion to let pass by without doing something special. In ancient Ireland and Scotland, Leap Day was when women asked men for a date or their hand in marriage. But if proposing isn’t what you had in mind, a lot of restaurants, stores and hotels are offering discounts, freebies and other specials to commemorate the occasion. If you’re near the border of Texas and New Mexico on March 1 and 2, the border city of Anthony — known as the Leap Year Capital of the World — is holding its once-every-four-years extravaganza including live music, games, crafts and authentic local cuisine.

New York Feb. 8-14, London Feb. 16-20, Milan Feb. 20-26, Paris Feb. 26-March 5

Since 1943, New York Fashion Week is a bi-annual event where the fashion industry shows off its wares for the coming season. There are two types of shows, one for industry professionals and others that are open to the public. If you'd rather go to Europe to get your fashion fix, you can follow the runway to London, Milan and Paris.

Starting Feb. 22

One of the first signs that spring is on the way is the beginning of Major League Baseball’s spring training camps. Spring training games are a great way to see up-and-coming players as well as seasoned veterans up close in smaller stadiums. Plus, the ticket prices are more affordable than the regular season. The Grapefruit League (Florida) and the Cactus League (Arizona) both start in late February and continue through opening day in early April.

Saturday, Date Depends on the City

The annual Cupid's Undie Run bills itself as the nation’s largest pantless party. Taking place in over 30 cities, the mile-ish run is put on by Cupid’s Charity to raise money for research to help end neurofibromatosis, a rare genetic disorder. Before the run there is drinking and dancing to get inhibitions down and energy up, then after the run, there is an epic dance party. Since its first run in 2010, Cupid’s Charity has raised over $21,700,000.

Feb. 11

The 58th annual Super Bowl is being held in Las Vegas this year with Usher leading the half-time show. Even if you don’t attend the game in person, Vegas is still the place to be for Super Bowl weekend. Many of the big casinos, hotels and restaurants are holding watch parties where you can catch every play on massive screens. Most of these shindigs include reserved seating, a buffet, an open bar and raffle prizes.

All Month

Enjoy a gorgeous winter wonderland in Yellowstone and the surrounding areas. National Elk Refuge is closed to vehicle traffic but not to horse-drawn sleighs. The open-air rides offer a unique and amazing way to see elk, bison, eagles, foxes and other wildlife. Yellowstone and the Jackson Hole areas also offer a variety of other family activities including snow tubing, skiing, snowmobiles and a year-round roller coaster.

Starting Feb. 24

Can’t wait for spring? Head to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden to see the largest floral festival in the Southwest. The festival features an explosion of color from more than 500,000 spring-blooming tulips, hyacinths and daffodils, as well as blooming azaleas and hundreds of Japanese cherry trees. This year’s theme, "A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words," features larger-than-life living selfie walls to make your visit memorable.

Through Feb. 13

Fat Tuesday — the day before Ash Wednesday — is the biggest party of the year in cities like New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro. If you can’t make it to one of those places, try Mobile, Alabama; Nice, France; Venice, Italy or Binche, Belgium.

All Month

The best places to see the northern lights — the aurora borealis — are scattered on the most extreme latitudes of the planet: Iceland, Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Norway and Finland to name a few. A lot of these locations offer accommodations and tours focused solely on seeing the northern lights. In Fairbanks, Alaska, Iceland and in several places throughout Finland you can sleep in a glass-roof igloo and watch the light show while you’re warmly snuggled up in bed.

Tromsø, Norway, offers a variety of unique ways to see the northern lights including cruising on a catamaran, on a sled being pulled by reindeer or riding on a snowmobile. And in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, you can stay at the famous ice hotel where you can take ice sculpting lessons during the day and see the northern lights at night. If you’re looking for a posh way to see the aurora in Europe, many cruise companies offer northern light excursions departing from different locales throughout Great Britain and sailing up to the Arctic Circle.

Find More Ideas: The World's Best Places to See The Northern Lights

Feb. 22- 25

Hosted by Food Network, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEFEST) is a five-day, star-studded event showcasing the world’s most renowned wine and spirits, chefs and culinary personalities. A tent city on the beach known as the Grand Tasting Village is filled with hundreds of wineries, restaurants and spirits makers giving away samples and providing culinary demonstrations. If you want to hobnob with some of the renowned chefs, tickets are available for special dinners, parties and master classes that take place all over Miami.

Feb. 14

Many cultures celebrate Valentine’s Day, but they do it in a variety of ways. In Germany, not only do people exchange chocolate and flowers, but they also give pigs (toy ones mostly) because they symbolize luck and lust. In Denmark, people send one another poems and rhymes on stationery cut into the shapes of flowers and snowdrops.

Feb. 15-25

Visit the 69th annual Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale, Arizona, to watch more than 2,400 horses compete for a chance at winning the coveted gold title. In between the competitions, there are plenty of kids’ activities like an ice cream social, pony painting (ceramic ponies, not real ones) and art contests. Kids 17 and younger are admitted for free.

Feb. 16-18

The 2024 NBA All-Star Game will take place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, home of the Pacers on Sunday, Feb. 18. That weekend, leading up to the main event, some competitions and games are just as much fun to watch including the slam dunk and 3-point contests and the all-star celebrity game.

All Month

February is prime time for whale watching all along Mexico’s Pacific coast. A variety of whales including humpback, blue whales and whale sharks migrate to warm lagoons around the southern Baja Peninsula in the fall. January through March is when females give birth, so you’ll also have a chance to see mama whales with their babies. Day trip whale-watching tours are available up and down the Pacific coast and along the Sea of Cortez. For the ultimate experience, take a 12-day cruise from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas to see up to a dozen species of whales, dolphins and seals, plus go snorkeling and birding. There are also three-day whale watching camps where you stay in a tent along the coast and kayaking trips where you can experience a close encounter with a whale.

All Month

Ice carving in Northeast China is said to date back to the Qing dynasty when fishermen would pull ice from the Songhua River to carve into lanterns. All those years of experience evolved into the epic Harbin International Ice & Snow Festival, with artists and sculptors competing to create the largest, most extravagant and intricately detailed structures. Attracting 10 million to 15 million visitors a year, entire buildings are recreated in frozen form to make a city of ice. The sculptures are life-size versions of famous buildings, structures and characters, all created by master sculptors and artists. Observe the sculptures during the day and engage in other activities such as sledding, ice hockey and ice mini golf. Revisit the festival at night, when the ice is lit up with colorful lights. To get a view of the ice city from above, ride the huge snowflake-inspired Ferris wheel.

Feb. 19

The third Monday in February — aka President’s Day — is a great time to learn about the US presidents, when they served and how they shaped history. The American Presidents exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, has the largest selection of presidential portraits outside of the White House. The bilingual exhibit has recently been refurbished with interactive touch screens that explore the context of each presidency.

Feb. 18

The Great American Race kicks off at the Daytona International Speedway in late February, and just as it has since 1959, the annual event promises plenty of high-speed turns and velocity.