Rather than waiting for the weather to cooperate, New Englanders make their celebrations a year-round activity; even in the coldest temperatures, winter festivals abound. January’s Stowe Winter Carnival in Vermont, for example, features snow golf, snowshoe-racing, ice-carving, snow volleyball, hockey, and parades. In the major cities, New Year’s festivities get underway with arts festivals indoors and fireworks out.

In March, Boston is the place to be to toast St. Patrick’s Day—both in the city’s myriad Irish pubs and by watching its famed parade. June’s highlights include the Arts & Ideas Festival in New Haven, Connecticut (the annual week-long celebration spotlights hundreds of performances, from opera on the green to hip-hop mini-festivals), and Boston’s Harborfest, full of maritime history of the area along with fireworks, concerts, and historic reenactments.

In August, the world-famous Newport Jazz Festival takes over Rhode Island’s seaside resort town, pulling in some of the world’s biggest names in jazz. That same month, the Wild Blueberry Festival in Maine applauds the state’s beloved crop with a children’s parade, fish fries, a blueberry-pancake breakfast, crafts, and pie-eating contests.

Autumn is the region’s prime time for tourism (and arguably its most beautiful season), so it’s no wonder the festivals hit during those months. Vermont’s Killington Foliage Weekend gets going every September, with a Brew Festival and gondola rides. Also in September is the Newport International Boat Show in Rhode Island, where nautical buffs can ogle 13 acres of sailboats, equipments, and demonstrations. October’s Sea Harvest at Mystic Seaport includes a Chowderfest and plenty of fall foliage, and at the end of the month, Salem, Massachusetts, brings in the crowds for Haunted Happenings—a packed schedule of witch trials and haunted harbor cruises.

The holidays gear up early in New England, with an impressive Christmas Craft Market in Rockport, Maine, stocked with locally made crafts from more than 70 vendors and artists. Then, come December, the quaint streets of Portsmouth, New Hampshire take a Rockwellian turn during the Candlelight Stroll at Strawbery Banke, as festively decorated period homes open their doors to tours, cider is passed around, and 1,000 candles are lit throughout the town.