what's on In Ayrshire

There's always lots happening in Ayrshire. Here are some highlights

• Regular farmers markets - the ideal place to buy the best of the area's produce and try some new delicacies while you're there.
• Superb all year round programmes of entertainment at the Odeon Cinema and the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr
• Some of the most important Burns Suppers in Scotland
• 26 days of flat and National Hunt racing at Ayr racecourse, including the Ayr Gold Cup and the Scottish Grand National
• Weekly Scottish football matches at Ayr United and Kilmarnock FC
• A plethora of local agricultural shows, sales and events, including Ayr Show, a major Scottish agricultural show.
• Music and cultural festivals, including the Ayrshire Music festival, folk festivals in Ayr and Girvan, and the Cartoon Week in Ayr every September.
• The famous Ayr Flower Show, held annually in August.
• Regular international bowling tournaments and pipe band championships
• The Ayrshire Golf Classic – held annually in July

Great annual local festivals include

Ayr Burns Festival

Ayrshire will once again be jumping to the best of Scottish inspired gigs, acts, theatre and dance when the annual ‘burns an' a' that!’ Festival returns to the South West Coast of Scotland.  With this year's festival set to be the one of the best yet, you can't afford to miss it! From the 24rd - 29th of May 2008. The week long festival celebrating poetry, music and song

Ayr Cartoon Festival
28th - 30th September 2008

Now in it's fifth year in Ayr and going from strength to strength, the UK's National Cartoon Festival once again offers a weekend of fun and laughter for people of all ages. Visit the biggest collection of cartoons on display in a single venue in the UK in 2002. Several exhibitions are on show including a food themed selection ('Chips and Turkish Delight') presented jointly by the Turkish and UK sections of the Federation of Cartoonists Organisations (FECO), and the Cartoonists Club of Great Britain (CCGB). Also featured is an excellent 'Crime And Punishment' exhibition looking at the legal system, and we are also pleased to present exhibitions by domestic based cartoonists, as well as by cartoonists from all over the world including Australia, Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, and Hungary amongst others. And be sure to give a big Scottish welcome to the many international cartoonists who are in Ayr over the festival period to help bring a smile to the face of Ayr, transforming it once again into the UK's 'Cartoon Toon'!