Tracing the history of New York’s legendary Apollo Theater from its origins as a segregated burlesque hall to its starring role at the epicenter of African American entertainment and American popular culture, Atlanta History Center’s February exhibit is a great way to recognize Black History Month. One of a kind artifacts include James Brown’s cape and jumpsuit, Michael Jackson’s fedora, The Supremes’ dresses, Sammy Davis’ childhood tap shoes, Ella Fitzgerald’s dress, LL Cool J’s jacket and Ray Charles’ music bag.

In other parts of the country, people celebrate New Year’s Eve by drinking champagne, singing “Auld Lang Syne” and popping fireworks. Here in the South, we’ve been known to do some drinking, singing and popping, but only if it’s while also dropping something. New Year’s Eve drops seem to be the norm at celebrations in this region. Some are just …

The South is filled with festive, holiday attractions this time of year. Beautifully decorated plantations, lighted tours, a variety of winter wonderlands and several events inspired by Dickens this year stretch across the region, welcoming visitors with heaping doses of Southern hospitality and, if you’re lucky, a cup of hot chocolate or cider.

Last year, Arkansas announced it was claiming cheese dip as a native food and held its first World Cheese Dip Championship in Little Rock. This year, the state is celebrating cornbread with an inaugural Cornbread Festival, No. 2 on our list and scheduled for November 5 on Main Street in Little Rock. “What’s more American than baseball and apple pie?” the festival website asks. “Cornbread and Main.”

Haunted sites, storytellers and tour guides come alive during the month of October. We challenge everyone to at least one good scare this Halloween!