Bayreuth Festival And talks about reopening of the Wagnerian Festival started. Finally it reopened on 29 July 1951 with, as always, a performance by the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra under conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, followed by the first post-war premiere of Wagner's opera, "Parsifal". Under the direction of Wieland Wagner, the "New Bayreuth" ushered in an era that was no less than revolutionary. Gone were the elaborate naturalistic sets, replaced with minimalist modern productions. In comparison, the pre-war changes seemed tame. For the first time in its history, the Bayreuth audience booed at the end of productions. Wieland was particularly
North Carolina Potato Festival North Carolina Potato Festival North Carolina Potato Festival is an annual tradition in Northeastern North Carolina that celebrates one of the region's most important crops. Originally known as the Albemarle Potato Festival, which ran from 1940 through 1970, the once-prominent event was revived in 2001 as the North Carolina Potato Festival. Celebrated annually around mid-May, the festival has returned to its historical prominence as one of the largest regional draws in northeastern North Carolina. Taking place in historic downtown Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the event features the "National Potato Peeling Contest", "Little Miss Tater Tot pageant", potato sack races, a