Come one, come all to the 22nd Annual Amish Country Bike Tour, Saturday, September 6, 8 a.m., leaving Legislative Mall in Dover. Cyclists of all ages and abilities can participate in the 15, 25, 50, 62 or 100 mile loops through Amish Countryside.

Four food stops, catered picnic lunch and live music, water bottle, bike tour map are included in the registration fee. “Surf and Turf” weekend package includes two nights lodging, bike tour registration and kayaking trip with Return to Nature — only $275 per person or $325 per couple.

Last year 1,500 cyclists from 14 states came out for a great day in the fresh air. This year, “Team Challenge” will include trophies and awards for teams of 25 or more in four categories: largest team; best t-shirts; most miles ridden; most donations for Central Delaware YMCA.

Cost is only $30 per person with proceeds benefiting the Central Delaware YMCA, Amish Schoolhouse and Kent County Tourism. To register, 800-233-5368 or http://www.visitdover.com to register online. Credit cards, pay pal, cash or check. See you there!

Inhabited by Native Americans. Claimed for the Dutch. Settled by Swedes. And ruled as a British colony prior to the American Revolution. No wonder Delaware is so culturally diverse!  Events throughout Delaware celebrate our diversity. Don’t miss the 34th annual 8-day celebration of La Festa Italiana – the St. Anthony of Padua Italian Festival. It will run in the parish neighborhood at 9th & DuPont Streets from Sunday through Sunday 8-15 June. The Italian Festival today is one of the biggest ethnic festivals in the Mid-Atlantic.

Every year since 1959 the festival has evolved. New in 2008 is a “new and improved” upgraded emphasis on exploration of the Italian culture and the Italian – American heritage experience.  Also, for the first time in 2008, to improve the experience for Festival goers, the Festival site will be fenced and gated, with a nominal admission charge. Visit www.stanthonynet.org/Festival for more information.

Visitors to Riverfront Wilmington can now arrive by boat. The Riverfront Development Corporation of Delaware has opened a 360-foot length of public docks along the Christina River. Located next to a restored shipbuilding crane near Iron Hill Brewery and Joe’s Crab Shack, the floating docks are secured to pilings and connected to the Riverwalk by a ramp. The docks can accommodate 10-12 boats on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no cost for boats to tie-up at the docks, which will be open from sunrise to midnight.  Also, the Riverfront Wilmington River Taxi is now operating on a regular schedule for the 2008 season.  The 36 passenger boat offers daily trips, private cruises, wine cruises and family nights along the Christina River. The Taxi hours of operation are Tuesday – Saturday 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., Sunday 2:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. and closed Monday.  The River Taxi can be boarded at any one of the following dock locations:  Dravo Plaza, Overlook Pavilion, Riverfront Market, Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park and Kalmar Nyckel Foundation.  The cost is $5 for Adults and $3 for Children.   For more information about Riverfront Wilmington events and attractions, visit www.riverfrontwilm.com.

The first Dewey Beach Sports Festival will be held this weekend, June 7 to 8, at the Dickinson Street Beach. Two hundred athletes and an estimated 3,000 spectators will be in Dewey Beach for the event.

The Festival will feature the Toyota Pro Beach East Volleyball Tour and Skim USA Amateur Competition.  The Toyota Pro Beach East Volleyball Tour will showcase some of the best men and women beach volleyball players in North America in a double-elimination format. Entering its tenth year, the Toyota Tour has launched the career of some of the top players in the U.S. The number one ranked player on the Association of Volleyball Professionals Tour, Phil Dalhausser, was a regular on the Toyota Tour just two seasons ago. Skim USA, the largest Skimboarding organization in the world and the official sanctioning body for the sport, will host an amateur East Coast skimboarding competition at the waters edge on Dickinson Street, next to the volleyball center court. More than 100 amateur athletes from across the region will compete in this fan friendly beach sports event.  

Seating is free to the public on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For more information visit www.deweybeachsports.com

Nemours Mansion and Gardens has been returned to its turn-of-the-century magnificence.  A world-class team of architects, engineers, craftsmen and gardeners has completed a dazzling restoration which cost thirty-nine million dollars.   This premier North American estate with its spectacular mansion, re-landscaped gardens and new visitor center reopened for tours on May 1st.

Situated on 222 acres which include a mix of woodland areas and formal gardens with reflecting ponds, parterres and a huge fleur de-leis jardin, Nemours is a landscape jewel and arguably the finest formal French garden in North America. 

More and more people of all ages and from all over the country are dusting off their field glasses and breaking out the birding books as they join others who enjoy the art of bird watching. Delaware is home to many natural wildlife areas, state parks and birding hot spots. To promote these attractions, the Delaware Tourism Office recently planned a 3-day, statewide Nature & Birding Press trip.

Highlights of the trip included an opening reception at the Delaware Museum of Natural History, which houses a collection of about 4,000 bird species; a late night owl prowl at the Brandywine State Park; a trip to Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island, one of the three largest heron rookeries on the east coast; a tour of Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge; a visit to the Milford Neck Wildlife area, including the newly opened DuPont Nature Center; and a kayak excursion along the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.

For more birding hotspots, check out the Delaware Birding Trail or go to www.VisitDelaware.com.   

Welcome to the new VisitDelaware blog!

As we rolled out our new tourism website, www.visitdelaware.com, we kept hearing the same words over and over, “do you have a blog?”

Well, now we do!

We’ll post here from time to time, and check back to see if we can answer questions or add information to the threads, but this is mostly YOUR blog. Feel free to discuss where you’ve been in Delaware, what you saw, where you ate, and why your fellow bloggers should go there! Please be fair though, blogs are best when fairness prevails.

We also have to say that there might be posts/blogs/content on this blog site that we don’t agree with. Our association with ANY content on this site is limited to mere association on a public forum.

To add a COMMENT to an existing post, click the headline for the post. That click will take you to a new window with just the post and its related comments.

Thanks for viewing, and enjoy!

Your Friends at the The Delaware Economic Development Office