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NEW BONAVENTURE, NL — In the dining room of Aunt Hattie’s Vacation Home, a green wooden cottage overlooking a picturesque harbour, Taylor Kitsch is reflecting on life in a quiet village at the eastern tip of Canada.

ST. JOHN’S—These are heady days in this oft-beleaguered town. The oil industry has brought a boom. There are new condo projects downtown and restaurants serving blistered Naples-style pizzas and Japanese fusion cuisine. New shops on Water St. sell the sort of trendy goods you’d find on Queen West or Ossington.

When the last of the pack ice disappears and St. John’s harbour readies itself for summer traffic, one might be lucky enough to see an iceberg making its way behind the ships. The glaciers begin their parade down “iceberg alley” each April, slow moving and stately like German opera singers. It’s a kind of magic, spotting one.

Snow West ’12, set to take place between Wednesday March 21 and Saturday March 24, 2012, is an annual event designed to showcase the outstanding variety of fun winter adventures and evening experiences available for visitors to Western Newfoundland.

Small business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit have put Newfoundland town’s bustling seasonal tourism industry on the map.

Australian superstar Russell Crowe has been shooting in St. John's this week for a guest role on the CBC crime comedy-drama Republic of Doyle.

The Stephenville Theatre Festival kicks off on July 15th, wraps up on August 14th, and brings a brand new set of shows that are sure to leave audiences engaged and entertained. We’re bringing in some of the best talent in Canada, so it’s sure to be a good time!

Enjoy a parade, live music, plenty of food, and endless fun. Running from July 25th to July 31st, the Fish, Fun and Folk Festival is something you won’t want to miss. Check out the link for more details.

Parks Canada is celebrating it’s groundbreaking 100-year anniversary this summer and there will be special events to mark the occassion at the various historic and scenic sites across Newfoundland and Labrador. That means lots of interesting things to see and do, all summer long, at some of the most beautiful and fascinating areas in the province. Read on for event info... 

If you find yourself near Gros Morne National Park over the next couple of weeks, or if you’re simply in need of some creative inspiration, be sure to check out the Trails, Tales and Tunes Festival, May 14th to 28th.

Let's hear it for our own The Once and Amelia Curran, who swept up some sweet wins at the Canadian Folk Music Awards over the weekend! Geraldine Hollett, Phil Churchill and Andrew Dale of The Once won in both the traditional album and new/emerging artist of the year categories. Juno-awarded Amelia Curran won solo artist of the year.

Dark humour is the silver lining of Newfoundland and Labrador’s colonial history. Those early European settlers were the original survivors. Pirates, unpredictable weather, buccaneers disguised as governors, hard labour, wars, privation - all easy targets for the wits and wags who laughed and struggled onward through the fog of mercantile exploitation and inept colonial administration. Laughing in the face of danger may seem unseemly, but when the alternative is tears, you might as well laugh. And that’s been our motto ever since.

That tradition lives on in the narrow lanes of Trinity, Trinity Bay, where each summer actors with Rising Tide Theatre take history to the people with the New Founde Lande Trinity Pageant, the anchor event of the Seasons in the Bight Festival.

St. John’s Time is an 11-day festival taking in the Royal St. John’s Regatta, the George Street Festival, the St. John’s Downtown Buskers Festival and the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival. The festival starts in late July and goes until early August.

Thousands descend on George Street every year to take in the annual George Street Festival - one of the biggest and friendliest patio parties in the world. This event always precedes the Royal St. John’s Regatta. The Royal St. John’s Regatta is a 1-day event and is the oldest, longest running sporting event in North America! This 1-day festival draws in the vicinity of 60,000 people to Quidi Vidi Lake in the heart of St. John’s to watch the races and to try their luck on various ticket spins, or just sit back and relax and take in the sights. This event is always the first Wednesday in August.

There’s a vacation and then there’s an experience; and the differences in the two couldn’t be more important. You can book a plane ticket to a famous destination and wait in line for your token photo of the same crowded attraction, or you can have an experience. Central Newfoundland provides the latter. Real adventurers seek out places long past the beaten path, and slip into the experience like a warm bath. They linger, soak up the destination, and immerse themselves in people, place, culture and nature. This is no cookie-cutter destination. This is Central Newfoundland - real, raw, rugged and wholly authentic. It calls to the adventurer because he knows that the greatest rewards are at the end of the longest path.

An experience is not the “wow” of a well-treaded tourist trap. It is the sum of sights, sounds, smells, adventures and interactions; a million tiny moments melded into something that leaves an indelible mark on your spirit and memory.

And what are these moments? Let us begin…

Not that we ever stopped 'rockin,' but this Globe and Mail feature talks about something St. John's residents have known for a long time: our city is cutting edge when it comes to music, art, fashion, dining out and even doing business. St. John's rocks and it's the place to be!

Read what Maclean’s Magazine says about Newfoundland and Labrador in its Summer Getaways travel series. The article gives an overview of some of the best attractions and important events happening across the province, from hiking the International Appalachian Trail to catching an arthouse film at the new Fogo Island Film House. Also, find out Seamus O'Regan's favourite NL places to visit.