New York

Enjoy a fine celebration of hot air

Want to see hot air balloons color the sky in Danville, in the Genesee Valley?

If the weather cooperates Aug. 28-Sept. 1, a launch of 50 of them is scheduled to kick things off at the New York State Festival of Balloons. There should be six launches (and other events). According to the festival, most of these balloons are larger than the average house. Details: 585-335-6920; www.ny sfob.com.

Texas

Black Americans – a collection of images

A just-opened exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston looks at the black experience in America.

“The Black List Project” is a collaboration between New York-based photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and film critic Elvis Mitchell. The show features large-scale portraits of 25 prominent black Americans as well as some excerpts from videotaped interviews. The subjects include Toni Morrison, Colin Powell, Al Sharpton, Russell Simmons, Vernon Jordan and Chris Rock.

An HBO documentary on the project is scheduled to air Aug. 25 and a book is also forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.

The Houston museum will host the show until Oct. 26. It is scheduled to go on a national museum tour after that. Details: www.mfah.org.

Hawaii

Smells like onions? Must be Maui

You might associate Hawaii with the fragrance of flowers, but onions can smell just as sweet to a cook or an eater. At the Maui Onion Festival – Saturday in Lahaina – local chefs will demonstrate ways to use sweet onions and compete in a recipe contest.

The Maui Onion Growers' Association will sell crisp fried onion rings, and representatives will explain how the onions are cultivated and what makes them so sweet. Hula and Tahitian dances, raw onion eating contests, drum performances, and jazz round out the day. Admission is free. Details: 808-661-4567; www.whalersvillage.com.

Kentucky

Awesome: 1,2000-pound bugs

The exhibit “Big Bugs,” by New York artist David Rogers, has come to the Western Kentucky Botanical Garden in Owensboro.

The 10 creations stand 10 feet to 15 feet tall and weigh up to 1,200 pounds. They are expected to attract up to 10,000 visitors during the show's 13-week run, which continues through Oct. 26.

The wooden sculptures are created with forest materials, and the different shapes, colors and textures provide them with character and a sense of motion, according to the Kentucky Festival and Events Association.

Details: www.wkbg.org.