Those hoping to make their next holiday a little different from the last should tie it in with one of these quirky festivals from around the world. Why not swap the beach for mobile phone throwing championships in Finland or the Mediterranean for the MangoMania Festival in Florida and make your next holiday one to remember?!

Here is a selection of the crazy and unusual festivals you could be enjoying on your holiday this year:

Fish Festival with the world’s largest frying pan, Liguria- 13 May 2013

Anyone who thinks they have cooked for a big party before will be surprised by the Camogli Fish Festival. Throughout the day freshly caught fish are cooked in the largest fish frying pan in the world at five metres wide with a seven metre handle. Fishermen abandon their day jobs for the festival and cook their fresh catch for visitors and locals. The deliciously cooked fish is then handed out for free so visitors must be sure to get a good spot! www.prolococamogli.it 

Monterosso Lemon Festival, Liguria- 19 May 2013

Every year, the tiny Cinque Terre village of Monterosso dedicates a day to the locally grown lemon with the Lemon Festival. The village is covered in thousands of lemons with lemon decorated shop windows, a contest for the largest lemon and locals and visitors competing for the best lemon statues. The local produce can be tasted in stalls selling lemonade, limoncello, lemon ice cream and lemon pies, all topped off with a party in the central piazza in the evening. http://bit.ly/Yf9Lax  

Wife Carrying World Championships, Finland- 5-6 July 2013

The Wife Carrying World Championships sees male competitors race each other while carrying a female team mate to whom, perhaps misleadingly, they do not have to be married. Teams have to navigate a 253 metre course, which includes obstacles such as a three-foot high log hurdle, a small pond called the "The Widow Maker" and a sand trap known as "Sand Mountain". The aim is to complete the course in the fastest possible time and still be talking to your partner at the end. www.eukonkanto.fi

17th MangoMania Tropical Fruit Fair, Cape Coral/Pine Island- 13-14 July 2013

Tropical fruit lovers will have their fill at the MangoMania festival, a celebration of all things mango on Pine Island on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Festival highlights include mango cook offs, mango pie eating competitions, mango juggling competitions and the mango longest throw competition. Even local chefs get involved making incredible mango themed drinks, starters and desserts. Visitors can sample and buy other tropical fruits grown on the island including lychee, carambola, longan, papaya, and chocolate pudding fruit. www.mangomaniafl.com

World Eskimo Indian Olympics, Alaska- 17-20 July 2013
The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics makes London 2012 look very tame! The Olympics is held on the banks of the River Chena in Fairbanks and features games rooted in ancestral hunting and survival techniques employed by Native Americans, as well as dance and storytelling competitions. Games include ear weights, where lead ingots are carried by the ear lobe; Nalukataq, where contestants are tossed as high as possible in walrus skins; four man carry (by one man!) and the one hand reach, where the contestant has to balance on one hand and reach a suspended object with the other. www.weio.org

Swamp Soccer World Championship 19-20 July 2013

Who needs the Europa League when you have the Swamp Soccer World Championships? The tournament is held in Hyrynsalmi in the East of Finland with competing teams playing to take each other on in the swamp. Brilliant as a spectator sport as almost 500 teams battle it out by wading through knee deep mud with the ball invisible for the majority of the time! The ‘beautiful game’ this is not! Fun it is!

http://swamp.turnauspalvelu.fi

10th Torteval Scarecrow Festival, Guernsey- 3-4 August 2013

The weekend festival celebrates scarecrows of all shapes and sizes with nearly 100 scarecrows scattered through the Torteval parish of Guernsey. Visitors can stroll through the rural lanes of the parish looking at the bizarre scarecrows along the way and enjoy a traditional Morris dance and tractor demonstration afterwards. http://www.cwgsy.net/community/torteval.scarecrows/

Air Guitar World Championships 21-23 August 2013

The 18th Air Guitar World Championships will attract all budding heavy metal and rock fans. This two day extravaganza is a chance to thrash your head, shake your hair and compete against the international crowd that descends on Oulo in Northern Finland for this two day spectacular. The search for the national representatives is already on and you can follow the search through facebook – https://www.facebook.com/airguitarworldchampionships?bookmark_t=page

http://www.airguitarworldchampionships.com/en/event/agwc-2012

Mobilephone Throwing Championships- 24 August 2013

There are times when all of us want to throw our phone down in anger and frustration – but in Finland you can do this and possibly win a prize too! In August 2013 this hugely popular tournament, will return to Savonlinna for the 24th time (also known for its opera!). This summer will see last year’s winner Finn Ere Karjalainen, defend his new world record of an a amazing 101.46 m!
http://www.mobilephonethrowing.fi/

World Berry Picking Championship 7 September

If you think this sounds like the easy, sedate option compared to the rest of the festivals mentioned you need to remember you have to carry the berries! Last year’s winner hauled an impressive 27,98 kilograms of lingonberries in an hour! Every year in the village of Suomussalmi in the east of Finland contestants gather at the Ämmänsaari marketplace, where the competition starts and the picker who gathers the most lingonberries (found in Arctic regions only) within one hour wins a cash prize.

No dedicated website but read more on: http://events.frommers.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=218397#ixzz2PyxKrDMb

Pesto e Dintorni festival, Liguria- 6-7 October 2013
One for pesto lovers- the annual festival celebrates the popular sauce which originated in Liguria. The focus is on the ‘magnificent seven’, basil, garlic, olive oil, salt, pine nuts, pecorino and parmesan cheese – the traditional ingredients used to create this regional specialty. Visitors can sample different types of pesto, as well as learn more about the local produce and traditional cooking techniques.  For more details: http://joobili.com/pesto_e_dintorni_lavagna_12797/

American Sandsculpting Championships, Fort Myers Beach- 22 November- 1 December 2013

The making of enormous and highly impressive sandsculptures can be watched at the annual Sandsculpting Championships on Fort Myers Beach. Each year about 50,000 visitors watch experts from all over the world turn sand into spectacular art works using what is thought to be the world’s best sculpting sand, due to its high shell content. Inspired visitors can join in the creativity with the amateur competition. http://www.fmbsandsculpting.com/

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For more information or images of these festivals please contact Jules Ugo or Amelia Astley Birtwistle at Lotus UK on jules/amelia@lotus-uk.co.uk / 0207 953 7470.