Hot tunes, fast turtles

San Diego

Aug. 3-20: SummerFest, which BBC Music Magazine called “intimate music-making at the highest level,” celebrates its 20th anniversary with visiting composers Bruce Adolphe, Leon Kirchner, Magnus Lindberg and Wayne Shorter. Programs include “Heritage of Vienna” (Aug. 6), “Scandinavian Romance” (Aug. 8), “Gypsy Songs and Dances” (Aug. 11) and “A Virtuoso Gathering” (Aug. 15).

Concerts are individually priced, $25-$75. Subscription available. Opening at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., downtown San Diego. Most performances at Sherwood Auditorium in the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla; (858) 459-3728, www.lajollamusicsociety.org.

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Grand Lake, Colo.

Aug. 19-20: Before the Daven Haven Downs Turtle Races begin Aug. 20, the festivities open with the Reptilian Ball, the Parade of Turtles down Main Street and the crowning of a king and queen on Aug. 19. Then, on Aug. 20, witness the glory of victory and the agony of defeat as turtles compete in a series of elimination sprints. No hares allowed.

Daven Haven Lodge, 604 Marina Drive; (970) 627-8144, www.davenhavenlodge.com. $50 to race your turtle, free for observers.

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Long Beach, Wash.

Aug. 21-27: The Washington State International Kite Festival may be the highest-flying kite event around: The Kite Trade Assn. International voted it the world’s best, and KiteLife.com called it the continent’s “greatest, grandest” kite festival. Tens of thousands of people turn out, in part, for famous fliers, workshops and competitions but mostly for simple, old-fashioned kite-flying fun with the family. Long Beach is also the home to the World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame.

On Long Beach and along Bolstad Avenue, off Washington 103 in Long Beach. Free. (800) 451-2542, www.kitefestival.com.

-- Blake Hennon