Where/when: Talkeetna, Alaska: second weekend in July

When life deals you lemons, make lemonade. When nature deals you moose dung, throw it at people from hot-air balloons. And that's what happens in this Alaskan backwater. Staggeringly, no one knows how this festival began. There's something strangely appealing about a town that takes a day to celebrate the digestive waste of a big-nosed beast.

Freakiness factor: - Medium - It's the only place in the world where you can win $1,000 for being pooped on.