When I arrived in Courmayeur on my Tour du Mont Blanc circuit I had just missed a festival, can't remember what it was about but the town was being cleaned up at the time. It was very nice just sitting in the sun outside a cafe watching all the work going on. By the time I arrived at Champex I was able to join the crowds watching the last world cup on the campsite open-air TV. A righteous, happy and boozy evening (with food provided by the campsite owners, not free but cheap) and I'm a person who doesn't even like football! I've been in other towns when festivals have been on, Tour du France pass-throughs, car hill climbing events, Macadam street ski-racing, 10K runs and all of the razzmatazz that goes with it and have really enjoyed them. I find that people get really friendly and want to communicate on such occasions. I don't know if it still goes on but years ago locals used to organise a rollerblading Friday night 'tour' around the streets of Paris. That was fun! I was only an onlooker at the time of course, I didn't know how to rollerblade, but I learned later when my son was little and we used to do it in our local area. I wonder if I could still do a figure of eight? The best festival for me was in Sarlat in the Dordogne, lots of street theatre, mime artists, music, singing, finger foods and so on.