Elephants and bonfires - June in Copenhagen

The Copenhagen event calendar is packed with exciting things to do throughout June.

Below are just a few examples of what is happening in the Danish capital. Enjoy the reading and Feel Free to enquire about individual media visits to experience the destination first hand too.
 
Distortion 1-5 June
Distortion, a Celebration of Copenhagen street life and nightlife, is an annual party cavalcade, with more than 40.000 guests each day. The Distortion Block Parties take place in the streets all day and the Distortion ClubClash programme takes place late at night. Distortion is unique as the festival is 100% mobile. It's a rule that the festival must be moving all the time. The Block Parties move from one neighbourhood to the next each day during the Distortion week and new spectacular locations are found for the Club Clash events every year. The line-ups feature the hottest in international club culture from Berlin, Oslo, Paris, New York, Cologne, London and Copenhagen. The Distortion week culminates with the gigantic Distortion Final Party, which is always on the first Saturday of June. Distortion is also infamous for the pop-up events in off-beat locations like bridges, boats, backyards, bunkers, bungalows and beaches.
 
During Distortion, on Thursday 2 June between 6.45-10 pm at Blegdamsvej in Nørrebro, a 100 x 2.44 meters wide user driven painting titled The Unknown Masterpiece will be created when passersby are encouraged to actively participate in a "color celebration" and a world record attempt. Dozens of volunteers will handle the registration and counting of the participants. Official representative from Guinness World Records will be on the spot to observe the record attempt. cphdistortion.dk/
 
Elephant Parade 1 June – 25 August
In the summer of 2011, Copenhagen will host one of the largest outdoor art exhibitions ever held in Denmark. The exhibition is comprised of 100 unique works of art which will be exhibited publicly in parks and streets in central Copenhagen. It is colourful, humorous and positive quality art, created by prominent Danish and international artists as well as young rising stars. At the centre of the exhibition are 100 baby elephants, cast in fibreglass. They will decorate the cityscape and contribute to the city’s renowned atmosphere, providing another attraction for its citizens and the over three million tourists who visit Copenhagen every year. When the exhibition is over, the elephants will be auctioned off by Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers, with the proceeds going to the preservation of the Asian elephant. Elephant Parade maps will be available at the Copenhagen Visitor’s Center, Vesterbrogade 4A, 1620 Copenhagen W and at various hotels, museums, and libraries in the Copenhagen area. elephantparade.dk

Spring Dance at Carlsberg 3-12 June
The Carlsberg Academy’s beautiful garden is the setting for the annual music and dance festival, Spring Dance, which has six fantastic outdoor performances on the programme in the first two weekends of June. Dansk Danseteater (Danish Dance Theatre) sets up an outdoor scene in Carlsberg Academy’s lawn and invites the audience to bring their own picnic. There are no benches or chairs, so bring you blanket to a beautiful and poetic experience on a summer day in June. teaterbilletter.dk
 
Copenhagen Carnival 10-12 June
Every year at Whitsun weekend, Copenhagen Carnival opens its doors to the annual carnival festivities in the heart of Copenhagen - especially at Fælledparken, a large park in the district of Østerbro. Copenhagen Carnival offers samba girls, capoeira, Colombian dancing, colourful costumes, live bands and parades. Among the initiatives in recent years is a great reggae scene with international names, and an electronic carnival with a number of Denmark's best DJ's.
 
For the younger generation, the Children's Carnival offers two children scenes with concerts, different children's workshops where the kids can learn how to dance samba. If you need a rest, you can relax in the family area, where the kids can play, and you can buy food from all over the world. copenhagencarnival.dk/

Midsummer Night – Sankt Hans 23 June
Residents of Denmark celebrate Sankt Hans Aften, otherwise known as Saint John's Day primarily by lighting a large bonfire on the evening of June 23. The celebration is a tradition that stretches all the way back to pagan times. Originally, the cause for celebration of midsummer arose from a belief that in the period around summer-solstice, nature would have reached a peak. For pagan mystics the days around summer-solstice were thus the best time to go out in the countryside and cut herbs and plants for use in their concoctions. After Christianity had made its entry into Denmark, such activities were generally frowned upon, and people tended to believe that gathering together and lighting huge bonfires would be a good way to ward off evil spirits and witches, which is why a witch effigy is often placed on top of the bonfire. To celebrate Sankt Hans as the Danes do, purchase food and drink for a Danish picnic or barbecue, learn the lyrics to "Vi Elsker Vort Land." also known as the "Midsommervise" ("Midsummer song") and head to the beaches on the night of June 23.
 
Roskilde Festival 26 June – 3 July
The Roskilde Festival is the largest music festival in Northern Europe, taking place every summer in the countryside outside Roskilde near Copenhagen. This world-famous festival has been going from strength to strength since 1971 and this year looks like it will be no different. Great music will be pouring out from seven stages over four days. The Roskilde Festival is widely regarded as the Scandinavian equivalent of Glastonbury and around 100,000 music and party-lovers from all over the world descend on Denmark for these four terrific days (and 3 days warm-up). Year after year, the world-famous Roskilde Festival successfully serves up extraordinary and unique experiences as it presents a hot mix of legendary, contemporary and progressive quality music - always with a large share of the unpredictable. Around 175 artists from around the world are expected to perform this year. The 2011 line-up includes Arctic Monkeys, Iron Maiden, Kings of Leon, Mastodon, M.I.A, PJ Harvey, The Strokes and many more. A full Roskilde programme including information on how to get tickets can be found on the Roskilde Festival website. roskilde-festival.dk/uk/
 
For all information on travelling to Denmark: visitdenmark.com

Copenhagen holiday ideas: visitcopenhagen.com
 
For flight bookings: SAS Scandinavian Airlines offers direct flights from Aberdeen, Manchester, Birmingham and London Heathrow. Flight time is less than two hours. flysas.co.uk

For a wide choice of accommodation: choice.dk and arp-hansen.com