Chicago Tribune January 11, 2009:

“Europe’s newest diamonds – Austrian, Lithuanian cities sparkle as cultural capitals of 2009

(..) Late spring brings four widely varied events to Linz. The annual Crossing Europe Film Festival will run 150 films in local theatres April 20-26, mainly flicks by young, unconventional European directors. Then comes May Day, the first of May, the streets reverberate with marching bands making a three-day procession to Postlingberg, the peak in northern Linz.
This event is called simply Parade, and the bands whose members will pitch their tents along the way, feature not only brass instruments from Zanzibar and Iran but alphorns from Switzerland, balaphones from West Africa and duxianqins from China. For some, this long parade will be merely a warm-up for the Linz-Danube Marathon on May 17. For others, it will be a tuneup for Linzfest09, a May 30-June9 party in the Donaupark on the Danube with music, cabaret, art and food. Artists from former European Capitals of Culture will be on hand.”