One week and counting: Celebrate Erie kicks off next Thursday. From August 18-21, downtown Erie transforms to celebrate the best of local art, eats, culture, and business.

The best part? The Street View squad will be downtown all weekend, covering the action. Follow us on Twitter @GoErieEvents, and keep checking GoErie.com/StreetView for photo galleries, video, and more coverage.

Bring your family to the GoErie photo booth, and get a GoErie key chain.

Stop by the GoErie.com photo booth and get your picture taken! Say you found us on Street View, and get a free key chain.

Did you Celebrate Erie last year? Check out last year’s photo galleries and see if you can spot your friends. See last year’s coverage of Celebrate Erie, and get pumped for 2011.

Highlights

Thursday: Taste of Erie and the Artist’s Colony. This year, these Celebrate Erie staples will share Perry Square, so you can browse local Erie creative works while voting for the ERIEsistible Entree.

The chalk walk gets started Thursday night, too; watch area artists start chalking at 5pm in between 9th and 10th Streets.

Friday: Thursday night’s Taste of Erie and exhibits by the Artist Colony continue all weekend long.

Find music and entertainment all over State Street: From the Lake Erie Belly Dancers to the Kids Zone Stage, there’s something for everyone.

Vote for your favorite chalk drawing as you walk up and down the chalk walk on State Street between 9th and 10th.

Caught at the GoErie photo booth! Come get your picture taken, and get a GoErie key chain.

Saturday: Take a break from State Street and celebrate the city’s nautical heritage at the Bayfront with the Second Annual Cardboard Regatta. Stake out a spot at the Maritime Center for the Parade of Boats at 10:00am and watch the races at 1:00pm. Get psyched for this year’s race by checking out the Brig Niagara.

Celebrate Diversity at 12th and State with the Multicultural Community Resource Center, and tour the world and see everything from the Chinese Lion Dance to the Sudanese Community Choir.

Saturday night is bike night: get ready to rock with Thirst ‘N Howl at 8pm, but don’t miss Kansas on the Main Stage at 9pm.

Sunday: Your last chance for the Taste of Erie, the Artist Colony, the Chalk Walk, and the rest of Celebrate Erie’s downtown action.

Jerrod Neiman wraps up Celebrate Erie 2011, and stay for the fireworks directly after the performance.

For a full schedule, check out the events calendar on Street View‘s Celebrate Erie.

We’re done shooting pictures for the day, ending with stops at Sugar Ray’s, Calamari’s, Vermont Tavern, Boardwalk and Coconut Joe’s.  Those pictures will be up later tonight so make sure you check them out.  Remember to use the coupon code STPATTYS to save 17% off your photo purchase.

If you’re headed out tonight and like live local music, take a look at Dr. Rock’s Around Town listings.

Our early afternoon tour included stops at Slugger’s, Papa George’s, Docksider, the Crooked I and the Plymouth.   All of these places had a nice turnout thanks to the nice weather.  Can you believe it’s 64 degrees in downtown Erie?!  We took plenty of photos so make sure you check our gallery.  Click here and check them out!

We’re headed back out soon.  We’re going to try to make it to Sugar Ray’s, Vermont Tavern and Coconut Joe’s.  Hope to see you there!

In case you missed it, the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade took place this past Saturday. You can read more about it here or take a look at our three photo galleries by Street View’s Rob Frank, Street View’s Adam Wilson, and  Rob Engelhardt of the Erie Times-News.

We  launched our 2011 St Patrick’s Day coverage section.  Rob Frank, Jeff McCullor, Steve Puskar and Ben Smith will be downtown all day taking photos, shooting video and tweeting.  There are many ways to follow us (or live vicariously through us) whether you’ll be out and about, at home watching basketball or stuck at work.  Follow our tweets (@GoErieEvents, @jmccullor, @stevepush, @bensmith16), our live blog right here at goerie.com/blogs/streetview, our live Foursquare checkins map, latest photo galleries and latest view.  Make sure you check GoErie.com/StPattysDay and follow us live on Thursday!

Greg Wohlford Erie Times-News

If you’ve been to Waldameer in the past, o lets say 40 years, then you know what ride  we are talking about.  Still can’t guess? how about “….maybe with your arms still attached…I’ll be watching to see if you behave yourself…HAHAHA”.  Unless you live under a rock, you know I’m talking about the Wacky Shack.  It turns 40 years-old this year and there’s a clip of it on goerie.com! Check it out!

Other fantastic saying/sound from Waldameer are:

“15 men on a dead man’s chest” – Pirate’s Cove

“I ain’t got no body….I ain’t got no body either” – Pirates Cove

“Ahoy maties!” – Sea Dragon

and of course, the classic sound of  the older roller coaster, The Comet: “eh eh eh eh.. er er er er”

Ben and I will be out and about as Waldameer opens on a Friday for the first time this year.  Look for us in our GoErie Street View shirts and look out, ’cause me may just take a photo of you!

I’d like to know, what was/is your favorite thing about Waldameer? Any favorite memory? Favorite ride(s) from past and present? (Remember  Mill Run?) Let us know!

-Steve