Where: around the region
When: year-round
If you like: the outdoors and sports
Why you should go: Nationwide there’s a growing spotlight on women’s sports, and the South plays host to three events drawing major fanfare. In Georgia, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur kicks off the week before the Masters in April, the seventh time it will invite elite international players to inspire greater interest in women’s golf. (Last year roughly half of the seventy-two competitors hailed from outside the U.S.) Then, from May 28 through early June, Oklahoma City’s Devon Park will host the NCAA Women’s College World Series; last year Texas took the trophy in the Division I softball competition, but the Sooners won it the previous four years—fitting given that nearby Oklahoma City is the Softball Capital of the World. (It’s hosted the College World Series since 1990 and in 2028 will welcome players from around the globe for the summer Olympics.)
Finally, the largest female surfing event in the world will go down on the shores of Virginia Beach in September. For the twentieth anniversary of the Super Girl Festival, more than four thousand athletes will compete in beach volleyball, inline skating, and of course, surfing. Keep an eye out for Florida native and Olympic shortboard gold medalist Caroline Marks.
G&G tip: As the popularity of women’s sports has grown, so has television coverage—and places dedicated to watching it. Two bars in Texas—1972 in Austin, named for the year Title IX passed, and SidePeace in Houston—are devoted to women’s sporting events. In Atlanta, Jolene Jolene broadcasts matches at pop-up locations around town.
