Subscribing to Helpful Public Calendars
I’m a planner. I like lists. Calendars. Knowing what’s going on.
That’s why I like subscribing to public Google calendars. With a click of a button I can subscribe to useful calendars like US holidays and my son’s school schedule.
Shared public calendars show up in my iCal program just like any other calendar. If you’re on a PC don’t worry – you can take advantage of public calendars too.
There are a couple ways to get started. Let’s begin with Google.
Google’s Calendar Library
Google sure doesn’t make it easy to find their public calendar library. It didn’t even turn up on a Google search for “Google public calendars”. (Google….?)
To find it, log in to Google Calendars (create a free account if you don’t already have one) and then click the tiny arrow to the right of “Other calendars” in the sidebar. Then choose “Browse Interesting Calendars”.
Here you’ll find a long list of holidays (Christian, Jewish, Voodoo, etc.), major sports schedules, even phases of the moon.
One calendar I subscribe to is the Eagle’s football schedule. Not because I watch football but because I’ve learned that scheduling anything on game day creates conflict with, ahem, other members of the family.
Let’s continue.
Broadcast Your Own Calendar
Google isn’t the only publisher of public calendars. Anyone can create a Google calendar and make it public. My son’s school, for example, maintains a public Google calendar which is available on their website.
This is a great option for clubs, non-profits, and small businesses, as Google calendar is free and it looks good embedded into a website.
All I have to do is click this little button: 
at the bottom right of the calendar and I’m prompted to accept the subscription. In calendar settings assign a color and opt to automatically refresh anywhere from every five minutes to once a week.
Something for Everyone at iCalShare
iCalShare is the largest calendar sharing resource on the web. There are over 4,000 calendars available here in categories like local events, news, history, and more – literally something for everyone. iCalShare works with Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS.
Check out helpful and interesting calendars like these:
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Photo credit: Rhombic Calendar by Philip Chapman-Bell
Craig
08/12/2014 at 7:39 amSearching all day for interesting calendars and this proved helpful and easy to link with Google Calendar:
http://www.webcal.fi/en-US/manual_subscription.php
Just click on ‘show url’, then scroll back up to the top and click ‘add to google calendar’, tthen in the automatically opened google calendar (if you are using a signed-in Chrome browser) click ‘yes, add this calendar’.
Samantha
08/13/2014 at 11:49 amThanks Craig! For those who, like me, use iCal and not Google calendar you can also use this source.
– Click “Show URL” for the calendar you want
– Copy it
– Open iCal and chose “File – New Calendar Subscription”
– Paste the URL and click OK
I am now subscribed to the Moon calendar!
Samantha
08/13/2014 at 11:55 amBy the way, how did you find this blog?
Aapo Puskala
10/19/2014 at 4:59 pmSamantha, there is also a much simpler way of subscribing to calendars from WebCal.fi. Just go to
http://www.webcal.fi/en-US/calendars.php
Select the calendar, press Subscribe … and then the calendar is added to iCal (with confirmation). Note that this way of subscribing works only with local calendar applications, i.e. not Google Calendar.
Btw, I’m the author of the site 🙂
Samantha
10/19/2014 at 6:49 pmThanks Aapo. I’m now subscribed to the ‘Good to Know’ calendar.
useful calendars
09/28/2019 at 9:32 pmI’m now subscribed calendar.