This event is super fantastic!!!!! Though lots of promotion around town, lots of my friends knew…read morenothing about it. Nonetheless, the second year was well attended. We had passes for the kickin chicken wing fest. Can you say...FUN! Between the two of us, we had 10 tickets to try wings and vote on the best. We managed to use 9 of the 10 tickets before we got full. Just to name a few favorites: Billy's, Basil, Otey's, Carrigan's(minus the nuts). To fill you in, local restaurants brought kitchens/warmers/fryers and provided wings for patrons with tickets. How awesome! Beer/wine were also available for purchase. If you didn't have cash....an ATM was right around the corner. If you pulled out the big bucks, you could've enjoyed the wine/beer tasting under another tent for 2 hours. We enjoyed the SEC football under the nicely decorated tent. Nearby there was a fun filled kids zone for the kiddos. To add to the fun, Buffalo Wild Wings sponsored a hot wing eating contest.....need I say more? Now for the music!!!!! Oh My Goodness, the music. What a blast. Two alternating stages was such a perfect idea. Thankfully, we had front row standing seats for some amazingly talented folks: Kansas Bible Company, Paul McDonald, Drew Holcomb and the neighbors. If you found yourself getting hungry, several food trucks lined up for your tasting pleasure. All in all, beer/wine for purchase as well One of the best parts of Cask and Drum is that it's literally an all day event. We came early, left for a few hours, then returned for more. We're looking forward to it next year Happy-happy festival days in Birmingham!

To me, there are three main factors that always make or break an outdoor music festival: weather,…read morevolume, and beer. And although I did enjoy myself, personally Cask & Drum didn't quite master any of the three. Weather: I know, I know, you can't control the weather, but boy, oh boy, at least pick a space with some shade! October can be finicky in terms of temperature, but one should still anticipate that, in Alabama, it's probably gonna be hot. After about only fifteen minutes, we found ourselves cramming up close to the building with dozens of others trying to get out of the sun for a bit. The Gameday Tent was already packed to capacity and, although shaded, almost warmer than standing out in the elements. Other than the lack of shade, the area was nice (right by Pepper Place) with plentiful street parking. Volume: (I repeat) I know, I know, you want the music loud enough for everyone can hear it, but I shouldn't have to stand six hundred feet back just to comprehend the music! If we got much closer, all we got was speaker base. I'll redeem that by saying the lineup at this festival was pretty rockin'! I hadn't been previously familiar with some of the daytime bands, but I loved Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires and can't say I didn't' enjoy the others as well. Beer: I'm picky about my beers. A festival like this is the PERFECT opportunity to showcase some of the local (or regional, at least) craft beers, but the festival seemed dominated by miller lite. Bleh. Personal taste, that's all. I think next year, I'll invest in getting a VIP ticket to get access to the tent with seating, pizza and beer (plus nice bathrooms)- it's the little luxuries that make an event like this special. I also wish there had been a few more craft vendors there. There was a small booth right out by the entrance, which misled me to expect more. It would add a little something more to the event.

My friends and I came here for the Summer Shindig last weekend. We had the best time! Admission was…read more$12 and with that we were each able to pick out 5 sunflowers and got complimentary watermelon. There was also hayride, fireworks, cute farm animals, live music, and lots of vendors that day. I can't wait to come back here for more events!

We visited this farm on a school field trip! It's a cute family run establishment. They have a…read moregreat setup with a hayride, pumpkin patch, cotton picking fields, animals, hay bale maze, playground and pic nic eating areas. The employees were so friendly and seemed to genuinely enjoy their jobs! I loved the cotton picking session, it was a bit lengthy on the history discussion and the kids (kindergarteners) lost interest about 10 minutes into the 20 minute speel. Overall, we had a fantastic time! BTW, I hear they do a fun setup for Christmas ;)

Great food event at Sloss Furnaces this year! There was food from EastWest, The Mayor, Bongiorno,…read moreSol y Luna, Tre Luna, Adorned Sweets, Daniel George, Habitat Feed & Social, and Troup's Pizza (that I can remember at least!). There were cocktails from Reve, Paper Doll, Adios, as well as beer and wine samples. It is a great way to taste some local cuisine!

This is an annual event held in Linn Park, downtown Birmingham…read more This is a well conceived, but poorly executed event. Tickets are sold in advance and at the gate. There is not enough of a discount for the pre-sales to take the risk of inclement weather as absolutely no refund is offered. That would be okay if the "organizers" did some planning and made arrangements for rain. But no, they have outside tables with no cover so these tables are useless if it rains or is very hot as was the case in 2013. You end up standing in line for measly offerings of food and then stand to eat. There are no facilities in the event itself to go relieve yourself of consumed beverages. Why not expand the area for the restaurants? This is a real charlie foxtrot. Nobody can walk by, the lines are ridiculously long and when it rains, it is just a massive jam. If you are going to take my money and offer no refund, you need to plan for rain, very hot weather and other contingencies. The portions are small, usually cold and unappetizing. You can go to a good restaurant for the money and not have to put up with all the inconvenience. We will not go back until better planning is initiated. I would recommend taking this event off your future plans. I came home wet, aggravated, disappointed and feeling like my pocket had been picked. No, no, just no. If you want to be miserable, go. Otherwise, go somewhere else. IMHO, this is the kind of event that needs to go out of business.

It was a phenomenal haunt! We did go during the Valentine's haunt so there were a lack of actors,…read morebut I'm going back in October to see how things have changed! Definitely a great haunt in the Birmingham area.

I went to a pop up at this location last night and had an amazing time. Jenee at beverage stand…read moregave me free popcorn and was so friendly. I cannot wait to come check out the haunted house during Halloween season. They also have a cool Halloween shop inside also. I love this place. I hope they bring more nightlife during the off season time. .

This was very disappointing ! The name of the event is misleading . It should be called Birmingham…read moreChristmas Flea Market. This was mostly poorly made junk being sold for way more than what it's worth . On top of that very few  vendors were actually selling anything Christmas related and the stuff you did see wasn't worth buying . Just lousy overall . I would never go again or recommend to anyone .

The best event of the year. All type of unique items and some are One of a kind items to purchase…read morefor yourself , your family and friends. Vendors come to this event from far and wide and the customers too. This is five day event it busy everyday. Wednesday is VIP (no strollers or rolling shopping carts ) purchase your tickets early because they do sell out.

Magic City Art Connection is a very special event that brings together artists from all around the…read moreSoutheast. Entrance this year was $15. Even if you only utilize this event as a gallery viewing, the cost is well worth it. The creativity of some people is mind-blowing. There were dozens (hundreds? I'm not great at estimating numbers) of booths of all kinds of media, including painting/drawing/visual, jewelry, sculpture, and more. I purchased a coffee mug from an artist whose designs were inspired by the events of 9/11 and technique was derived from Ancient Greece. I also purchased a necklace from an artist whose techniques included some from Korean tradition that melded together gold and silver. Truly beautiful. These items were evidently made with great care and quality materials. I felt that the prices were extremely reasonable. There are several activities within the Art Connection that would be fun for children and are included in the cost of entrance. My friend and I stopped by the Amor booth and made beaded bracelets. There are food vendors in and around the Art Connection, but the lines were quite long! All in all, would recommend, and the weather was perfect this year!

It's been a couple of years since we'd attended MCAC, but we went this year because a friend…read moresuggested Corks & Chefs. It was GREAT. The parking was easy. Check in took a minute, but was well organized. Corks & Chefs was fabulous and turned us on to some new venues (and taught us more about tequila!). The vendors were super high quality and friendly. There were local folks displaying their wares in addition to regional and even national folks. I attend a fair amount of "craft festivals", but this was beyond that in level of quality. Really a fine group of assembled craftspeople. Thanks ONB!

The Father's Day weekend train ride for dads and father figures was an amazing experience. First of…read moreall, if you have reserved any train ride, please leave extra early. The I-65 traffic is intense. Our 1:00pm departure was delayed by ten minutes to allow extra time for guests to board. There are plenty of train cars to choose from - open air or air conditioned. We opted for the open air to get the full experience. It was about an hour and half ride RT. We got a great view of the neighboring golf course and a local vineyard. The gift shop carries awesome train themed gifts as well as local Alabama themed gifts. The train depot house a small exhibit about the history of rail. There is a neat video on the Louisville & Nashville lines that used to run through Birmingham. A must see in the area.

My husband and I attended the Mardi Gras Bourbon and Beignets event. While it was an enjoyable…read morenight out, it certainly did not exactly meet our expectations. We were under the impression this was a more formal event due to the advertising & description on the website. We felt very overdressed... We were about 15-20 minutes late boarding the train. The power then went out on the train, which really wasn't an issue considering it was cool outside thankfully. It was a very short ride to the winery. When we arrived at Ozan Winery, the tables were preset (picture attached) the food had been sitting there for only God knows how long... It was a small portion of crawfish etouffe, and a small slice of a muffuletta. the etouffe was so cold from sitting there so long it was like it had been refrigerated. that was so disappointing... the sandwich was fine. then there was a bag of chips.. The wine tasting in itself was nice, but it felt very rushed due to the train being late. We barely had finished the tasting by the time she was pouring the next one in our glass... The star of the show. the bourbon & beignets... the bourbon was.. well. bourbon. but the beignets looked and tasted as if they had been taken out of a little debbie package. so disappointing... it was not even comparable to a true beignet. tasted more like a twinkie with grape jelly in it... Overall the experience felt very cheap and thrown together. We expected a more sophisticated experience.

We decided to visit the museum to see their 'Monet to Matisse' exhibit. I checked occasionally in…read morethe week leading up to our visit. Their website displays how many tickets are remaining for the day. I wanted to ensure this wasn't selling out for our day, in which case I'd have bought tickets in advance online. However, they still showed over 1000 tickets available the day before, so I opted to just buy them at the museum. We had issues with navigation in Birmingham already, and those continued en route to the museum. For whatever reason, the app directed us over a mile beyond downtown and then had us get off the highway, cross the overpass, and double back (?). We actually switched apps a bit later as we were sure there was an issue. We eventually found the museum, though. It wasn't obvious from the front, but apparently the museum does have its own free parking lot behind the building. We ended up parking in a deck a few blocks away, but thankfully that only ended up costing us $3. The museum is normally free for entry, I believe. Donations are encouraged. However, for special travelling exhibits, there was a charge (about $25 per person). This was handled at a kiosk just outside the exhibit. We toured the exhibit and enjoyed it. Works were arranged in 3 large rooms. It was crowded, but manageable. After seeing that, we opted to check out some of the permanent collection before leaving. On the upper level (where we were) there are several rooms devoted to Asian arts (samurai armor from Japan, jade and buddha statues from China, etc.). Korea and India were also represented. If we'd had more time, we would have explored more on this floor. We descended to the first floor and checked out some of the European galleries as well as the end of the wing that is devoted to American art. They had interesting works on all these areas. If I lived in the area, I'd likely come here to check out the permanent collection. Maybe we'll be back at some point to see more of it. This was well worth stopping by if you like art. (I will limit my photos to the permanent collection.)

I finally made my way into the Birmingham Museum of Art after driving past it for years like,…read more"Yeah, I'll get to that one day..." Well, that day finally came--and turns out, I've been sleeping on a gem this whole time. First off, free admission? That'll get your attention quicker than a "buy one get one" sign. But seriously, this place is legit. It may not be on the scale of New York City or Chicago, but it absolutely punches above its weight. Birmingham quietly flexing, and I respect it. I started out in the sculpture garden, and with it being spring, the blooming dogwood trees added a layer of nostalgia that hit just right. Between the flowers, the fresh air, and the artwork, it was one of those "slow down and take it in" moments. Not bad for a place I used to ignore at red lights--or even flying past it doing 80 on 59/20. Inside, the collections are surprisingly deep and diverse. European, American, African, Asian--you name it. I spent a good bit of time in the African galleries, which meant a lot to me having traveled to Tanzania several times. It's one thing to read about cultures, but seeing the art up close brings a whole different level of appreciation. They also had a traveling exhibit featuring Claude Monet, and I'll just say--pictures don't do that justice. The way he plays with light and color is something you've got to see in person. The Renaissance pieces were another highlight, especially the Madonna and Child panels. You can actually see the craftsmanship in the materials--it makes you realize these artists weren't just talented, they were patient... like next-level patient. There's also a really cool mix of American artwork that captures early Alabama life. One painting in particular shows a whole social scene--different classes, different backgrounds--all in one place. It's like a historical snapshot, and honestly, probably more accurate than some of the stories we've all heard growing up. Now let's talk about the staff--because that matters. Every person I interacted with was friendly, welcoming, and actually knew their stuff. I asked a few questions, and instead of getting a quick "I think so," I got detailed answers that made the experience even better. That's the kind of thing you remember. Swing by the gift shop or grab a snack on the second floor--they're ready to welcome you. What I appreciated most was how the museum connects everything. You walk through different cultures, different time periods, and somehow it all ties back to the same themes--faith, identity, daily life, legacy. Makes you realize people haven't changed all that much... we've just gotten better at Wi-Fi. Walking out, I couldn't help but laugh a little--I've passed this place for years and had no idea what I was missing. Safe to say, I won't make that mistake again. In fact, this was my second visit in less than a month. If you're local or just passing through Birmingham, this place is absolutely worth your time. Take it from someone who learned the hard way--don't wait as long as I did. Well done, Birmingham!