Location This event is now hosted on Enterprise, in the same…read moreplaza as Good Catch, Goodlife and the VIP cinemas. Parking (including underground) is quite limited there - so best to come carpooling or explore nearby parking. One good thing is that the organizer does have a designated parking area setup for people coming in. Setup There are multiple vendors - from food, drinks to small gifts, organizations and even non-profits to promote anything! There are also festivities and live performances based on a schedule - so make sure to grab a seat if you want to watch any of them. I usually come for the food - to see what's new and exciting and what is not out there in restaurants. Inflation over the years have risen a lot of prices - so it could range anywhere from $10 for a drink to $15-$20 for food. Quantity wise - depending on where you look - can vary. You may have to spend at least 1-2 dishes to feel full. It's a staple yearly event that happens in Markham - definitely do check it out - and you may little hidden surprises !

It's been almost a decade since I've frequented NIU. Is there a more iconic, summer asian food…read morefestival tbh? I can't think of one. NIU's always been synonymous with funky smell, gimmicky lights, a packed crowd and overpriced food. Yet the reason, I suppose ppl go is the camaraderie with friends and for a night out w/ significant others? The annual event always happens in the markham VIP theater parking lot and you'll probably need to park near the AVIVA building. Parking fills up quick so you might need to end up parking far and walking over. As soon you get near you'll notice the pungent smell of stinky tofu wafting through the entire lot and permeating your nostrils. My first year back this year w/ my gf and everything started at $10+. I think I must've spent close to $150 by the end of the night. Gf was happy. My wallet? Not so much LOOLL. They had dance, band and singer performances on a main stage throughout the night (basically like an outdoor concert). If you get lost from your group of friends good luck trying to find them cuz chances are you're not gonna have good cell signal either. You'll see a lot of gimmicky food vendors at NIU so pick and choose wisely! Cool experience for a first time if you've never been. If you've already been, you can hard skip a couple years before revisiting. It's always the same thing so you won't ever feel the FOMO.

all weekend long in downtown Collingwood. There are number of stages featuring all types of Elvis…read moreimpersonators. There are also a number of street vendors selling food, clothing and other Elvis related merchandise. Fun for the whole family !

Didn't visit Markham ribfest this year as they charge $5 admission and the lines have become…read morecomically long. Instead, opted to visit ribfest on the last day in Stouffville. It turned out to be a much wiser decision imo. More available parking, free entry, much cozier space (held in Memorial Park) but also WAY smaller lines. You were able to get to the front of the food lines within 15 mins tops. My friends and I bought our bbq from Sticky Fingers as it had the largest line (isn't that usually the rule of thumb? Pick the vendor with the longest line lol). So a friend and I ordered: - a full rack of pork ribs - a full rack of beef ribs - a pound of brisket - mac n' cheese - baked beans Funnily enough, we unanimously agreed (along w/ our friends who tried some of it), that even though it was RIBfest, the brisket was the best. We got some fatty and lean brisket in our pound and it was glorious. The pork ribs were 2nd place. While the beef ribs were good they still weren't quite as tender as I think I've ever had. The pork ribs also had way more flavour. The seasoning didn't quite permeate the beef ribs all the way down to the bone. The sides were mediocre. While the mac noodles were al dente, the cheese sauce was bland. Overall 4 stars. Can't give 5 stars because those prices were getting kinda ridiculous ... holy hell. They raised the prices out the wazoo.

Stouffville Country Ribfest has been kicking around for years. Oddly, I had never dropped by until…read morelast Saturday. Since this pandemic, the format has changed from a large ribfest with lots of activities at Memorial Park to a drive-thru version at the same place. I decided to give the drive-thru a whirl. Drive-thru events in Stouffville are organized exceptionally well. If you are getting a COVID-19 vaccination shot at the drive-thru, you need to book through Eventbrite. The same holds true for this ribfest, which was painless and straightforward. I booked a timeslot to drop by between 5 pm and 6 pm. I got there just after 5:30 pm. It was easy to locate. A woman that I first met asked if I had checked in online. I did and showed her my confirmation. She was pleased. She then found my name on her list and asked me to drive up a few feet. A second woman handed me a menu. I thanked her and slowly drove over to the rib vendors. This ribfest is probably one of the smaller ones that I have been to. There were only two rib vendors: - Sticky Fingers - Fat Boys BBQ Since I had already got ribs from the former at Scarborough Ribfest the previous weekend, my choice was simple. Go with the latter! There was good music provided by Excellent Productions to keep us all entertained while lining up. Perhaps I'm the only weirdo who ended up taking a photo of the staff there as I waited in line. Everyone there waved at me! I love friendliness. The Fat Boys BBQ line moved fast. When it was my turn to place my order, I had a helpful and nice woman help me out. I got the following: - Full rib rack meal, which comes with coleslaw and baked beans - Cornbread (2) I love cornbread. I had a feeling that this place's cornbread would be yummy when I saw a sign there that it offered a fully loaded cornbread with pulled pork. I paid using a credit card. I provided a tip. The woman let her colleagues know that I had added a tip and they all said thanks in unison. It was so unexpected, but a lovely gesture. I pulled up next to where all the barbeque magic was happening. Another woman provided a bag with my name on it. I thanked her, placed my food safely in the car as if I were guarding it with my life, and drove home. The food was amazing. Let's start with the cornbread. I love cornbread a lot. It was fabulous. It was perfect. Soft and buttery. Yum! I'm so glad that I got two. I had the other one for breakfast and smeared peach jam on it, which I have never done before. Wow! If I see this place again at another ribfest, I'm getting the fully loaded cornbread. The ribs here are so good! The meat was tender and hearty. The sauce was flavourful and delicious. I loved the ribs so much. I couldn't eat them all in one sitting. I had the remaining half the following day and they tasted even better! The baked beans were the best batch that I have had in a while. It was smoky, full of flavour, and wasn't overly sweet or salty. Just right. So yummy! The only weakness was the coleslaw. Although it was fresh, it lacked flavour. I ended up adding rib meat and baked beans on top. The coleslaw was that bland. I had a great experience here. There were lots of clear signs around to indicate that you're driving in one direction, along with staff to help with any questions. The entrance was at Hoover Park and Park Drives, and I exited at Park Drive and Main Street. (320)

Took advantage of the beautiful Easter long weekend weather to partake in the maple syrup festival…read moreat the Purple Woods Conservation Area north of Oshawa with my son and daughter. Amazing weather = no maple syrup running. Way too warm. Pics on the website show previous years when they had atleast a foot of snow on the ground. It would have interesting to see the maple syrup actually dripping from the trees but in no way did that take away from the experience. They had several interactive settings with volunteers in colonial garb explaining how maple syrup was made way back in the day at the sugar shack. The volunteers explaining the process were very informed and told a good story. The kids went on a wagon ride into the sugar bush which they enjoyed. After walking the trail and hearing about all this maple syrup we stopped off to enjoy some pancakes and maply syrup. The maple syrup produced here is one of the best i ever tasted. Very delicious. Prices for the were a little out i left field but seems like all funds raised were going to a worth while cause, the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority. (Adult-3 pancakes+drink 4.50, Child-2 pancakes+drink 3.50, sausages extra as well) Pleased to see they had the necessay recycling set up. Will be visiting again next year.

A great free festival in beautiful Main Street Unionville! A portion of the street is closed off to…read moretraffic, so the festival is pedestrian friendly. It's lovely to stroll down the street and stop along at the various music performances along the way. The locations are spaced out nicely so the sound doesn't overlap and you have the opportunity to walk around. Businesses have their doors open to browse and there are plenty of restaurants and dessert locations open to satisfy your tastebuds. Enjoy the ambiance of Main Street! You can also hop on the trail or visit the park for a nice dose of nature with your jazz.

What a great food festival this is. Definitely one of the busiest food festivals in Toronto. The…read morefood items here are outrageous. Lots of seafood offerings on a sick, lots of meats on a stick. The flavours are not only Chinese, but also Indian inspired. Think Hakka. Make sure to try some of the tasty and interesting drinks, from fresh fruit drinks (some served in a pineapple), to ice teas to bubble teas. The perfect accompaniment on a hot summer day. The festival is very busy, so be prepared for the crowds. Parking can be a hassle, but there is lots of street parking in the surrounding neighbourhoods. On a hot summer day, you can step into the adjacent Pacific Mall to cool down. So, why not a 5 star review you ask me? Simple reason: The place has a very unappetizing smell. I asked around, and was informed that it's the Sticky Tofu. I do believe that people eat it as a novelty, like durian fruit. So, I hope I'm not being culturally insensitive when I mention it. But honestly, I think this festival would be much better if the Sticky Tofu truck was stuck on the 401. Sorry. In case I'm misunderstanding the whole Sticky Tofu thing, please enlighten me! Other than that, I would definitely recommend this food festival. As an added bonus, there is a stage with dance and song performances.

Taste of Asia just isn't what it used to be. Sure there's still lots of food stalls this year but…read moreit's a far cry from the past. It feels more like a community fair now with many non-food stalls like GO transit, embassy of India, MPs, plants and even Scientology (lol). Food options were good, but predominantly Chinese. There's a few Thai and other Asian cuisines but the variety was rather poor and selections were limited compared to a Night Market that I attended last year in New York. Food prices definitely went up by quite a bit this year ($20 for 4 scallops/oysters).

Thank you to Yelp for having us! My family and I came on a Saturday night around 7pm and it was…read morequite busy. The drive thru is roughly 30 minutes however if you stop over to take photos at the haunted house and pick up some candy the entire drive thru experience might take an hour. The weather was perfect that evening so we had the windows down to take photos and videos. It was a fun little drive thru and a good way to get into the Halloween spirit.

From the owner: Experience one of the largest Halloween Drive Thru Light Event in the GTA!…read more Over 1.5 Million Halloween lights, 2D to 3D animated displays, music lights and much more! Fun for the whole family! Time slots selling out!

This was such a fun, spontaneous evening! It had a cool Oriental night market vibe with tons of…read morefood stalls, bouncy houses, and two live DJs. The food was tasty but definitely pricey, especially after the entrance fee (which wasn't cheap). Highlight was launching lanterns into the water such a sweet little moment with my kid. It felt like a cool blend of culture-meets-festival energy. Would totally go again, just maybe pre-game with snacks first .

The website: I wasn't impressed with this waterfront night…read moremarket. I had such high hopes though. Their marketing & pictures of past events looked so good. Hubby & I bought tickets for this year's event. Firstly, their website doesn't have any FAQs. Other than a link to buy tickets & what the cost of the ticket gets you there's not much more information. First Impressions: We arrived just after 4pm & lined up. We got through pretty quickly because there wasn't much of a lineup. The device they were using to scan tickets wouldn't scan ours so they took a picture instead. We had VIP tickets so we got the "nicer" red lantern with tealight candle (the kind with a battery & a switch to turn on). They did a bag check & saw one of us had a bottle of water with us (unopened). They made us throw it into the garbage before going in. That wasn't nice. I later saw people with their reusable water bottles walking around with it. Why were those allowed and not ours? Not nice. As we went inside some booths weren't even set up. Though a good amount were already making their food items for waiting customers. One booth near the entrance was grilling skewers & the smoke went everywhere. The food: After wandering around I decided to get the ube burger & fries from the Bunso booth. The burger was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. The beef patties inside were quite thin. It didn't look appetizing compared to the picture. But it tasted a lot better than it looked. LOL. One thing I will criticize about the burger I wish they hadn't put so much black pepper into the patty. It was a bit spicy for me. It would have been nice if they had seasoned it more gently. The fries were decent. My only complaint is that they weren't hot. But given the circumstances where they were cooked (outdoors on a windy day) I can understand that. The Chatime food truck was nearby so I bought a purple aura bubble tea drink from them. It was too sweet for me. I only drank about half of it before abandoning it. Later on I got the egg shaped waffles in a small carton & the combo comes with lemonade in a flask. This was from Eggette Lab. The flask is a round ring & the strap is pink. Hubby drank the weak lemonade in it. It was funny to see him wearing the flask with pink ribbon & cartoon cats on it. Hubby got chicken skewers from Bunso (no picture) & a Vietnamese coffee style drink (didn't catch name of food vendor). The good: -The red lanterns hanging above the dance floor were nice. -The water feature where the lanterns go was nice. But the water didn't look too clean. -There was a plastic gold dragon by the water which looks nice in pictures & there's a small red bridge beside the water feature for selfie shots. -There was also some plastic Fu dogs where the dragon dancers have a tent. -The fake cherry blossoms looked nice too. -People were friendly & food vendors were friendly. -There were picnic tables set up near the back of the area away from the dance floor. It was quieter there. -The live dj was good. The bad: -A lot of the same food vendors here have also been at Mel Lastman Square events which is free to get into - I didn't feel like I was getting anything special or VIP. I was hoping to see more food vendors I hadn't seen before. -The only washrooms were portapotties which were disgusting & dirty. You can use the washrooms at enercare center but you have to leave the market & might not be allowed back in. -The VIP ticket came with a free alcoholic drink. That booth wasn't even set up yet when we arrived. Hubby was able to get a soju bomb later. -There are no recycle bins or green bins. Everything goes into the garbage. That's a lot of waste. When we got home we opened up the lanterns to look at them. They are cheap plastic lanterns. We recycled them at home. The electronic tea lights are ones you can get at the dollar store. It was nice to experience a different night market but I don't think I'll come back to this one. There are tons of free-entry night markets around the city that I can go to.