We visited the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts this past Sunday, and had a wonderful time exploring…read morethe many activities and vendors along University Avenue, a row of seemingly endless booths. Food, art, and merchandise  galore, to be viewed and/or purchased. Fascinating art displays caught my eye at every corner, so unique and simply remarkable. The Italian Street Painting Expo featured pastel paintings by chalk artists (my fave was the Sleeping Beauty piece... cuz how could I not love the rabbits in the boots!). Chopin & Chandeliers was an interactive piano with a "play me" sign just calling for musicians among the crowd to showcase their talents and entertain attendees under a shaded tent decorated with chandeliers sculpted from upcycling materials (ie. plastic bottles). The live entertainment was amazing and enjoyable, getting the crowd on its feet and in the mood for this joyous event. The rhythmic sounds of the violin and keyboard, by Tom Rigney & John R Burr, was a treat for my ears. And the late afternoon band on the Waverley Stage, The Cook 'n Fenny Combo, kept the good vibes going, heavy on the harmonica, tambourine, and guitar, performing hits like Joan Osborne's One Of Us. This was a great festival with free admission, lots to see and do, well organized, welcoming atmosphere, friendly people, and easy street parking less than a block away in the afternoon.

First time here to this upscale art festival as after all the toney, well heeled folks in this area…read morehave disposable money. I really enjoyed this festival and unlike other festivals in the Bay Area there were not as many food vendors which was fine as University Ave has a plethora of great restaurants to choose from.

Whether it is cold, wet, or nice, we have been enjoying this with or children, and now, our grand…read morechildren too, for years and years. Grabbing a spot on the curb is difficult. Parking is a bear. The parade moves quickly, the bands are always good, the floats are fun.

Totally charming and a fairly impressive undertaking for a small(ish) town. Lots of floats…read moresponsored by local businesses and organizations, and marching bands from nearby high schools, all lit up like a gentler version of Disney's Main Street Electric Parade. We came with our 1yo daughter and didn't even arrive until after 6pm, but were able to catch the parade at the very end of the route. Cute and creative floats, low on tackiness, great for kids, and everyone participating seemed to be having a great time. Would go again!

Our friends turned us on to this event and it was so darn cute! It will probably make our go-to…read morelist next year! One end cap seemed to be where the bulk of the handmade vendors were, which I appreciated. I'm usually not a big food or Win A Vacation tent goer, so having all the things I was there for at one end was marvelous! We loved the bow vendor Min, who had fabulous prices at $1 for the smaller non-matched bows. Super cute! Another favorite was the beautiful die cut card vendor. I purchased one for my mother and the honey one just for our living room! Topping off the awesome vendors were the handmade coasters at $5 each and Macarons A Go Go with their Yoda themed tasties, a favorite of mine when I lived back in the South Bay! This was a great way to start out or Craft Fair season! Yay Los Altos Fall Festival!

Love all Los Altos festivals and fairs. The more the merrier. Arts & Wine, seasonal, Earth Day,…read moreFine Art in the Park, Pet Parade, Third Street Green, First Fridays, Farmers Market weekly, too many to list but not nearly enough fun. It's all good. The 25th Annual Los Altos Fall Festival took place on Saturday and Sunday, October 1-2, 2016 in downtown Los Altos. I visited both days. The Classic Car Show was a highlight. Amazing antique and vintage sportsters, sedans, and trucks. Also, Little Explorers Petting Zoo. Absolutely adorable little pig the size of a rabbit. Your usual arts and crafts booths, live entertainment, fine wines and micro-breweries, food, children's corner with games and activities, all of it present. This one is a lower key event. The antique and vintage cars on display are much fun to check out, perhaps to chat with the owners. My wife was smitten by the 1967 Porsche Slate Grey 912 (pun intended). TheSlateGrey (Der Graue Fuchs) was ordered by its original owner, George, in the summer of '67 at a cost of $4.5K, and arrived from Germany to San Francisco on the Madam Butterfly - a ship used for Porsches only. 49 years is no joke, all of it happily lived in the Bay Area, has never been restored. All the original parts and interior, paint and engine, can you imagine! The Grey Fox is as good as new and very handsome.

They say when you go to one art and wine festival, you have gone to them all because the suppliers…read morein those festivals are similarand the same. However, I still have fun at this year's festival. I love the chalk arts, the artists are talented! I also love the "cake candle" supplier this year. Cute stuff for you to explore the For you to explore the artsy side of you. As for food, I didn't try the food truck as most of the time, you couldn't find a place to sit down to enjoy your food. I hate holding the food and tying to find a curbside or a bench somewhere to eat. So awkward, you know? LOL. Will I come back next year? Probably not but this is still fun do if you don't have a plan that weekend.

First time to this Festival and initially felt a little claustrophobic walking the first two blocks…read morewhen we arrived around 12:15 pm on a Saturday. However, after walking the first two blocks and for whatever reason there seemed to be more space to walk without bumping into other folks. Weather temperature was perfect and it's nice that Castro street is lined on either side of the street with trees which shaded the sun. I actually ended up buying a piece of sale cloth stainless steel bracelet from one of the vendors.

This is the first time attending an Obon Festival…read more The overwhelming smells of the prepared food makes me really hungry. All the food looked yummy! We purchased kalbi, , salmon, curry over rice, udon, and spam musubi. We would have bought more, but this amount of food was plenty for three people. The food line was fairly long...however it is worth the wait!! The entire process was very organized and line moved very quickly. There were plenty of tables outdoor for dining with self serve water and tea. Afterwards, there were game and food booths, and silent auction area too. Also, there was an opportunity to visit the temple (hondo). There were suiseki sculptures, ink drawings, and ikebana displayed on the tables that in the back of the hondo. Outdoors, there was a booth demonstrating the art of bonsai sculpting too. The festival here is smaller than other ones nearby...nevertheless the atmosphere and crowd of people was just right. We came on Saturday. I'm sure it will be much more crowded tomorrow. If you are in the area, this is a festival not to be missed!

Definitely one of the GREATEST and largest Obon festivals in the Bay Area. Being on par with Mtn…read moreView and San Jose, Palo Alto Obon Festival always gets a lot of the community to come out and dance on Sunday night, as well as service delicious food in the Dining Hall. The specialties are the udon with near-perfect dashi, beef ribs complete with bone, and who can forget the incredible Miso Salmon (aka Shiz Salmon, after the "chef" that does all of the salmon for PABT Obon). During my two days there, I had three helpings of that deliciously tender fish topped with the sweet and salty miso mix. And if you're not feelin Japanese food, there is always corn and American food/shave ice closer to Issei Hall. The games are alright as well - definitely more for the younger kids, but the goldfish booth is always popular, and if you have any dimes laying around, use them for dime pitch! I was able to get Kathleen W. a sea otter using some of my leftover dimes! Craft sale, bookstore, and bake sale are great additions - bookstore has some interesting reads on Asian American studies, craft sale featured a collection of old school Star Wars figurines (I got a Darth Maul for like $2!), and the bake sale always sells out of manju, nori chex, and pies. Silent Auction also has a ton of things that you can bid on. One of the things that Palo Alto thrives on is the culture. With so many demos, a bonsai booth, suiseki and ikebana exhibits, and a fun night of obon odori/dancing, it all adds to the atmosphere of an exciting festival time with definite roots in the Japanese/Japanese-American history and culture. The only thing bad about PABT Obon festival is that it is only one weekend a year. SO for those of you that missed 2012, you had better keep the first weekend of Aug free next year - NOT GOING TO WANT TO MISS!

This was an amazing art and wine festival. It was easily a city block worth of booths and a…read morewonderful array of vendors. We purchased a really cool print from a so cal artist. Prices of wine were reasonable, I got a solid cup of white for $8 (4 tickets.)

The Los Altos Art & Wine Festival is held in downtown Los Altos, primarily on Main St & State St…read more Parking in the area is very limited. It helps to arrive early to find parking in nearby streets. This event always draws a lot of people. The live music is always good. There is plenty of variety in the booths lining both streets. This one in Los Altos was superior to the Art & Wine Festival in Sunnyvale last month. There is way more art in Los Altos than in Sunnyvale, in many different styles. There was way more variety in vendors, which made this event more enjoyable. You find art, crafts, clothing, toys, gifts, etc. And you'll also find several wineries attending. There was something interesting for everyone. (My impression of Sunnyvale's Art & Wine was that there were too many vendors selling the same thing, for example, multiple booths selling forever jewelry or press on nails.) There was a good variety of food booths, plus the usual downtown restaurants. I like to stop by Red Berry Coffee Bar for coffee. State Street Market is also a nice small food hall when people want to eat different things. I look forward to coming back next year.

i attended this year's edition of menlo park's annual summer street festival and was not…read moredisappointed...it just seems to get better and better each year! parking was a bit tricky, not surprisingly, and i had to park about 1/2 mile away from santa cruz ave, but it was such a beautiful day that i didn't mind the extra walking. the usual art, jewelry, craft, clothing, and gift vendors were present, as were several local food trucks. there were also some rides for children, and i saw members of the fire and police dept representing! there were some free samples from local vendors, and lots of local menlo park businesses to ask questions and learn from. i really enjoyed seeing many of the newer businesses at this event, to see how menlo park is changing and evolving. although i came alone, this fair is definitely suitable for families and children and i highly recommend visiting this annual summer festival if you are a menlo park resident, or visiting the peninsula for the day!

Have been attending this event since it began... under a different name- we would attend both days…read more Attended this year as well unfortunately it has really lost a lot of lustre Perhaps it has run it's course- now 33 years later- ??? It used to be fun with interesting vendor booths & delicious food and music - Not many attendees for Saturday- quite empty actually for this annual event- At least a few of food vendors did tell us that it was NOT busy for them : ( Did noticed a new food booths that may have replaced the other favorites we look forward to- The end on the el camino side -was empty/ no one dancing - the music was so loud, difficult to enjoy it ... or order food at the near by food booths In past years there was a stage on the el camino side that was fun and entertaining- sadly not this year A little later in the day we went back only to find that some of the food booths were out of food- not good considering lack of crowd - constitutes poor planning Not any of the chefs or other interesting participants in this years event The vendor booths were much of the same with slight variation - The music in the park was okay ... better in the 6 o'clock stage - A new food vendor in particular was a nice addition - the mobile wood fire pizza... hope that returns (yes even on a warm day) We usually attend both days... although not this year for lack of interest Feel for the vendors that put so much time, expense and effort for not much return --- Oh well... maybe the planning committee will take a closer look and see how to fix this for next year's event in 2020 - otherwise it will be more of the same -

It was really good this year! I am noticing a trend of more artists less "cheap factory-made" stuff…read moreand I couldn't be happier. Great pottery/ceramics, jewelry makers, painters, photographers, and more. I enjoyed leisurely strolling along, taking my time and enjoying chatting with some of the vendors. I grabbed a virgin Pina Colada which was very tasty and chock full of real blended pineapple. By the time 2:00pm rolled around, I realized I was hungry and noticed a booth selling BBQ'd oysters, these things were huge! And looked amazing. 3 giants oysters for $10. They had garlic, parsley and as he put them on the plate, the guy scooped pure melted butter and poured on top of them, with a wedge of lemon! Wow, I have to say those things were insanely delicious, and worth the money. Just a fine treat. Believe me, I was tempted to go back and get 3 more!!

Festival is nice with food kid activities. Food was very pricy for the quality and super greasy…read more There are a bunch of good freebies (Creators Chicago Mix anyone?) There's also a bunch of people trying to sell you stuff like time shares. Overall a nice way to spend an hour or two particularly given no admission fee but it is overpriced on the stuff that counts. Crab roll - decent amount of crab on a tasty buttery bun. Life cilantro calamari - oily, greasy and gummy - "don't recommend Corn - the kind you pay $0.40 for at the store only $4 instead.

We really enjoyed the Charlie Brown Christmas special here. Parking is pretty easy. You'll need to…read morereserve tickets online for the performances. Acoustics here are amazing and you can hear all the instruments from any part of the studio. Great for adults and kids!

Stanford Jazz Festival 2023. $50+ to sit in Campbell Recital - a classroom! $60+ to sit in…read moreDinkelspiel - probably the worst music venue in the Bay Area! Keepin' the riff-raff out, that's for sure. Stanford's endowment is $40 billion. Checked Bing Concert Hall prices? No (non-Stanford) student or senior rates. Isn't an MBA an entry into the largest crime syndicate in the world. A law degree lets you and your cronies set the rules. Medical degrees don't change a corrupt health care system. Stanford churns out in equity like a fine tuned machine. They owe the local non-Stanford community some small consideration, like reasonably priced tickets to their grossly expensive events. That'll be the day! Ha!

Mountain View's version never disappoints. While I do not drink, I recalled them offering 5 types…read moreof German beer, several types of wine, and bottle water. The food offerings were standard fare: German food and art/wine goodies. The huge tent was packed with more patrons than ever before. As usual, the bands and contests (stein holding, costume, beer belly, and yodeling) were the highlights.

Was almost 100 degrees out this past Saturday, but that didn't stop us from attending this free…read moreevent in Mountain View and celebrating Oktoberfest! It was loud as hell inside the main tent from all the chatter among hordes of visitors crowding underneath the shade, seeking relief from the blazing heat. But the old-looking speaker system still did its job, as the live music could be enjoyed even without the best sound quality, volume was just right with fun performances on different instruments like the saxophone, accordian, trombone, slide guitar, and bass. Big Lou's Oktoberfest Band was amazing on stage in the afternoon. The entertainment didn't stop there. The audience was able to engage in a number of amusing competitions throughout the day... yodeling contests, costume contest (the winner dressed as a beer mug), beer belly contest (with silly contestants showing off their gut to the crowd), stein holding contest (separate men's and women's), and a chicken dance. We had fun watching, participating, and just being filled with laughter. There were several food tents offering a combination of German dishes and your typical fair food. The sausage plate was delicious. Tried several beers too and they were all pretty good, especially Stein's Oakland United Beerworks Tropical IPA. But in the spirit of this festival, of the german beers, my fave was the Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen. The size of this event was not very large, taking up just 1-2 blocks, and street parking not too difficult to find. The main attractions were the beer and entertainment, and we definitely had a great time taking advantage. There were also just a few merchandise vendors including face and arm painting, as well as a whole section/street with porta potties. Overall, a well organized event, hardly a wait for anything, and lots of friendly people all around.