Back after a 2 year absence (pandemic) the Blues Festival did not disappoint. They always have a…read morefantastic lineup consisting of some of the best blues artists around and also some jam bands and folk music that crosses all genres. This high energy event attracts people from Portland and all over the country. Dancing, chilling, people watching - it's perfect for all of that. The festival takes place on the waterfront lawn in front of RiverPlace Marina with views of the Williamette River and bridges. There is not any shade so definitely come prepared with a hat and sunblock. This year the weather was perfect, low 70s and some days overcast, but other years it's been high 90s with blazing sun and lots of sunburned people. There are four stages, two showcase the more well known bands. You can purchase seats or bring your own chair and blanket and sit in the lawn, which is what we do. But get there early or be prepared to squeeze into a spot. Those lucky enough to own or have a friend with a boat, dock in the Marina adding to the ambiance. Even kayaks and paddle boarders flock to this area to enjoy the music. The smell of weed permeates; smoking pot is common, even before it was legal, so just be aware if the smell turns you off. It's everywhere, not limited to specific seating areas. There is an area dedicated to local venders selling music memorabilia, jewelry, clothing (including tie-dye and embroidery), artwork, crafts and local services. Also food carts with varied cuisines, definitely something for everyone. Prices range from $8-15. You can also buy beer, wine and cider. Water stations are throughout and there are lots of portable bathrooms underneath the Hawthorne Bridge. The Festival culminates on July 4th with a phenomenal fireworks display on the river. They shoot them from a barge situated right in front of the Hawthorne Bridge and the fireworks reflect on the water. It's spectacular! Trucks and cars often stop on the various freeways overlooking the river and families gather on the lawns of the surrounding park, esplanade and residential area to picnic and watch the display. The Blues Festival used to be free with a donation of canned goods but now they charge a fee. You can purchase single day tickets or passes for the entire festival. Early bird prices are the way to go. Check their website for details.

I attended this on July 2nd, blues festival since Buddy Guy was playing. He's 86 and so this is…read morehis last tour. Prepaid tickets in June was $50. I also saw Cha Wa from New Orleans. They are a Mardi Gras Indian Band with feathered head dress. They were great performers doing Mardi Gras songs and R & B. Delgres, French Caribbean band performed on the Front Porch Stage. It's a smaller stage. Eric Gales did a great performance before Buddy Guy came on too. The festival got super crowded after 6 pm. One thing I didn't like was that there were only one area where the Sanican Restrooms were set up. So you had to walk to the center of the grounds and under the bridge. It got really dark at 5 pm when the lights were not turned on yet. Some of the grassy area had bird poop around, so you really have to sanitize your shoes and blanket afterwards.

It's a naked bike ride, what more is there to say. It can be fun and interesting. Be open minded…read moreand remember it's for a great cause. It's to protest the world's dependency on oil.

The only problem is the date. It should be a Saturday in July. Its mostly at night and it was a…read morerefreshing 60 degrees. Cathedral Park was the best start location in five years. The band, stage, slope for viewing, just perfect.

Free-admission festivals are hard to come by these days, but North Plains' annual Elephant Garlic…read moreFestival is one of the exceptions, and this is a good one, perfect for a casual afternoon with friends and family, that isn't going to break the bank if you've got kids in tow. $5 parking in one of the two lots (one adjacent to the festival, the other much further, but with a shuttle) is all you'll have to pay up front. Depending on where you enter, you'll find a row of several food stands and carts, some of which specialize in garlic-related dishes and desserts; yes, you heard me, desserts, such as garlic ice cream! WHAT!? And it's actually delicious?! Beyond the "food court", there's live entertainment at an adjacent stage, an absolutely massive and exciting playground for the little ones, a grange hall hosting a book sale, and a field boasting several dozen vendor tents, with a handful selling garlic and garlic accessories, and the rest running the usual gamut of artwork, home décor, jewelry, clothing, accessories, tasty treats, gaming goods, and other festival favorites. I would like to see a greater focus on garlic as the centerpiece of the celebration, as it does come off a bit as an afterthought (or maybe an aftertaste?). Sure, there's plenty of garlic here for sale, but it wouldn't be immediately obvious as the theme of the whole affair to anyone stumbling across this festival at random. Bobbing for garlic, perhaps? A "pin-the-stake-in-the-vampire" contest, maybe? A "who has the worst garlic breath" competition? The opportunities are endless!

A nice time at this local Garlic Festival. Lots of booths, not as many offering garlicky kind of…read morefood as we might have expected. The crafts were certainly interesting, a bit spendy for some but not unexpected. Will be back again next year.

0 stars, parking was $15 for ONE day. At that rate, you have to park somewhere else and walk thru…read morethe park to avoid the $45 for 3 days. But strange enough, you couldn't buy a one day pass entrance to the actual festival so you had to pay for the entire 3 days @ $15 per person. So my family of 4 spent $75, for nothing. Rides were expensive, not much games for kids. The balloon show at night glow didn't pan out, Sunday morning balloons didn't sail off so my poor children got up at the butt crack of dawn walked a 1/2 mile to find out they wouldn't be taking off. How disappointing. There are many more reviews on google than on here so I suggest if you consider going to go read those as oppose to the ones on here. We won't be returning in the future.

A complete waste of time and money. No balloons, booths mostly consisted of aggressive sales…read morepitches for unrelated services like timeshares and home renovations. You can only buy a 3 day pass for $17, park for $15, then take a shuttle for another $2, but for what? We were done in 30 minutes. I supposed we could've spent $9 on a slice of carnival pizza and $10 more for a bag of kettle corn. But we just spent $51 for basically nothing. Yes, there was supposed to be balloons at 5:45 am in the morning, weather and pilot permitting, which is another way to say that there probably wasn't any balloons. Even if we woke up early to see no balloons, the rest of the booths open up at 10, and the music doesn't start until 5 pm. Honestly, do the organizers expect us to wait 10 hours between the possiblitity of seeing a balloon and the free live music, because those are the only things you get for your money. Never again.

we went to the Alabama tribute concert, Wednesday 4/18. concert was great, as well as the staff. we…read morepaid for (2) vip tent access. all information on the website was wrong, waste of $90.00. I will not do this again, the staff was apologetic. I heard there was a lot of complaints, from other quests. no food (as stated on website), poor seating arrangement. I used to run these events in my past, next time can the fair coordinate this part of the event better. as I stated before, the staff was great!!!

I went to the fair with the wifey we got thier went it 1st opened went to get a turkey leg they…read morewere closed the guy said give us 15 minutes to make sure the legs were done. They were done alright very dry. So after 2 bites I thorough that way over priced leg away. I really wanted 1. I paid a good amount for it . It it was good like most place price doesn't matter. So after I thought that away. I went and got elephant ears. Now that was great just enough sugar and cooked perfect. That's why I give this place 3 stars. The turkey gets 0 stars

Pretty good air show. Not the biggest and premier teams like the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds…read moreapparently don't have the air space to perform here, but it's still a good show. Food lines got a bit crazy but fortunately few people seemed interested in the taco truck so the wait there was minimal. The tacos were great. Veterans have their own area with chairs, tables and a nice spread of food.

Great family fun! The show was entertaining and the venue was jam packed with a live band,…read morecarnival, food booths, and interactive activities like sitting in a operational aircraft's cockpit and other flight oriented activities. The fireworks show was amazing. First time I've seen a plane launch fireworks and it was pretty spectacular. Would definitely attend another event here.

Just a note, no Crawfish Festival for Summer 2022 (covid killed off 2020 and 2021) but also the…read morewhole concept is getting trash binned. The City of Tualatin announced no further Crawfish Festivals. see their link at the City of Tualatin. https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/recreation/city-bids-fond-farewell-tualatin-crawfish-festival

Curse? What curse? I…read moreguess folks in Louisiana don't like being challenged for crawfish supremacy. My family has been going to this festival for years and it is the biggest event in Tualatin. 2010 marks the 60th year of the festival, which makes it the nation's oldest. On Friday night, admission is free and the festival is held in the Tualatin Commons around the lake. The Tualatin Riverkeepers [1] were renting boats, so it was quite funny to see this quiet man made lake filled with canoes and kayaks for the night. Great music (sadly no Zydeco), lots of dancing and food booths. Mostly local restaurants, but My Brother's Crawfish comes every year. I was a little annoyed that you had to buy festival food tickets and couldn't pay vendors directly. On Saturday, they charge admission and the festival expands to Tualatin Community Park. The day is filled with parades, a 5k fun run, dog show and crawfish eating contests. So if you don't have plans today, and aren't afraid of an old voodoo high priestess, get yourself to Tualatin. [1] Full disclosure - Mr. K is one of their volunteers.

Community vendor for many years pre-Covid and current. Great crowds, crowd management, and support.read more

Going strong in 2022!…read more Crowds are thick, but nearly every store on Mississippi Ave (and then some) have a tent in the street. You can buy tons of locally made goods, from clothes to books to art to plants. There are several beer tents, kombucha, a vegan hotdog stand, and at least two stages with live music. I walked, but parking was sprouting up nearby for $20-25/spot. Four stars because it's hard to escape the crowds, and it's tough to navigate with any strategy. Jump on in and don't swim upstream!

The weather didn't cooperate, but when does it in Oregon? After almost two years of watching the…read morerestoration of the historic Arch Bridge, the Willamette Falls Festival celebrated the reopening of the link between West Linn and Oregon City by the scenic falls. The organizers planned a nice event. A 3-day festival and each day has a different theme: Friday - "An Evening of Arts & Culture" Saturday - "Family fun Day" Sunday - "Get Active Day" The rain put a bit of a damper on some of the activities, but it was still a nice, small town event. In downtown Oregon City, the focus of the festival, you could walk around town to the sounds of a barbershop quartet. There was a small farmer's market on one block and an artisan's market on the next. We saw fireworks Saturday night from the McLoughlin Promenade. On Sunday there is a 5k Fun Run, as well as a run/bike/paddle race starting at Clackamette Park. It is also the official bridge reopening for walkers, bikes and antique cars. We enjoyed this festival all weekend long and one of the highlights for me was taking the trolley tour of Oregon City and West Linn. We were lucky to have the President of the Old Willamette Historical Society as our guide. Very informative and just a lovely way to continue to learn more about our local area. Many of the historic homes in the area, on both sides of the river, were also open expanded hours and volunteers in period costume were there to provide information, assistance and a dose of fun. The Arch Bridge will officially open to traffic at 5:00a on Monday.

it was wonderful that was great food and dancing. Also a fantastic jet boat ride I think so very…read moremuch for the wonderful fun festival.