My family and I wandered into this festival, thinking it was a farmers market or street fair. Boy,…read morewas I excited when I found out it was a beer festival. It took me a while though--I first ran into The Gypsy Catwalk mobile boutique, which was next to a homebrewers' association tent. So I'm talking to the super nice woman, thinking if I donate some money, I get some beer tastings. She had to explain to me that it was a whole festival. The brew part: you can walk around for free. There's food trucks and other vendors, which is great. If you want to taste, it is $25 for five pours (ten tickets) and a small glass. There's a VIP option as well, but I didn't look into that. The blues part: different blues bands playing in one section of the park, and people brought blankets/chairs. The website lists over 20 different breweries, but I didn't count while I was there. However, I did find some new favorite beers, such as Pale Fire's Smokin' Scottish and Troegs' DreamWeaver Wheat. Each brewery was offering two different beers, and each pour was two tickets each. Plus, the homebrewers' association was offering tastings, and you didn't have to use your tickets (but I did donate). I tried a seasonal one from them and loved it, and got a pretzel necklace. I enjoy the blues, and the band we heard (Hypnotic Willie, I believe) was great. I could've stayed there all day, and would love to make a day of it (or weekend) and return next year. Yes, it's not as big as something like Snallygaster, but it's also not as crowded and I had a fantastic time. If I lived nearby, I definitely be here yearly, and if you are planning to visit, or need a day trip, you might want to time it around Brew and Blues.

The Delaplane Strawberry Festival has been held annually since '76 at the Sky Meadows State Park…read more The purpose of the festival is for outreach ministry, bringing the community together, and funding and supporting ministries and non-profit organizations. The hubs and I were able to attend the Delaplane Strawberry Festival, in which there is a $25 required donation entrance fee. Definitely a family-friendly event, there were hayrides, field games (such as milk bottle toss, corn hole toss, tug of war, etc.), an antique car show, live music, magic shows, storytelling, craft stations (such as making your own sand art), face painting, a petting farm (they have baby calves, goats, chickens, tortoises, and miniature horses; I just wished that there was someone overseeing this section, as some children were not handling the animals properly T____T), as well as food vendors and freshly-picked strawberries for sale. We were left a little disappointed, as we thought that there would have been more vendors offering strawberry-focused food and drinks - most of the vendors were fair-type eats, such as corndogs, burgers, quesadillas, etc. We did eat a great-tasting funnel cake from the Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cakes company, and had a half and half from the Iced Tea Lady. While the festival itself was a bit mediocre and geared more towards for children, the scenic view of the rolling hills and the big blue sky was terrific! +$25 entrance fee (may change annually) +held at the Sky Meadows State Park +proceeds go towards ministries and non-profit organizations +extremely kid-friendly +4H petting farm (more supervision needed!) +live music +old-fashioned games +vendors (not many strawberry-focused)

At $25 per car load for a full day of entertainment, it's cheaper than taking the family to a…read moremovie. The music is great. The hayrides are fun. The pony rides are always a hit! The flea circus and the children's games are awesome. And the views are simply stunning! The other reviewer from years ago didn't like the fact that some children weren't petting the animals nicely enough -- that has nothing to do with the festival, and everything to do with parents not controlling their kids. This is a really nice way to spend the day. This is staffed and run by the tiny parish at Emmanuel Church. I heard that this year will be the 25th year and that they are adding a beer garden along with a few other things. I'm going! Are you?

Horrible As a guest of someone it was Horrible…read more Didn't even get my mani pedicure The wait was long even with an appointment And they don't listen to you regarding what uou want No thank you

My wife and I have Scots in our background and we try to make a festival somewhere every couple of…read moreyears. It's been 5+ years since we had been to the Virginia Scottish Games and a friend from Clan Grant wanted to go. http://www.vascottishgames.org/ The basic set up is always the same. A bunch of vendors, beer, some food, highland games including a caber toss, stone toss, hammer throws, and the sheaf toss. Pipes and drums: check A good entertainment tent too. Usually you can find the Glengarry Bhoys playing. They are a great Celtic band. Lots of fun. Worth your time and coin.

This Festival goes under few different names: The church website calls it "Greek and East…read moreFestival", the host (Harris Pavilion) calls it "Annual Manassas International Food Festival," and earlier versions on the Facebook called it "Old World" festival. These are all good names for this Nativity of Our Lord Carpatho-Russian Orthodox church fundraiser. In a conversation with one member I learned that this is one of those orthodox churches that do not have the National denomination (Bulgarian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, etc...) as it caters not just to the first generation of immigrants but more to all generations and all people with the Orthodox fate, with no consideration of the national borders. I learned that they have one mass in English and Our Father prayer is recited in 7 world languages. The menu of the festival reflects the church diversity but caused a dilemma of many comers as far as what to eat because it is a long way from Ethiopia to Russia on the food road. People took longer time to figure out if they would rather have Ethiopian, Greek, Slavic, Romanian, Mexican or American food but once in line you move quickly with the food vendors winking and lifting their trays to entice you to get their food. Pierogi were very good, baked well; hard outside and soft inside so combination of dough, potato and cheese was properly melting in the mouth. While I was eating delicious plums with crème, my tongue quickly detected a harder object within the plum. I wondered why plums were not pitted like the most things in US are and to my pleasant surprise the object in question was a walnut half. Once I knew what I am eating - it all came together very nicely. Letdown was that the deserts did not offered any layered moist cake or crepes - which always make me anticipate any Slavic or Western Europe festival. Another letdown was that I could not have a Greek or Russian beer. There was just one Greek wine type but on a hot day a beer goes better with the lunch. The venue was perfect and enthusiasm of the host was energizing. I was happy to support in some way their church. The visit can be combined with a walk in the old town Manassas.

Haymarket Day 2024 was a huge success! First of all, the weather could not have been more…read morebeautiful. The entire event was extremely well organized, starting with the shuttle bus that took visitors to and from Tyler Elementary throughout the day. The parade began promptly at 10 AM and was well organized. Great assortment of vendors along the parade route and a fun Kidzone was set up in the park. It was an overall wonderful, fun-filled day for all.

Haymarket Day 2011 was held today - Saturday, September 17, 2011! (It's still going on as I type…read morethis). As in years past - the main route through Old Town Haymarket was closed to vehicular traffic for the all day event (Route 55/Washington Street). An awesome parade was held (pretty awesome for a small town!). Started the day with a nice cup of steaming hot delicious coffee from Cupcake Heaven, then found a spot along Washington Street to watch the parade and take photos. Lots of entertaining participants in the parade: The Battlefield HS Marching Band, cheerleaders, several local dance troops, several martial arts groups, the Fairfax County Police motorcycle officers (in precision formations), Cub/Boy Scouts, musical groups, local politicians, church groups, civic groups, local businesses, the Geico Gecko, the Chik-fil-A cows, Santa Claus, and a lot more! The parade was considerably longer with more participants than ever. There is also a large vendor area in front of Town Hall and down Washington Street with lots of vendors of all sorts, arts and crafts, games, food and beverages, stages with music, and a lot more! The weather was perfect, cool and overcast, no rain, the place was packed with local residents. It is a great event and it's so wonderful to see so many folks come out with their kids, many brought their dogs, and everyone seemed to be well behaved. I really like the small town atmosphere of Haymarket and the sense of community we have here!

I'm going to say it.......I think my kiddos had more fun here than at Cox Farms, which is…read moreconsistently held to as the premiere Fall event in NOVA. Rather than focus on slides (of which there are two) Pumpkin Village has moon bounces. We first went to the giant pumpkin inflatable, followed by the corn bin and the zip line. My son loved the castle inflatable and the train inflatable. Several also were more obstacle course with corn and animal themes. We had lots of fun on the pedal cars and the giant pumpkin pillow too.We spent time indoors as well doing arts and crafts and playing in the indoor playground. That was nice to have given how windy it was. While you don't get a pumpkin like Cox Farms, it's still fun and worth the trip.

Best fall place for kids. with an animal farm tied to it and indoor space for kids, what else could…read moreyou want? The slides (tons of independent playground equipment structures and 3 slides built into the hill), inflatables (6 or 7, i think) , mazes, tractor ride, zip line, sandbox, feeding pond, snack truck (free with cider and apples), indoor area - giant play area with trampoline and slides and climbing/netting, play floor area, there is just so much to do, it is crazy. the open/interactive area with the goats, pigs, alpacas, and donkeys was great, too. The animals are gentle and my son didn't get his fingers chomped from feeding them incorrectly. It was a great, great place. definitely a late sept-oct staple for us now.

This is a GREAT venue. The pavilion is large but not too large. The acoustics are great. They…read morealways have top notch musicians and for a very reasonable price. The location is in a beautiful setting, on the grounds of Shrine Mont in Orkney Springs, VA..in the Shenandoah valley. There's no big huge crowds, traffic jams...it's a small venue with a lot of class. You get a close up intimate performance by some excellent, outstanding musicians. In fact, this evening when we arrived to see Bruce Hornsby and his band perform, we were walking towards the pavilion and we practically bumped right into Bruce Hornsby while he was walking towards the stage to perform!

I was invited by a friend to join her for this festival yesterday. I was initially apprehensive…read moreespecially after reading some less than glowing reviews on Facebook but heck, I'm new to the country so I'm going to give almost everything a try (as long as it's within reasonable limits). The drive from Loudon to the festival site was beautiful. I went with low expectations and wanted to check out the food vendors however, the craft exhibitors were pretty interesting too. There were about 18 food trucks and stalls offering a wide variety of festival food. There was BBQ meats, kettle corn, ice cream, Mexican food, Asian food, waffles, espresso-based drinks, pepperoni rolls, butterfly potato, hotdogs, burgers and even an Oktoberfest-themed vendor. I had the Purple Piggy Pulled Pork Sandwich with Purple Mango Slaw, Smoked Mac & Cheese, and Baked Beans (made from scratch and not from a can) from Rolling Smoke Bar-B-Que's food truck. Cooked with wood fire, the tender pulled pork had a lovely smoky flavour. Don't miss the sides at US$4 each for a small portion. Though I've never been a fan of baked beans (scarred for life by canned beans), these were excellently smoky, sweet with maple syrup and was in all, a game changer. There are tons of food samples from dips to chips to slushies to coffee and wine (bring your ID) so you can get an idea of what you're buying. I didn't think I'd wind up buying anything but soon found myself buying quite a few soup kits, herbs, Chai tea, 3 bottles of wine and a handcrafted hardwood coin bank with an antique post office box door. The fair's on this weekend from 10 am to 5 pm. PS: Most of the vendors accept credit cards but bring cash as some only accept cash.

The Mountain Heritage Festival is an outdoor fall craft festival that takes place during three days…read moreeach September near Harper's Ferry. Besides crafts, there are fine arts vendors, music, wine, and food. Craft festivals are NOT my thing but I was invited on an outing and decided to try something new and I was not disappointed. Overview and Vendor Examples: There were close to 200 vendors onsite situated under large tents. Vendors sold items such as art glass, baskets, candles, bath and body products, clothing and accessories, dolls, dried flowers, furniture, jewelry, kitchen accessories, leather, metal, musical instruments, knives, photography, pottery, toys, etc. Some of my favorite non-food vendors were Forest Flower Jewelry which sold beautiful hand pressed flower necklaces, bracelets, etc. I also liked smelling all of the candle scents from the Pennsylvania Soy Candle Company. They went all out and transported a store full of candles to the festival. They had a large variety of scents such as Maple Bacon, Reindeer Poo, Nutty Taffy Apple, etc. There were lots of homemade soaps and lotions to choose from at various vendors as well. I did not intend to purchase anything but I bought a small bud vase, a pearl necklace, and three wine frappes. Food and Drink Samples/Vendors: At the end of the row of tents (or at the beginning if you wanted to start in a different direction), there are some great food and drink samples. I will mention a few favorites. A coffee vendor called Snookie Snookerwitz had vats of coffee and hot chocolate samples with flavors such as cinnamon hot cocoa (delish!), mint cocoa, hazelnut mocha, snickerdoodle latte, etc. Their station was really clean and inviting and the cocoa was great, albeit sugar laden. Meadowcroft Farm displayed a large array of relishes, pickles, salsas, pepper jellies, and jams. Their onion relish was really great. They had interesting items such as cinnamon pickles and cherry pecan jalapeño pepper jelly. One of the most popular vendors was Nectar of the Vine which served samples of mango and pomegranate wine slushies, or frappes as they like to call 'em. The pomegranate slushy was fantastic! I purchased several bags of the mix in various flavors (watermelon, pomegranate, and sangria). The bags were flying off the tables! The other food vendors provided samples of roasted nuts, dips and spreads, jams, syrups and a variety of sauces. You can look up any of these vendors via their website. Good to Know: You can consume wine samples on the grounds, but actual consumption of alcohol is prohibited on the grounds. Parking is attendant-guided, grass parking. Admission cost is $6- $7. The festival is opened daily from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm. I visited on a Friday and it was perfect. It was likely much more crowded on the weekend. I had plenty of space to move about and was not overwhelmed by the crowds except at one clothing station. The vendors were low pressure and did not push their items. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Many of the items are expensive. Plan a budget ahead of time. Even expensive items tend to look less expensive the longer you are browsing. Pack a lunch if you are trying to eat healthy. Food vendors are onsite but they serve items such as ice cream, fries, deep fried vegetables, and burgers. Bring a backpack. Do not try to carry a heavy purse all day. Wear comfortable shoes Bring sunscreen Restrooms are Porta-A-Potties only

A great time for all ages with Apple Butter tasting, gifted artisans, and more. A great town with…read morehomes spun charm. So much to explore, do and see.

It was a lovely day the Sunday and final day of the 2023 festival. As usual the highlights were the…read moregood food and wine tasting. We came away with only four bottles. We enjoyed the antique stores and all the booths. Bought some lovely truffles and fudge.