Tons of food trucks. Unfortunately, of the three we tried, all supplied us with mediocre food. Bend…read moreis food truck crazy but I'm forming the opinion that very few trucks actually deliver good product. I was pleased to see Island Noodles, however. I'm a fan from my Atlanta days. Not many non-food vendors on Friday. It seemed a few more opened their tents on Saturday. Music stage at the end of Minnesota but with very few places to sit and enjoy the tunes. I was a bit disappointed there. In general, the festival has too few seats and definitely too few high-top tables (people gotta eat their food truck food somewhere). Serious lack of garbage bins on Friday. For starters, every food truck should have one in front and the festival should provide bins at each corner. By that, I mean the intersection of Minnesota and Bond should have four bins. On Saturday, I saw quite a few more bins. Dogs everywhere, despite being against city ordinance. We wanted to bring our dog but were deterred by the law. So which is it? Dogs allowed or not? Only one beer vendor (Deschutes), which just doesn't seem right for Bend. Fortunately, Deschutes Brewing makes killer beer. All in all, an OK food festival. We didn't partake in the various competition events so maybe it wasn't aimed at us. The festival shared Saturday with the Bend Beers Bands & Public Lands event in Drake park. I thought that festival, though smaller with only two food trucks, was a better experience.

Such a fun way to experience Bend and its local restaurants…read more This week was Bend's 11th Annual Food Festival and it was a nice mix of local food, drink and entertainment. Food booths stretched for several blocks down Bond Street with Minnesota Avenue housing Locavore Alley and the Top Chef Stage on one side of Bond and the NW Spirits and Mixology Show on the other side. Oregon Street housed the Main Stage with various local music acts and Food Cart Row. We caught the semi-finals of the Top Chef competition with the chefs at Black Butte Ranch triumphing over Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Cafe. Many food booths offered small bites for around $2 and full plates for more. A couple of Bend's nicer restaurants were represented (Zydeco), but there was plenty of street fare (foot long corn dogs and chocolate dipped bananas). I've been less than impressed by the Bite of Portland. This was just a well organized event with a week's worth of special events around town leading up to the main weekend event. A beer run was also held, so a great blend of health and abundance in Central Oregon.

Once a year juried art show held in Bend in the grassy park adjacent to the Deschutes River at the…read moreOld Mill District. If you're in Bend with time on your hands this weekend, even if it Is a grayish cool weekend, walking through the art show to see all of the artists' work and be able to "judge for yourself" is great fun. In particular since you will have a chance to talk with the artists to learn how they create their beautiful work...from woven art, to etchings, to jewelry to ceramic art, to glass art to watercolor's, to oils, to metal work to the most amazing display of glass and metal "whirlygigs". See photos added for context. Our fav this year was a Eugene based ceramic artist's work...but we neglected to take a photo of her booth to display it here. (You can likely find more at her website: Betsy Wolfston - Woof Works Studio - www.betsywolfston.com.) Art is for sale too. We didn't make any purchases this year though...but last year we ended up with a couple of treasures to add to our home collection. Runs through 4pm Sunday (Sunday hours 10 - 4) and is open until 6p Saturday. When you're done enjoying the art wonders, walk across the footbridge to the plaza at the shops at the Old Mill where there is music from local high school bands, among others, food vendor stands and merriment. Not to mention the spectacular setting on the Deschutes River. If you missed it this year, check our the non profit's web site (at the top of the Yelp page) for next year's dates. NOTES: The event parking at the lot adjacent to the site fails both state codes and ADA minimums for accessible parking. Several folks we met at the event yesterday, using canes and on crutches, weren't feeling good about that...so if you need accessible parking, you'll want to know in advance that this site does not meet the minimum requirements of twenty year old access standards. .

I don't have much to add beyond what Michele R wrote nine years ago. Her review of Art in the High…read moreDesert is comprehensive and informative (as are pretty much all her reviews). So I'm just adding a star rating. I'll give it a 4 due to the greater array of art and craft vendors beyond what you might see at one of the many local street festivals.

This bluegrass festival occurs over a three-day weekend in mid-August - it's been going for four…read moreyears now . Admission to the festival is $10 (for the day or for the weekend) and camping is $10 total for Friday and Saturday nights. It's my favourite BG festival - good groups (Lee Highway has headlined there each time I've been there. This year (2010) they also featured Misty Mamas, Quincy Street, Bluestone County, LeRoy Newport, Bitterbrush, and a number of other groups. The event is well-run - they keep on schedule and when the bands on the main stage are setting up and breaking down, local groups play short sets on the side stage. Some of these localmusicians are very good too; overall there's very little music I wouldn't want to listen to - not true of many festivals... There's food vendors here - four or five of them, good food, but if one doesn't want to eat here, it's not far to drive into Bend which has a plethora of restaurants. Camping is in a field and there's plenty of room for RV's (no hookups); for tent campers there's an nice area among the junipers. Lots of jamming goes on after the last set is done on stage - it's nice to drift off to sleep with the sound of distant banjos and mandolins in one's ears.

The Fermentation Celebration is always a fun event. Local breweries kicking off the summer with…read moregreat brews and a fun event!

Had a great time here! Stopped in Bend for a little as a break from the PCT and had such a…read morewonderful day tasting home brews and larger breweries.

Great music, rad weekend! Nice variety of food trucks, beer taps and bands! Really loved the laid…read moreback atmosphere. Stoked to see what next year has in store.

I waited 1 hour past since when I was supposed to open. Terrible service. I waited 1 hour past…read moresince when I was supposed to open. Terrible service.

Adam Carolla put on a solid show, but the venue experience completely ruined the night. The…read morecustomer service at Midtown Ballroom was terrible--staff were dismissive, unhelpful, and came across as outright rude any time guests asked simple questions or needed directions. Between the attitude of the employees and the way issues were handled, there is zero desire to ever purchase tickets for an event at this venue again. Love Carolla, but prefered Las Vegas Venue. Would not recommend this experience in Bend, unless another venue. I am resident in Bend. Highly disappointed.

Others dis this joint for being exactly what anyone writes every been to a dive bar to see a punk…read moreshow in a big city would expect- it's ain't swank. It's dark It's loud It's gritty I had to tour the bathrooms to see if they were as bad as rumored and no- they are not even as bad as The average gas station facilities and are galaxies better than CBGBs or Whiskey a GoGo or any other club bathroom I've endured. Equal opportunity- 2 up in the admittedly junky bar, & 2 downstairs for the youngsters. Not enough- I agree. The sound was not great- but the tickets were reasonable- not scammers, this is a music club run by people who do Bend the service of having live music- I appreciate you!

Little Woody is a different sort of beer festival, as compared to the much larger and popular Bend…read moreBrewfest, for instance. Featuring mostly local breweries, this festival is about beers you might not see in the brewpubs. As the name suggests, a lot of barrel-aged beers. Which means a lot of beers with high ABV (alcohol content). So, one has to be careful or one might find themselves falling down in the gutter before too long. Located on the grounds of the Deschutes Historical Museum, the festival is compact without being tight. Just about perfect in terms of size, I'd say. You can survey the options fairly quickly and then easily find a spot to enjoy your choice. Note that the vendors are almost exclusively beer & cider & whiskey - there's not a lot of 'other' booths selling various craft goods and whatnot. Also as the name implies, there's whiskey happening here, too. Those vendors - all local, I believe - were sequestered in their own larger tent. Several food trucks on site but, as I've mentioned elsewhere in my Bend festival and food truck lot reviews, I find them somewhat disappointing. Bend loves food trucks, so I would hope to see that improve in time. The good and the bad: - Easy access and check-in. Price for admission, which gains you an initial supply of beer/whiskey tokens, is quite reasonable and you can buy more tokens without hassle. - Virtually no waiting for beer. I attended Friday and Saturday and even though there were quite a few people in attendance, I don't think I waited more than once to have my glass filled. - Whiskey tent: pricey. I literally could not 'afford' a sample of many (most?) of the whiskies with the full number of tokens I received on admission. You can buy shots for less at any number of local bars. If participation in the event is meant to showcase their products, that's a big fail. - Lots of great local, unusual beers. Most were quite strong. Like the whiskey folks, some of the beer vendors were out of line with prices, though. I feel every beer/cider should have been priced at $2 (two tokens). You don't get but a taste, so the idea is for people to try stuff they might not otherwise drink. Even at $2, given the small glass, you're paying more than you would at the brewpubs themselves. - Worthy ran out of the apparently popular Betty White early on Saturday. Rather than take the sign down for that beer they chose to announce - rather brusquely - that they were out of it as you approached the booth. Other booths simply took the sign down if they ran out of a beer. - Schatz Pretzel: Love their tip jar, not so much the pretzel, which was very stale on Friday, almost inedible. At $8, that constitutes robbery. - I didn't patronize any other food trucks, although a couple were familiar. Tots, for example, is quite good. I'll be back next year.

Wow!!!!!!! Dark heavy barrel aged beers.... YUMMMMY!!!!!! There's also a tots truck and a pretzel…read moretruck with warm pretzels!!!!! With just a touch of cool fall air, the dark beers hit the spot!!!! Games.... growler fills..... specialty small batch beer. What more could you ask for????? This is the 10th anniversary of this festival. If your around Bend, come on down!

I wish I could give this place 3.5 stars because that's really what my rating is, but I'll give it…read morea slight bump up since 3 seems unfair for what is overall a really nice venue. There is a lot to like about this place! First, we had great interactions with the staff--everyone from security to merch vendors to bartenders. Getting in was a breeze, probably one of the fastest entries I've experienced. I was a little taken aback by the prices of food and beverage here, because I naively assumed it would be cheaper than Portland. Ended up being more expensive than some music venues we frequent here. This is not the venue's fault, but the majority of the people attending the show we went to love to stay seated. It was strange to be (literally) one of the only handful of people who stood through the set and actually danced/swayed to the music. It honestly put a bit of a damper on the show because the energy of the crowd was so...meh. I'm not sure if this a regional thing or not, but it's something to be aware of if you prefer hype crowds for shows. This venue has a great view of the river. In fact, you'll likely see people in kayaks and boats floating past during the show. It would be great to experience a show that way sometime. Overall, this would be a great venue to see a more laid back show!

Hayden Homes Amphitheater is a great setting for concerts. The sound is incredible and the…read morebackground is beautiful. Our daughter and I enjoyed Bailey Zimmerman, and we will be back two more times to enjoy other shows at the Amphitheater. The ONLY reason I do not give Hayden 5 stars was the shocking price of the beverages. $25 each for a can of red wine, (that was chilled ??). $25 for 14 Hands Hot to Trot. a 12 ounce can that is about 1/2 of a bottle that is about $12.00 total?? I did not see the price until the next morning. I have already stated to my wife and daughter that it will be water only for our next trip to Hayden. Yes, we will be back, we just won't spend needlessly.

Love seeing a movie here! It's super cozy, great drink selections and yummy popcorn. The service…read morewas friendly and I felt like I was at a friends house with a really cool movie room.

Neat little quirky theater - worth your time to stop in and enjoy a flick…read more Beer and popcorn, you can do that here. Located right in the downtown you can easily enjoy a dinner before a show, all within walking distance of the theater. Go shopping - room for your bags at the theater too.