I love the Chinese Lantern Festival. I make a point to go every year. There is a different theme…read moreevery year, and the lighted exhibits for the theme. There are also interactive exhibits and acrobatic/performance shows. There is is ample parking at Koka Booth. Also, the ticket prices are less expensive in person than via the website. If you're trying g to go on a holiday or weekend, you may not want to take a chance. However, we save about $15 for three tickets buying in person for a Tuesday night in January. This year, I overheard someone say, "It's like walking through Avatar." I think that's a perfect description!

Amazing experience even on a very very cold day. Bring disposable hand and feet warmers!…read more Way more extensive than was expecting. I was a bit upset the canceled the performance for the rest of the night for when we bought our tickets. No refund or money back. There is a lot of walking dress comfortably

The Clayton Harvest Festival is the most fun you can have in Clayton. Tons of vendors representing…read moreall sorts of food and trades; even a car show. I enter the car show every year and it is so much fun talking to the different folks about cars and getting to know them. It gets real busy in the streets, but eve is so nice and respectful. I'll continue to visit every year!

We came here on the last day, a Sunday, with our 2-year-old granddaughter. According to the…read morewebsite, there was the midway with the rides, an area with some dancing, and an area with some crafts booths. We parked about 2 blocks away on the street so the walk wasn't bad at all. The rides take various amounts of tickets. We ended up spending about $25 for 20 tickets. There were lots of "OMG I'm gonna toss my lunch" rides, a Ferris wheel, a kiddie roller coaster, and I think a small fun house (we didn't go up to it). There were only 2 places to get something to eat or drink, and they were right beside each other. The selection, though, was pretty sad. They didn't even carry corndogs. Basically just cotton candy, ice cream, and funnel cake. By the time we walked around a little after the ride, we decided to leave and get something to eat. We gave the tickets we had to some kids who were happy to get them. I'm not sure if we would go back or not, to be honest. If there was something else going on, we wouldn't. If we were bored and wanted to get out with our granddaughter, we might.

We just went to the last FNOW and it was a beautiful night and a fun upbeat band called Liquid…read morePleasure! We brought our portable chairs which was ideal. I enjoyed all the vendors that offer all kinds of street food and drinks from donuts, adult beverages, pulled pork, ice cream, popcorn, pizza, nachos etc. The weather was absolutely perfect too. People of all ages enjoyed the event.

Friday Night On White really highlights the historic downtown Wake Forest area, inviting the whole…read moreneighborhood to come hang out. This is a small town event with a big turn out! I appreciate that music, some great food, beverages and friends are all this night out needs. Not a ton of vendors, that's not what this is. You will however have a good selection of food trucks to choose from. I opted for crispy pork sticky buns from Baozi, which is served up with a side of rice and garnished pretty to complete the "I'm eating something special" feel. Absolutely bring fold up chairs! My group now knows every brick planter and back staircase in the area to sit down on. Chalked it up to a memorable evening in a lovely town.

Its a two day renaissance festival that is 15$ a day. You can get 1-day or 2-day tickets. It's rain…read moreor shine. Will go again next year!

Came in from VA for this event. Ample parking, many food options, staff and vendors very friendly…read more Kids and families welcome. Mix of plane clothes and awesome costumes. I got to hold a raven, sing sea shanty, dance, laugh, and and hear some really cool music. Knights battle, bag pipes, Ariel dancers, goblins with trinkets, fairy with bubbles for kids, all the vendors are super friendly and not pushy, plenty of bathrooms with hand wash stations. Getting bigger every year from what im told and we will be back. ​

The wife and I always enjoy going to the herb fest. It is held in the festival park at Wake Forest…read moreevery year for a week towards the end of April / beginning of May timeframe. When you arrive at festival park there are carts / wagons towards the entrance. Grab one of these because you will want to load up once you see the variety. As you head down into the center of the park you will see a bunch of tables lined up with various herbs on them. They are organized and categorized very nicely to help find what you are looking for. There are typically several varieties of each herb grouped together. They also have several very knowledgable staff on hand to answer any questions you may have. At last year's herb festival I was actually a star! They shot a quick video of yours truly asking a question to the herb specialist for the evening news. In reality I asked him several questions and found out some very interesting things. Did you know that Rosemary does not grow well in a pot? Rosemary apparently grows best in the ground and prefers sandy well drained soil. We also learned why we have such a difficult time growing Cilantro. Ours always gets very scrawny and just grows seed pods (coriander). Apparently the difference is simply temperature. Even if grown in the shade under other plants the temperature in our region is not suitable for Cilantro. It will grow coriander if you like, but the cilantro leaves will only thrive in areas with consistent temperatures below 80 degrees. He did point us to Culantro which we had never heard of. The name sounds similar to Cilantro for good reason. It is basically Cilantro for warmer climates. It grows well even in hotter areas and tastes like Cilantro but the leaves are longer and skinnier with what looks like sharp edges. It is very comforting to be able to ask people the best way to take care of the herbs so you can ensure your new purchases thrive and do not wither away. If you prefer you can also browse the tents around the perimeter of the herbs containing a variety of merchandise and food from local businesses. Many offer any type of trinket you can imagine while a few local restaurants have food samples and coupons to entice you to come see them. Over towards the stage there is almost always some type of live entertainment ranging anywhere from a magician for the kids to local high school bands. The dates and times of each performance are posted on the website so you know what to expect or can plan your trip if one of them looks particularly interesting. There are also a few of the typical festival food fare such as hot dogs, funnel cakes, and lemonaid. Once you have loaded up on your herbs you head back to the entrance towards the couple of tents. Typically there is a small line here but it goes pretty quickly as there are multiple cashiers to assist you. Several individuals rome around and will count up your items and hand you a ticket detailing your purchases. You then step up to a cashier and hand them the ticket so they can ring you up. They will take cash, check, mastercard, and visa. We go every year and always enjoy a lazy day (starting with a coffee from Wake Forest Coffee Company of course). The only problem I foresee with next year is where to put our new items. We have completely filled our screened in porch this year with containers of plants so I suppose we will have to replace some items or get inventive!

I visit the Wake Forest Herb Fest every year. I've done so since we moved to WF as it is a great…read moreway to stock up on some homegrown/organic herbs for your kitchen or garden. Herbfest is free and is situated at the Festival Park on South White. It used to take place over the course of a week, but this year, it was over two consecutive weekends. Since we were out of town the first weekend, we went this past (lesson learned, there are not as many options on the last weekend). I went looking for my standards: lavender, cilantro, mint, lemon basil, and catnip. I found all of what I was looking for, except the cilantro. I was able to learn a bit from the staff who told me that I can start my own cilantro by using coriander seed and advised me as to how to go about doing so. I also purchased locally grown tomato plants and am going to start my own growing of tomatoes this year. Also available at Herbfest this year was the White Street Brewery Beer, however, they were only offering the Scottish Ale. Not as many options on the last weekend, I assume. Also, the first weekend, there is live music, and different exhibits from the local high schools. The Herbfest is definitely a great local event, and a way to support local gardeners, and a learning experience as well! A must every year!

Just an all out amazing time. There is so much to see....so many vendors. The vendors have…read moresamples and authentic products. The Carolina Pig Jig is held outside. There are over 20 Masonic lodges that are competing for a win for best bbq and sauce. The tickets are only $20 and you cannot eat as much bbq as your soul desires. I look at this festival as a prequel to the state fair that is held in October.

I love this festival…read more The fact there is an NC based festival that focuses on local vendors and creators is such a wonderful idea! I went to the sip and shop area where you can get an alcoholic drink and wander around. I got to sample so many amazing local foods, sauces, and sweets. I walked out of that place work so much stuff! Then the agriculture center has livestock and learning experiences for the little ones. This festival is definitely a must try if you've never been!

There may not have been a parking-lot sized version of the Mouse Trap game that crushes large…read morehousehold appliances with each drop of the trap; or flame-shooting robots; or electric cars modeled after Doctor Seuss mobiles. BUT. There were remote-controlled robots; a chaos machine that filled a whole room; and battleships that sail and fire ammo! Even though I was attending as a sponsor, I honestly would have gone anyway. Free Sunday entertainment that includes some of the most creative and industrious hobbyists in our community? That's pretty awesome, people. Even if it's not the size of San Francisco's Maker Faire. Apparently this is only the second Faire to be held on the east coast. And of course, it was the first to be held in North Carolina. Even though it was confined to an indoor space in the old now-closed Loehmann's department store, it turned out tons of people. Adults came to be kids. Kids came to be kids. And everyone came to be inspired. I met folks (exhibitors :and: visitors) who had traveled in from out-of-state. One attendee, even as far as Los Angeles! The organizers did a tremendous job pulling some cool DIY-ers together and getting the word out. And I think there's every indication that next year's will be bigger and better. You peeps better start working on that life-size mouse-trap...

Attended my first Maker Faire today--what a blast! I had been a bit concerned that it would be "all…read moreelectronics, all the time," but there was a real variety in the exhibitors. Chain mail cozied up to a spinning wheel, 3-D printers were next to Legos, and the beekeeper wasn't too far away from the solar energy dome. Truly something for everyone who has ever felt a creative urge, in whatever form. $10 well spent. Bonus: it was held on a Saturday at the Kerr-Scott building at the State Fairgrounds, which meant extra browsing at the Flea/Farmer's Market on the way out.

The first local Earth Day festival I attended a few years back was fun. I was working at Algonquin,…read moreand one of our authors -- Richard Louv -- was in town as a special speaker on getting our kids back in touch with nature at the Museum of Natural Science. I came out to support that but stuck around for the fun festival activities: earth-friendly clothes for sale; a strolling magician; a one-man junk band; and meeting THE Burt of Burt's Bees fame. In the last few years, the festival has grown even more supporting lots of live musical acts, a cute kid's parade where they march downtown with instruments and outfits constructed from recycled materials, even a large-scale bowling game with a giant PeeWee Herman-esque ball of trash knocking into empty water cooler 'pins'. But the coolest part of the festival -- and the reason I look forward to it every year -- is the Burt's Bees tent sale. This annual event is their way of purging old inventory. And It. Is. Fabulous. They have aisles by prices ($10, 8, 5, and 2 -- yes, two bucks!). And down each aisle are bins filled with goodies. The best scores are the gift packs, which you can stock up on at 50-75% off. But I also loaded up on cheap soaps, chapsticks and travel-sized baby oils for my guest bathroom. Great value and great products: not to be missed!

I am always a fan of any massive festival where I can take the kids. This year they coordinate the…read moreGrand Opening of the Nature Research Center with Earth Day. The outside activities were great and bountiful. The inside of the museum addition was designed well. On the inside of the museum I have mixed reviews, but do to the massive crowd I have to save final judgement about it later. Even some of the directors of the labs, and people that worked in the museum (red shirts) mentioned how they were just given the go ahead to move less than a week before the grand opening. I would say half of the interactive displays did not function properly, or were just turned off. The projectors were broken, so they had makeshift displays set up, that were broken as well. The labs didn't have their equipment set up, so we couldn't get a real feel for the labs. As I walked through the museum I wold see a panel that was laying on the floor exposing wires, bags of screws laying out, or trim just laying on the ground. I don't think they did a walk through to make sure the building was ready for thousands of people to come in. But, I will be back later just to see all of the exhibits after they get them fully functioning. For anybody that is wondering, since the rest of the building obviously was no where close to being finished, I was told that it was office space. Office space or not, it looked horrible for a state wide Grand Opening as the backdrop as the Governor was speaking.