With a growing craft beer scene in the River City, Jax Beer Week is the showstopper of events. Jax…read moreBeer Society is the 'club' to be a part of to get the down low of what's up & coming as ti continues to grow. We were all over town last year for events with one of my favorites being the Brewer's Brunch at Mellow Mushroom at Tinseltown. This year we didn't make it to as many events as I would have hoped but things were going on all over town almost every night. I did make it out to Green Room for their Save the Whale release; which is a fantastic beer and I recommend it for the stout lovers. Keep your eyes open Jacksonville. This can only get bigger & better from here.

As a general rule, I despise a craft market that charges to enter and charges vendors & have been…read moreto very few events like this (and i found out vendors have to pay for parking too!!!)- however, a local friend and artist has a non profit called Mini Giving Tree & makes and sells to benefit local Jacksonville kids in the foster care system. Giving a bit of Christmas cheer for our local foster kids. For that reason, I paid for parking & entry. That was almost $40 not being spent with a small business. Moving on, I will admit there were plenty of fantastic vendors. Small business and makers from all over. And we did shop plenty. Glass artworks, jewelry, ceramics, kids toys and games & clothing. Pet stuff galore. Every art form you can imagine, painting, pictures, wood turned, wood carved, metal works, glass, fabric, clay... food. Everything. We got a Whiskey finished Vermont maple syrup. A gorgeous little fused glass tree, a Christmas gift for Riley that's a craft box with a magnet size and a drawing side- customized with his name! I found the little Debbie Christmas tree cakes made into polymer clay earrings as a gift. We bought at Mini Giving Tree, because that was the whole reason to go! I connected with lots of artists, my favorite was a metalsmith that had phenomenal copper bowls, jewelry & more. The husband and wife duo were simply a pleasure to chat with! I had been to another local market last year that made you pay for entrance, but not parking and i was disappointed with the vendors. This market actually surprised me with the amount and quality of vendors. BUT, there are plenty of amazing arts markets that don't charge you to shop. Pick your poison. I'm happy I went, probably won't go again.

How fun and festive. Christmas creative displays from the community come to life with lights and…read morecreativity. Most importantly it's free. Right on 1st street north on the pavilion. You can see many lifeguard chairs decked out. The cause of the awareness to support children's art education is amazing. When I went there was a nature display of moving animals, light show, nativity scene, Santa on a sleigh and much more. Each display was picture perfect and you can tell each sponsor put in so much effort and work with creativity. Also the lights up were beautiful. If you love taking holiday pictures and in the mood for family fun this will definitely lighten your spirits. I will make it a tradition of going every year.

I was so excited to go to this, that I went twice! It's so cool to see how creative people are. It…read moretruly ties together Christmas and the beaches - talk about Christmas in FL haha. I really enjoyed this and came with my friends then my family and both times everyone loved it. Good for a little stroll after dinner. So glad to live close by to this!

Do you have kids? Are you eco-friendly? Do you love living a natural life and consider yourself a…read morefree spirit? Do you like doing cartwheels in the grass mid-life? Are you gluten free, dairy free, and animal cruelty free? Vegan? Vegetarian? Love crafts, new age and doing yoga? Are you a modern day hippie, but cleaner? Then Natural Life Music Festival is definitely for you. It's FREE and there's something for everyone. The people watching is without a doubt an added bonus. Bring your own fold-out chair or blanket if you just want to veg-out in the grass. Did I say there are a TON of kids? You have been forewarned. This festival is located on the water @ Metropolitan Park centered around the grassy basin in the middle of it all. It should only take a couple of hours [or less] to take it all in. It's actually a lot of good energy. I like that there are plenty of places to wash your hands with all of the food truck offerings and sweets available for sale. Oh and those sticky little children...I had four of them with me last time. No, I'm not a mom. Definitely worth the visit if you've never been before. Bring cash. It's easier. And make a full day of it if the weather permits.

I attended my first Natural Life Music Festival this year after hearing about it for a long while…read more How fantastic is it to bring together great music, great food, and great family fun all into one magnificent day. It is also an excellent place to see how vegan/vegetarian friendly and eco-friendly Jacksonville is becoming. The day was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold with just enough of a breeze off of the St. John's. I've been to events like Planetfest and other concerts at Met Park, and I know how stuffy that place can get. This, seriously, was the perfect day. Admission is free, but everything else inside does have a cost, so be prepared. You should know that everything that is purchased (at least from the Natural Life booths) goes directly to Children's Home Society of Florida. Kids and adults can do crafts all day long and all you need is a punch card. Each punch card has 20 spots to punch and costs $20, but each craft may be worth more punches than others. For example, to tye-dye a t-shirt, you have to use 7 punches whereas to make a prayer flag, you only need to use 1. The crafts range from beginner to a little advanced but there's something for every age group. There's face painting as well. My older niece just went with a simple curly mustache and got complimented on it all day long. It isn't titled a Music Festival for nothing because there were some pretty amazing acts playing all day. My favorite was just a girl and her guitar with a guy accompanying her on the cello. I've come to find out that this is a woman named Lera Lynn, who I will definitely be checking out. Throughout the day, the music wasn't overpowering or to the point of drowning out conversation. It was a nice soundtrack to a really brilliant event. I really wish I had remembered a blanket, so that I could have laid down, been comfortable, and have enjoyed the music a bit more. Many local eateries, shops, and vendors had tents and some of the local gourmet food trucks set up a corral. As for food, I saw representation from Sweet Theory Baking Co, Bistro Aix, Pele's Wood Fire Grill, along with an awesome tent with the name of Olive My Pickle which served olives, pickles, and hummus (of which the Black Bean was amazing). I am a sucker when it comes to sauerkraut and they sincerely knocked it out of the park for me. The event is put on by the store called Natural Life which is located on the Southside of Jacksonville. I am loathe to admit that I have yet to go to the store, but will be making a point to do so in the near future. I picked up a number of different items that they seemed to be selling at much lower than they would in the store itself (festival sale, possibly?). It's nice to see shops that are able to do this. The sheer creativity of the items that were sold at Natural Life's vendor tables, as well as throughout the other vendor tents and tables, was just amazing. I saw things like soda can top belts and knitted cup warmers. There was even a lady making a throw rug out of old t-shirts. I'd love to see more community events involving how to upcycle. I'm definitely happy to see an event like Natural Life Music Festival have such a great reception and find success in the Jacksonville area. I hope that there is a way to tie it into local happenings throughout the rest of the year until the next one.

This is the first year for this powwow and it seems like they're off to a good start. We've been…read moreneeding another powwow in Northeast Florida instead of relying on having to cross the Georgia-Florida line to attend the nearest one. I usually dance at the local powwows, but this past weekend I was not able to. My mother wanted to go check this powwow out and dance so I rode down with her to the Clay County Fairgrounds in Green Cove Springs where the powwow was being held. We got there about 30 minutes on Black Friday and there were quite a few spectators there. We met up with some friends, got our chairs set up, and were ready to watch the dancers. One of the drum groups was local from Green Cove and the other drum group came down from Pennsylvania. The amount of dancers and spectators increased by maybe triple on Saturday, so that was great for everyone. The grounds had indoor bathroom facilities, an ATM (charges $3.50 fee), plenty of vendors, tomahawk throwing, arrow shooting, Aztec dancers, flute playing, and a nice row I like to call Food Row: traditional powwow food such as indian tacos, fry bread and american food such as burgers, fries, snow cones, kettle korn, and lemonade. I brought my boyfriend home some pumpkin fry bread which he really liked. Myself, I partook in some of Gregg's Seafood & BBQ. He must've been the most popular food vendor there as he always had quite a few people ordering from him. They have frog legs, seafood boil, fried and boiled shrimp, fried wings, etc. I had a taste of my Mom's shrimp and man, it was amazing. I got some of the seafood boil which came with crawfish and I was in heaven. The vendors were pretty diverse in what each one carried. From powwow supplies, flutes, shawls, jewelry, bows and arrows, arrowheads, knives, beadwork, moccasins, you name it. I ended up spending a lot of time at one booth and bought a pair of unique earrings, two bags of loose tea, and a little bundle of sage. I was happy. I hope that they will keep this powwow going as I'd definitely will keep coming back.

This was Jax's second Lantern Parade and it's still learning & growing. Vystar did a great job of…read moregetting the word out this year and there was a large crowd of folks participating! I was glad to see a group this size downtown & loved that many had taken the time to decorate a special lantern! My hope was that I would see a long line of beautiful lanterns winding its was along the river to downtown - the lights from the Riverwalk kinda drowned out the lanterns. But it was awesome seeing so many families exercising & enjoying downtown Jax! There was a band at RAM & another as you approached the train bridge - very cool and really added to the nite! There was even a small fireworks show to round out the night. A couple of downsides - I'm not sure everyone knew why they were there & I never knew what the parade route was. Hopefully there will be a little more info next year as this event continues to Grow!

This was seriously awesome!!! I really had no idea what to expect from GAAM...Games, Art,…read moreMusic.....ok.....boy did they deliver on all accounts! Games- gamers everywhere!! Serious gamers like they make their own program video games, how cool is that! And you got to walk around and try out different games, I really don't know how to play and I still had a great time! Art- really cool artwork all kinds of different pieces hung up in a gallery you could walk around and look at and purchase also. Music- dang go DJ!! Lol.....we were out there dancing away!! The music was AWESOME!! Dance floor was packed and everyone was sweating and dancing it up, So. Much. Fun!!! We woke up this morning like that was so much fun last night.....people went all out with some fantastic costumes, food trucks were out, FREE beer, great company, fun games, awesome music,beautiful edgy artwork = great night out....so happy to be able to go! :)

Super fun event! Like Vanessa T., I had no expectations of this gathering. The costumes were…read morefabulous and the actual gamers came from all over to attend. Everyone was so cool. Although I didn't have the time to appreciate the art displayed, I enjoyed the people watching and the outside courtyard the most. So much imagination and everyone seemed to really be into it. Just wished I had the opportunity to watch the dance off downstairs... Overall, this is a serious group of partying gamer geeks (in a good way) and I was so glad I came representing JaxYelp. Can't wait for next year! 5 Stars!

This was a cool event. Music scene was great when we got there. Rathkeltair at the end was awesome…read more Walking around we got to see lots of clothing and jewelry. My friends and I got a few pieces of jewelry that we all loved. No nickel either. Food was good too. There were handmade pretzels. Omg the best. We were able to find lumpia's which were delicious but we're not able to find Guinness. Downside of the day was there was no Guinness. Hopefully it'll be there next time.