After driving by the billboards for about a month, I was looking forward to checking out the El…read moreChuco Fair, but unfortunately I maybe I should have tempered my expectations. I kinda knew it would be a traveling carnival, and that's part of the appeal, they got the rides, the petting zoo, the stunt shows, the games, and, of course, the deeply fried foods, which makes for a fun evening. I just wish there were more El Chuco-ness to the fair, some El Paso flavor like local food trucks or vendors or artists. I dunno, maybe it's because it's located at the site of the old Western Playland, but it mostly made me wish I had gone to Western Playland.

NDMF is an annual festival held in the city of El Paso currently in the downtown plaza. They shut…read moredown various streets and thousands, I mean thousands, of folks attend the 2-day festival. It's an all ages event but they do focus themselves towards the 21+ crowd. I was a big fan of the VIP area where they had open bar and complimentary food. This year they featured Dos XX, Tito's, Orange Cow Burgers, and a few other options. Personally thought it was cool they had the rehydration tent with IVs and the hair/makeup touches. The teepees had a nice added touch and it was nice to layout on the grass without having to worry being congested like a herd in the general area. There were four stages were 1 was for local artists and the other three featured artists from indie/hip hob/r&b/electronic genres. Some of the featured artists were Nelly, J Balvin, Alesso, Hardwell, Ghostland Observatory, and Foster The People. Honestly being at a festival like this you're bound to get hungry so I was quite pleased to see the wide vary of food available from local spots including Crave. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and had a fun time.

Neon Desert is my favorite festival in El Paso! And yes, I'm comparing it to all the different…read moretypes of festivals we have in the area. Beyond being one of the largest (if not THEE largest), NDMF is executed pretty well and there's a range of things to do while there. I only have two gripes with the whole thing and that's the food/drinks and kids, but we'll get to that later. The lineup is usually pretty good and always has a mix of genres. The silent disco is where it's at. You throw on some head phones and you can click between two DJs. Then you dance the night away. It's actually kind of funny to see if you don't know what you're looking at since everyone is dancing and laughing, but you can't hear anything. Oh and the silent disco is usually under an open tent so you can get out of the sun for awhile without missing out on the actual festival. I wasn't able to check out each and every single vendor this past NDMF, but some of my favorites were the Henna Tattoos by Lu-E Fresh (they look good and they last a long time), the Mattress Firm tent (just lined with a ridiculous amount of mattresses that you can hang out on), the Southwest University mobile photobooth (also where you can get free paletas), the El Paso Electric Tent (charging ports galore, but you'll get out of there faster if you have your own cord), the Malibu House (drinks and flash tattoos), and the Tidal booth (where you feel like you're connected to Beyoncé). The food is where I get a little hung up. It's always overpriced, but I think that has to do with the businesses needing to recoup their cost after paying for a space at NDMF. I try to eat before I go so that way I'm only getting a couple of things here and there. I also think there could be a bigger selection of food with more vendors because they definitely have the space. If the food is overpriced, the drinks are unaffordable. My biggest recommendation is stick to the big names when it comes to drinks. There are tents that sell NDMF's drinks and can utilize any number of sponsored liquors/beer, but if those sponsors have an actual booth go to their booth instead. I bought some kind of adult lemonade from a NDMF tent and it tasted like straight lemon water... no alcohol, no sweet, just lemon water. And I even told the bartender no ice because when I found out it was over $8 for a regular cup of a mixed drink, it was a little disappointing when the cup was loaded to the brim with ice. For the same amount I spent at that tent I bought a frozen Piña Colada at the Malibu House that was not only big, but also delicious! Know where you're going to get the most bang for your buck. I just want to touch on the kiddo thing. While you are allowed to bring your kids to this festival, don't do it. It's like taking your kid to a bar... like yeah, you can do it, but the other patrons will give you that look. And actually I'll give you a list of reasons you shouldn't bring your kids: - Almost all of the crowd is 21+. - Booze, cussing, and possibly some other things that you might not want your kids around. - No kids areas... nope, you will not find a bounce house. - It's loud. - As an adult this is a wonderland so you'll probably want to walk around the whole festival, your kid will not. Just don't bring your kids. And if your kid begs you to take them because they're twelve and want to see JUST one of the performers, but they need you to take them... DON'T DO IT. They can wait until they're eighteen and they can go by themselves. This is the place to be during Memorial Day weekend if you're in EP. There's so much going on there like the skate park, live art, food, drinks, and of course music. They usually come out with the lineup a few months before the event, but you can score the best price on tickets if you buy them before then.

Let's start with the pre-party!! So much fun! They had really great bands that I never heard before…read morebut were VERY good. There was so great food trucks and jack daniels was their giving out swag and serving up yummy jack and cokes. The VIPS had a special area with special catered food that looked super yummy. Then we moved over to the coliseum for the bands. It was fun to watch the the couples down on the floor dancing and hearing all the great music. Now the VIPS also had cool seating in the coliseum and a super short drink line. I think it would be fun to be a VIP. It was awesome to hear Tracy Byrd remembering the yesteryears and he was hilarious and engaging. Can't wait for next year's line-up and please bring in more oldies but goodies.

This was amazing and awesome fun!!…read more I loved listening to all the performers, though i wasnt familiar with any of them. Still amazing performances! My husband was more familiar with Tracy Lawrence though, so he especially enjoyed that more. Loved how generally close all the seats are, even in the farthest section. The seats were pretty bunch up together tho so my husband who's almost 6 feet tall almost didnt have enough leg room. Wish we had attended the pre-party session as that may have contributed more to the whole idea of a festival. I was hoping the main event that started at 730 would still have more vendors and activities going on but it was only the performers. Which was still fun though. Loved the food trucks they had going on too. I for got which one it was but it was the last one on line. They had a seafood soup that you can add tortilla chips or crackers to and it was amaze balls! Just what i needed this chilly night. Of course, the coliseum had their own typical stadium food which most was reasonably priced, especially for stadium food. Pretzels with cheese dip and nachos with jalapenos were awesome! Wine coolers were good too but too fizzy. All in all, great night and great employees who were very helpful to find your seats and what not. Thank you Yelp!!

Overall the atmosphere was pretty good. live music which is always great. Mixed drinks were not…read moregood in my opinion, prices $8-$10. Food was ok, gorditas lacked flavor, as well as the salsas, $10 dlls for an order of 3, no rice, no beans, just 3 gorditas. I would give them a 5 out of 10. Burgers, hot dogs and flautas were just ok. VERY disappointed with the tacos de tripitas $12 for four tacos and one of the tacos literally just had THREE small tripitas, I even took a picture of the plate. I will give credit to one of the enchiladas stand, they had a very good flavor, a plate with 4 enchiladas, lettuce and tomato for $10. Will try again next year, hopefully the food quality improves.

What a difference a year makes! The 2016 Sun City Bacon Festival really improved over 2015's, kudos…read moreto the organizers, and frankly to me, I deserve kudos for my honest and helpful review, so give me some darn kudos! (I suppose Tanya also deserves some amount of kudos, but I don't plan on sharing mine, GET YOUR OWN KUDOS!) Kudo politics aside, this year's festival just felt way better planned, there were more local restaurants participating with a plethora of creative bacony treats, and there didn't seem to be shortages like last year. The lines were way better managed, I think that using the piggybucks tokens really helped expedite transactions, plus we didn't experience the cash only nightmare of 2015. My favorites this year were the Bacon-wrapped wings from Crave, and the Maple Bacon Bread Pudding from Ode Brewery (that one was so good it actually did run out), plus Cabo Joe's 3 little piggies came back from last year, yum! Brass Monkey's bacon grilled cheese was not too shabby either. They also moved the stage which helped keep the noise from overwhelming you while you explore the festival, and they had more merch available, I even got a sweet piggy nose! I'm really glad that the festival improved, I am pro-Bacon and I'm not ashamed to admit it, but hopefully the organizers will not rest in their laurels and make it even better in 2017, and I'll be here ready to claim my rightful share of kudos.

I'm torn with this one. I LOVE seeing new (or borrowed) ideas in El Paso and Baconfest was a great…read moreone, but I HATE seeing poor, rushed execution. If this does truly become an annual event I'd love to see a whole lot more thought go into Baconfest and what it actually is. I'm glad I went because I do enjoy supporting events like this and showing that there is an interest for such an event in the area. Next year I would like to see a whole lot more. One of the biggest issues I had with this event was the vagueness. There was no website set up for Baconfest... sure they posted an article about it on the KLAQ website, but there was really no where for anyone to really find answers to some pretty important questions (i.e. What time is this event over?). They had a Facebook event page set up, but not a Facebook page and again it didn't answer any real questions people might have. The markup basically said: The event starts at 11 AM, there will be bacon, there will be a costume contest, and there will be a hog calling contest. It didn't tell you what time the event was over, if you could bring pets (it turned out you couldn't, but since that wasn't blatantly apparent I did see many dogs at the event), how do you enter the contests, what time are the contests at, who's bringing the bacon, what different variations of bacon will there be, what other vendors will be at the event, and what kind of just-for-fun things will be at this event? Finishing this review would just be easiest by answering those questions... so here goes. What time is the event over? 5 PM. There were even vendors that were asking patrons what time the event was over. Literally no one knew. Can you bring pets? They said 'no', but they didn't have anyone manning any of the access points or security for that matter so do as you please. I regret not bringing my little Charlie because she truly believes bacon is LIFE. How do you enter the contests? This still isn't incredibly clear to me, but it had to be done at the event (yup, there was no online form to sign up anywhere). I'm actually assuming it was either at the stage or at the Baconfest tent selling shirts. What time are the contests? Whenever they call them over the speakers on the stage so stay close to the stage if you're trying to enter something. The contests I saw only had about four people in them so chances of winning are high! Who's bringing the bacon? They literally never released a complete list of vendors. The only thing they listed were the restaurants that actually fell inside the bounds of the event. No duh! They had "VIP" available at The Garden that included three different bacon starters and two drinks (very vague though... what kind of bacon starters and drinks?). There were actually quite a few foodtrucks at the event like Sweet Addiction, Crave, and Sloppy Seconds that received absolutely no recognition or promotion prior to the event. What different variations of bacon will there be? Nope, they never even told you if Crave was just making regular bacon or bacon wrapped shrimp. They were making bacon wrapped shrimp (which was my favorite). There was also chocolate covered bacon (two different varieties... the price on one was a little high though), bacon sugar cookies, pork belly hush puppies, caramel bacon cashew marshmallow praline, waffle bacon, bacon pizza, bacon sushi, BLT sushi rolls, pork belly on a stick and more. What other vendors will there be? Not many unfortunately and the vendors that didn't have a bacon product didn't even do anything bacon related. Are you kidding me?! Can I get some bacon costumes or something? There was one vendor selling salsa. They were also giving samples, they could've easily served their salsa samples on top of a small slice of bacon. There was a lady selling body wraps... we're at Baconfest, we don't care about our figure right now. I think at most there was six other vendors, but they didn't even seem that involved in the event. What kind of just-for-fun things will be at the event? Other than the free photobooth, nothing. Literally, nothing. Sadly it was just a lot of shuffling from one long line to the next. I would've liked to see some game booths, a jumping balloon for kids, a bacon mascot that people would've tried to take pictures with... anything that could've broken up the lines a little bit and enticed me to stay after having my fill of bacon related products. It just felt like if you weren't eating bacon, it was time to go. Again, I'll go next year... I would just like to see more organization, not something that someone slapped together. There really is no excuse. It may have been executed in a month, but it could've been done better and honestly, the rush to do it in a month was their own... the El Paso community was not demanding this event be done NOW so the sloppiness falls on the heads of the event organizers.

I'm giving 4 stars, not because it's NOT great, but because there's always room for improvement for…read morenext year. I'll start with the improves: 1. Shade, 2. Seating. This is for both general admission AND VIP areas. You know how many tickets you've sold so plan accordingly with seating. Plenty of people want to just grab a drink and have a seat... preferably NOT under the blazing hot sun on a day with an even higher UV index than usual. Seating was scarce, and almost all of it was in direct sunlight. There was a huge shaded pavilion.. but only a couple of tables and chairs beneath it. Also, seating was available inside the convention center.. again, space was huge, amount of tables/seating was scarce. 3. VIP entrance/size. Maybe I misread or didn't understand the website when I purchased my VIP ticket. I thought I'd get in before the normal ticket buyers. The website even said VIP ticket buyers should show up early... so I got there around 1125... then stood in line until 1200 to be let in at the EXACT same time as all the general admission guys... then, when I found the VIP section, I was thinking "Huh, must not have been many people to spend the extra money" because the space was so small.. but NOPE. When the food was brought out (buffet style) at 2, all the VIP folks finally showed up... there was a butt load of us. I'm just glad I got there early enough to secure a table. Unfortunately (see above) it was in the sun and now I have red cheeks and raccoon eyes because of my own sun shades. Okay. Now for the GOOD stuff. 1. I'm glad I DID get there early (This is for VIP or general admission) because the place was still ghost town. No wait for anything.. food trucks, tables, seats, games, or beer. By the time I left, around 5ish, there was about a 5-10 min wait for anything and everything (except VIP stuff, of course). 2 VIP. After the wait to get in I was starting to think I wasn't getting my money's worth from the VIP ticket; however, by the time I left my mind was changed. General admission gets you 10 2oz samples from whatever vendors you choose. VIP gets the same... PLUS unlimited refills of your souvenir glass in the VIP section (got my money's worth there), all you can eat nacho/fajita buffet (holy moly the churros were the bomb.com!), and separate handicap sized bathrooms. The section overlooks all the vendors/ food trucks and acts as a shortcut between the front entrance and the lower level. 3. Food. First of all, I love El Paso's food truck circus... second of all.. I love food. As mentioned above, VIP section had an all you can eat buffet. Nachos, salsa, rice, beans, enchiladas, fajitas ..... and best of all the frickin churros!..... Caramel apple stuffed cinnamon sugar fried wonderfulness! Didn't need the first one I had... or the 6 after that. I figured after people stopped shuffling through the buffet line in masses, they would stop putting out food, but NOPE. Even as I was leaving, no one going through the lines, they were replacing the serving dishes with fresh stuff. If I could've eaten more, I would've. 4. Beer. So many vendors. Granted, I'm pretty sure I've had most of them already (my family kind of runs a bar in Alabama that keeps a rotational 34 beers on tap at all times), but still there was so much to choose from. Something for everyone! I didn't include it in the improvements above, but my only 2 complaints here are: 1. Pretty much every vendor poured from bottles/cans, not kegs and 2. Some vendors were super stingy and didn't even fill HALF the sample cup. 5. Other. There were two different stages for bands, and a few art/jewelery vendors set up. ( I especially liked the dude who painted as if he were always on acid and had tons of octopus artwork). There were also multiple games of cornhole, giant jenga, and giant beer pong set up throughout the area. Kind of like a big frat party. Overall, I enjoyed myself. Especially early on before the party people and crowds got there. If I'm around for another beer fest, I'll probably purchase another VIP ticket.

This event was amazing! Check-in was easy breezy. There was enough room for people to set up their…read morechairs and blankets. I mean, it was the entire park. I love that they stuck to the schedule, and the meditation music they played before we released our lanterns and wishes out on the water was perfect!! The only setback was the food truck! The lines were ridiculously long. I could've brought food and come more prepared, but I was golfing across the street before the event started. Lol, there were about six food trucks out there. I don't know the logistics of it, but if they increase vendors, I think the lines would not be so bad. Overall, great fun family event. I got to share it with my best friend before moving next month. Big Mahalo to Lisa!!!!

An interesting story in a cool artist town. Beautiful Mission, and great little bbq joint…read more(Shooters) just down the block.