SFSwingFest (in 2017 known as Lindypendence) is a two-day swing dancing event held once a year…read moreduring the Fillmore Jazz Fest. The venue: dancing occurs on a temporary dance floor behind the "O'Farrell Fountain" at the crossing of Fillmore and O'Farrell and goes to DJ music. The event, like the whole jazz festival, is free. The event includes free lessons, dance competitions, and social dancing, check the schedule on the site; I have to note here that the schedule was not followed on the day I visited. The dance floor has no roof and no shade until about 3PM, after 3:30PM it is completely shaded. The dance floor is relatively small but sufficient for the smallish crowd, the surface is of OK quality (you can use the dance shoes). Logistics: During the jazz fest the Fillmore is closed to the traffic. The nearest parking garage is at the Japan Center at 1600 Geary Blvd (you will need to walk for couple of blocks). The garage fills up by approximately 12:30PM; expect to pay $20 if you dance for many hours. Bring your own water (water bottles are also available for sale at $1). As always in San Francisco, it occasionally can get very windy and cold, so bring extra clothes and secure them so they do not fly away. You will need sunscreen if you plan to dance or to watch before 3PM. The music: on the day I visited the DJ had produced a lot of pretty dance-able music at varying, but not insane tempos. In 2017, a live band, The Oaktown Strutters, has performed. The lessons: these were pretty useless for the beginners that were supposedly targeted by them. The first lesson was teaching the really old vintage swing that nobody dances anymore for eighty years except in the very few specialized places across the world - interesting, but completely impractical. The second one taught the basic steps of (both!) 20-ies Charleston and Balboa in half an hour. The second lesson was useful to me as an example of the crash course in Balboa steps, but again completely missed the mark - after learning these steps beginners still were not able to dance, as both Balboa and Charleston are complicated and high-tempo. It is well-known that one can teach a physically fit follow to dance swing in 15 minutes - but the instructor has to stick to the 6-count East Coast variety that was clearly frowned upon by the teachers on the day I visited. As a result, the 50-60 people that came for the second lesson had to leave after the lesson without trying any actual dancing. The crowd consists of two very different parts: about 10-20 mostly intermediate dancers that rotated throughout the day and about 10 onlookers - absolute beginner follows that were willing to try to dance. During the lessons, there were more leads than follows - which is typical for SF, but at the actual dancing follows significantly outnumbered the leads. The competition: the 2016 Jack-and-Jill contest I observed was very thinly attended (three couples!). In 2017, the contest did not happen due to lack of contestants. Overall: 7 hours of free dancing is great. Leads like me that like to invite onlookers have additional fun. For the followers it makes sense to bring an own lead or a set of warm clothes.

First year it's been called Lodi Uncorked. Yummy food and wine!! Been here a few years, and this…read morelast year was pretty good. There was plenty of food, though a little less variety than the second year (the best year so far in my opinion!) and third year. Quit a few pourers left early this year, and they ran out of bags very early. It was unfortunate because I would have bought more olive oils and such with those more durable reusable bags. Traffic was awful in the city, so we showed up about an hour after the event started, and it felt like the event was already winding down a bit unfortunately. It seemed like this year there was a rush at the start, and then people just got a bit drunk and silly. In past years it felt more like a wine tasting event, rather than such a free for all. With that said, the wine was still great, there were some fabulous vendors, and the location is perfect to watch Fleet Week. The band was fun. Overall, a fun and worth the funds event yet again.

The concept of this event is good. A wine festival on Treasure Island during fleet week with the…read moreBlue Angels flying overhead, and unlimited wine tastings. Sounds good right? The reasons why it wasn't so good: Extremely crowded not enough wineries for the amount of people The food which seemed to be of good quality was sparse when the food arrived people swarmed it like they had never eaten and it was gone. The worst of all: no tongs, serving spoons, toothpicks on anything! People were grabbing food from the platters with their fingers including things covered in sauce! It was so disgusting, and if there is not a massive outbreak of h1n1 from everyone who attended I will be surprised.

Oktoberfest celebration…read more Great beer, great food, great desserts, great music, great setting. Much more friendly, entertaining, cultural, authentic and reasonably priced than any other Oktoberfest celebration that I have attended. Although not necessary, many people come in traditional Bavarian costume and speak German. The program gets a little boring after awhile but so does any Oktoberfest celebration. If you like to dance traveling, turning waltzes and polkas, you may be a little disappointed here because the dance floor is often crowded with in-place novices, and you will need to bring your own experienced dance partner. Takes place every September at the Dunsmuir Hellman Historic Estate, Oakland, CA. Listed at the web-site a few months before the event.

5/18/08 Update So a…read morefriend went to the Las Vegas Premier Tasting and says that one is even better than the one in San Francisco. All vendors can only bring one wine from their line, so everyone brought their best. There was also a nice spread of food, with an impressive line-up of vineyards. He also talked to a couple from New York who had gone to the TOTT in NYC and said that though the Vegas one was good, nothing beats the NY version. So if you can make it out there, that one seems to be the one to go to. Now back to the original review: Imagine covering a load of wineries from Napa, Sonoma and all over the world by simply navigating four floors of the War Memorial Opera House. THAT is exactly what the annual Toast of the Town event is all about. There are two tastings. The first consists of the reserve tasting which runs from 5 pm to 7 pm. The second round is the general tasting from 7 pm to 10 pm. My friends and I are wine freaks, so of course we splurged and plunked down $200 per ticket for the reserve tasting. That'll get you two extra hours of sheer bliss as vendors pour their best, followed by entry into the general tasting (included in the price of our ticket, but $100 on its own). I know what you're thinking...$200 is a lot to pay to sample wine. But we're talking reserves here; wineries often charge about $25 for reserves in the tasting rooms. Here you can sample select reserves from many producers. On top of that, you get an electronic wine buyers guide that's exclusive to the reserve ticket holder's goodie bag. And you'd think after four hours of tasting, we'd all be plastered. But throughout the event from 5 to 10 pm, there were plenty of restaurants offering tasty bites like TWO's foie gras or Ana Mandara's tuna tartare. Even Plumpjack was there with their seafood cones. To-Die-For! But eat early, because, as can be expected, the food runs out towards the last hour of the evening. One of the highlights for me was having the opportunity to try wines from other countries that I wouldn't normally have the chance to taste without buying the bottle. It was really interesting to experience how wines differ from one region of the world to another, and to learn about the varietals unique to each country. The vendors were all very friendly and carried on about their product as they would behind the bar at their respective wineries. And they definitely enjoyed watching the crowd get progressively happier as the night wore on. It's like one big party with a decidedly mature crowd...one filled with foodies and wine fanatics like us. But it was never overcrowded, which was nice, because I never felt like I had to fight a bunch of people to get a pour. As far as I could see, there wasn't much advertising done for the event and it still sold out. Identical events are held in New York and other major cities, and there's also a reserve tasting event being held in Las Vegas this year on May 3 at the Venetian. Tickets are available via the website at www.winespectator.com.

Easy to read map and schedule with a fair mix of musical styles. Lots of shady trees and short…read moredistances between porches. The sound did not carry from one porch to another despite the proximity. Dog and kid friendly. Not many food vendors, but a few neighbors had lemonade stands. I was impressed by how well organized it was for a first year event. It rivals Napa PorchFest. Next year I hope to see an even more eclectic mix of bands and a return of Bryan Kehoe and the Ventura Brothers.

This event was on Sunday 10-6-13. I actually volunteered for this event and worked the morning…read moreshift. i hung around after my shift and partaked in the festivities after. The event itself was spectacular. beer from all over. Including this i had no knowledge about. The food was also very good. I had an awesome baked potato which i couldn't even finish. The music was great a lot of classic jams. All live. I have listed the bands below. 1AM-11:45AM - The Coburns 12:15PM-1:00PM - Fleetwood Mask 1:30PM-2:30PM - Tasche 3:00PM-4:15PM - Avance 4:45PM-6:00PM - The Spazmatics I will work this event next year as this event alone pays for all of the down town san leandro events for the year. without it we wouldn't have things like the farmers market and food truck Tuesdays in down town san leandro. This event is filled with local culture and pays for all these cool things down town san leandro does. It doesn't get much better!

3 stars because of the great beer selection. but what happened to all of the stands? And the…read moresausage? Years prior there were many more booths and food options and bands. Not sure what was going on for the 2013 festival but please bring back the other vendors- sausage (only stand I saw was Aidelm's- not even a hot link in sight), desserts, other food.

Looks like I am gonna be the 1st yelper to write a yelp review about this San Francisco…read moreEggstravangana!!! Came to this San Francisco Eggstravaganza event twice with my family!!! The one thing that I like most about this once a year San Francisco Eggstravaganza is when it is not raining and the beautiful sunshine is out there!!! And when I am here... These are the things that, I like most which would be the rides and the food stands!!! My favorite rides would be the Fun Slides,Sizzler, Fun House, other than those fun rides... I also like going to the food stand that has the monster size Corn Dog and some French Fries!!! Besides the Corn Dog and fries, I also like to have myself a Hawaiian Shave Ice as well when the day is bright and sunny!!! If you can't decide on which early Easter event to go to my suggestions to you yelpers and non yelpers... Try going to the Eggstravaganza Of San Francisco Ca only thing about this Easter Event is when you have to pay ten dollars!!! And for me I would say who cares on how much it is, all I know is that it is just once a year event!!!

La Soirée was an impressive night of French divinities....A perfectly executed event, and one of…read morethe best I have had the pleasure of attending in San Francisco. We nestled together on the balcony, overlooking the San Francisco city lights, sipping champagne. There was no end to beautiful sights, smells, and sounds at this event. Nibbling on my rose petal macaroon I spied Nuubia Chocolat, who just happened to have a chocolate to pair perfectly with more champagne.... just around the corner were cheeses from both California and France. This went on for hours. We left a pleasantly bubbly bunch!

La Soiree was a perfect combination of fun and class!…read more The location could not have been more perfect. Watching the San Francisco skyline as the night died down was a favorite--watching the impressive ice sculpture melt away.... La Boulange, Rouge et Noir and Laura Chenel cheeses and nuubia chocolat all under one roof--so exciting! The shots of mousse were the perfect combination of deep chocolate and light cream. I tried a lot of lovely wines! A special thanks to Domaine Chandon in the VIP room. Lovely, lovely! Everyone was so kind and so passionate about what they had provided to the event--wine, cheese, chocolate, etc. The cooking demonstrations were breathtaking, and we rocked the dance floor!