Glow Hartford is definitely geared toward children (as is to be expected, but perhaps a tad more…read morethan expected), with lights, light swings, hoppity-hop areas, color-changing pads they can jump between, a small train, and some photo ops that kids will love. It's all indoors and warm, which is a plus for New England winters, but personally I'd rather find local outdoor light displays instead. For the lights themselves, the standout for most kids was probably the hanging "icicle" garden -- rows of lights you can walk through, which seemed to get the biggest reaction. Do it early enough next year, and you may even get a decent shot or two in time for your Shutterfly or equivalent Christmas card. The snack options were fine, and there's alcohol for adults, though some things are a bit on the expensive side. You'll probably also end up giving in to some of the add-ons -- glowing cups, light-up wands, or similar extras -- so your kid isn't the only one without one. (Maybe prepare yourself with a preemptive "OK, but just ONE.") The self-stamped passport activity was a nice touch, and the PEZ dispenser prize at the end was a cute detail. All in all, it's an OK experience and a nice family option if you take advantage of everything inside. I'd call it 3.5 stars -- fun to do once, but probably not something I'd make a yearly tradition.

"Morning glow, filled with light You can make the whole day…read morebright" (Michael Jackson) Glow is a family-friendly indoor winter festival of lights currently open in five Canadian cities, Eugene Oregon, and good old Hartford, CT. It was a beautiful display of color and design, highlighted by plenty of dazzling lights in the shape of iconic landmarks from around the world. If you ever hoped to see Christmas lights in the shape of the London Eye, Eiffel Tower, Asian temples, Taj Mahal, the Louvre, and London Bridge... well you'll be amazed at the images you see here. Complementing the visuals are bars, rides, food, photo ops with Santa and the Grinch, live music, and a vendor trade show. Plenty of kiddie activities too - a bounce house, train ride, glowing swing sets, and games. We saw quite a few families with kids of all ages, including a lot of strollers enjoying the show and taking advantage of the hundreds of photo ops. No doubt many of the pics will end up on next year's Christmas cards. All in all, this was a very enjoyable experience.

Small event that is great for families and kids, good selection of food trucks and rides. Beer tent…read moreis always busy and everyone working is kind and helpful. Music can sometimes be very loud but what else would you expect from a music festival

"You are the apple of my eye Forever you'll stay in my…read moreheart" (Stevie Wonder) Wow, wow, wow!! Were we impressed by the Glastonbury Apple Harvest and Music Festival. The Festival grounds (located in Riverfront Park) was enormous. There was a big midway with amusement rides and games, plenty of food trucks, three stages of live music, craft and clothing vendors, a petting zoo, a pub, ice cream stands, apple pies and fritters, and even a 5k Road Race for tomorrow. We had such a fun time, just strolling the grounds, checking out all the food options. We eventually settled on a plate of Tofu Pad Thai and dumplings from Siam. We also picked up a 6-piece order of Apple Fritters and split that between three apple and three pumpkin. I also had a nice visit to the at the Pan De Oro booth and learned they make salsa and tortilla chips right in Hartford! Who knew? We parked at the high school and took a shuttle bus to the gate. Admission was $5 per person. Sure beats the crowded Southington Apple Festival in our opinion.

My boyfriend's 8 year old twins are Fraidy Cats! So, I had to find something special to do with…read morethem for Halloween that was non scary, so that we could take his other 2 kids to a Haunted House w/o them feeling left out. And I stumbled upon this place. It couldn't have been more perfect! The day started at Castle Hill Farm (Hayride/Corn Maze and Pumpkin Picking), then we came home had lunch and carved 2 glorious pumpkins! Entry to the festival was 1 carved pumpkin/kid +1 dollar for the candle. Entry included 10 Trick or Treat Stations, games, balloon animals,bouncy house obstacle course (what?), dj, hula hoop contest and of course there was food for an additional fee, a very reasonable fee. All the kids were dressed up, it was fantastic. But when night hit is when it raised the festivities another notch... all the hundreds of pumpkins were lit up for viewing and it was pretty freakin cool if I do say so myself. What was even better we were able to retrieve our pumpkins at the end of the night. FYI: THIS MAY BE THE LAST YEAR AS THEIR FUNDING "IS DRYING UP". THAT WOULD BE SUCH A SHAME.

What a wonderful surprise! This alpaca farm exceeded all our expectations. My family and I had such…read morea great time here. We discovered it on Yelp and knew we had to make it a stop during our road trip. We're from Seattle and love exploring New England every fall, and this farm has definitely earned a spot on our must-visit list for years to come. We can't wait to return next year!

Visited the farm again this fall and it did not disappoint. Feeding the alpacas is now with a small…read morecharge ($5) but totally worth it. I love seeing the animals here.

'Twas a fun and fantabulous time. With the rain looming, the crowds piled into the streets early,…read moreprobably at its peak at 7pm. There was plenty of seating - if you also include the benches and fountain - and great vendors to choose from. I appreciated the diversity, and it was great to be reminded - by smell and taste! - of the variety Glastonbury has to offer. For $7, the ribs at J. Gilbert's was a solid choice. They practically fell off the bone, and the sauce was complementary without being overwhelming. Some other items were a little pricey for the portions, though. There were only two beers to choose from - Sam Summer and Ten Penny - and a few more wines. I'm kind of surprised they charged $1 for the ID band. They don't even do that in NYC! A quintessential local event. It was very fun and tasty. Great people watching, as well.

Loved it! We took the kids for the first time this year. Parking was FREE (and close), adult…read moretickets were $8, and kids under 54" free. We went on Sunday when they also had an early bird special (10am-2pm) where all rides were only 1 ticket each. I believe we paid something like $30 for 35 tickets, and actually ended up giving 4 away b/c the kids did all they wanted to do. Great rides too! Hubby and I agreed that we'd enjoy making this fair apart of our family tradition. It's just the perfect size, has everything you love about fairs w/o the large crowds. The highlight of our time there was the corn eating contest! What a great time! See you next year Four Town Fair!

Sorry Four Town Square, won't be back. Where to begin, the good thing about this fair was that…read morethere was plenty of parking and direction. The ride there was nice. Great country to drive around in. We took all the back roads. We watched the Shooting on horseback which was the only thing that was good. Now that I know the shooters put on their own shows I have no reason to go back to this fair. Onto the bad... pig races. The commercial building had nothing of any interest in it. All very low level flea market stuff. The animal building only had a few cows, some goats and pigs. Not a very big showcase at all. There was very little in the way of education such as antique farm equipment and virtually no history behind anything. This fair consisted of all food booths and kiddy rides. We stopped at a booth to get a cup of "fresh squeezed" lemonade and some fried dough with sauce. Fried dough with sauce was inedible due to the horrifically bad sauce. Ended up in the garbage. $6 wasted. $7 lemonade was terrible. Did not have enough lemon to it and very little sweetness to it. Overall the fair was one of the worst I've ever been to. I would think better of it if it wasn't $10 a ticket just to get in.

The Garlic Farm is a small family owned farm and farm stand located in West Granby. They specialize…read morein, you guessed, garlic and other vegetables. They have been open for three decades. They offer German white hardneck garlic, seed garlic, garlic bulbs, and garlic braids. The farm stand is in an old tobacco barn. I went a couple times and thought it was awesome. The prices were great and they had a huge variety of produce. One time, they posted on social that the flowers were free to pick. If you love fresh produce and supporting a small business, I highly recommend.

"This is the end Beautiful friend…read moreThis is the end Of our elaborate plans, the end" (The Doors) The Garlic Farm's season will end on October 12th, when their doors will be closed for the winter and reopen in the spring. But the end of their season comes with a fantastic bonus for anyone that can get over to West Granby before October 12. That bonus is as many flowers as possible that you can cut and take home from their acres of flower farms. For Free. We saw people out there today with shopping bags, and laundry baskets scooping up their share of gorgeous flowers. Although some of the flowers (especially the sunflowers were way past peak), rest assured there were a ton of gorgeous fresh flowers representing every color of the rainbow still available. We cut and took home enough to fill three vases, of which we kept one and donated the other two to the local Senior Center to brighten the desks of two administrators. So, if you are in the area and have a hankering for some free flowers, set your navigation system to West Granby and enjoy. Just do it before October 12.

Local love at this fantastic annual arts and crafts festival!!…read more The Avon Arts Association creates and runs a perfect festival, set in the upper parking area (between two separate [but connected] lots) in between the small businesses in Old Avon Village. It is very easy to ambulate (and thus wheelchair accessible, which is hard to find in local festivals and farmers markets)!! The festival is very well advertised, with huge stand-up signs along the roads near the main streets of Avon and colorful flags and balloons bordering the entrance to the lots. You are led the way in!! You are able to see a number of local artists and their showcase works. From woodwork to jewelry to hand-dyed tie-dye to photography to paintings, you will see a little of everything here. I was really impressed by the number of vendors here!! I saw the talent and passion with each vendor as I passed through. It is really fun to see the excitement vendors have when they show their work. I was able to interact with the vendors, too, and chatted with a few about their items. Each vendor--including the shop owners at the antique shop that is in the center of the festival--was incredibly kind and, again, very passionate. I purchased a beautiful and unique ring at Two Birds Jewelers (opening a storefront in Ashford soon) and gorgeous tie-dye scarf and t-shirt from Deena's DDJ Designs ("tie-dyed clothing with a heart and a twist"). I spoke with the jeweler who crafted my ring and learned about the stone and setting; then I later chatted with Deena who made my tie-dyed pieces and who told me how to care for my funky one-of-a-kind wardrobe items. I really enjoyed strolling through, seeing local artists and their talents. There really is nothing like seeing local artists showcase their work and their passion. The only problem with this festival is the parking. There are small and windy roads in this village's parking, so it can be tricky to navigate to find a space in the limited number of spaces it has. You may want to go early--though you may want to anyway to miss the crowds and see the items showcased by each vendor more closely before anyone else--to grab a close parking spot. When I went mid-morning, I lucked out by grabbing a space down a flight of stairs from the center of the festival. I saw others though parking in the lower lots behind the larger complex and walking uphill to the tents. Overall, I very much like the smooth and accessible space this festival is set in, so it is worth the walk. There were a considerable number of people there when I went, but the festival is perfectly spread out so foot-traffic is not an issue. If you are not able to make one day, do not worry--this festival is open two days. Even if arts and crafts are not your thing, definitely stop by. You will see the local talent and may get a free sample of ice cream!! Why not support local every chance you can?

Septemberfest has gone through a few tweaks since we moved here 30 years ago. It used to be…read moresprawled through the big parking lot in front of Iron Horse Boulevard, with music, vendor booths, a big craft tent, and lots of food booths. Then the festival disappeared for a while, and a few years ago it reappeared in a different version on the grounds of the Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center. A lot of the features are the same, or at least similar. They still offer lots of musical entertainment (we heard a pretty good Creedence cover band tonight), there are still a lot of vendor booths at the Business Expo, for local businesses and banks, the town library, private schools, political parties, and civic groups. They still have a lot of food options from local restaurants and stores (Old Well Tavern, Attilio's, Benny's, Kane's Market, TCBY, Comfort Zone Food Truck, Ben & Jerry's, Simsbury Volunteer FD, Little India, Millwright's, and Pasticceria Italia) that are reasonably priced. I has a nice combination plate from Little India for $7 with Chicken Tikka Masala, Vegetable Curry, rice and a vegetable samosa. The only negative thing we experienced were the dozens of bees that swarmed around our table and the trash cans. Since the new location spills out across the Performing Arts Center grounds, it provides room for more attractions. There are two small performing stages with kid friendly acts like magicians, puppeteers and jugglers, plus taekwondo and mountain bike exhibitions, a petting zoo, a stilt walking clown. There was a tethered hot air balloon ride, and over 20 inflatable bounce attractions and a kiddie railroad that snakes through the grounds. The old tent with the craft fair is gone, and this year was the first time I ever remember there being an admission charge. It was a modest $5 for adults (kids are free), and the admission wrist-band gets you in for all three days.

Should be renamed BounceFest. There was no hot air ballon ride, no train ride, and two uninspiring…read morefood trucks. That said, there were infinite bouncers. All in all, well suited for families with small kiddos but beyond that, the seasonal section at Costco is more engaging.