Five stars solely for the food!…read more First off, it's called rib fest, so expect ribs. Second, ribs are known as BBQ food, so expect a lot of barbecue. There are a couple other options, such as corn dogs and corn on the cob; there are even one or two nachos options, kettle corn and a few dessert foods. But you come here for the barbecue! Beer, and hard cider are available for $6, while soda is $3 and water is $2. There are platters and meals. I would classify a platter as a true sampling of the place's BBQ. It usually consists of ribs, brisket, some pulled pork and chicken, and some sides (corn bread, beans, coleslaw, or potato salad). A meal would be akin to a sandwich or one meat dish with some sides. Some places offer additional BBQ foods like greens and chili. 12-13 vendors square off in the court of public opinion for the People's Choice award, and also in a judged competition for best ribs, brisket, etc. People's choice is about best overall. There are other vendors here, of the street fair type, sellings various goods such as yard art, games, toys, pet supplies, and foods such as fudge and Georgia peaches. There is a small area for the kids which includes rides and fair games, and also henna tattoos. Not far off, in a quieter area, are pony rides. There is a huge tent which, in addition to providing some much needed shade, offers live music and some seating for eating. In another area, there is seating with table umbrellas and another stage. IMHO, this is not a fest you're going to spend an entire day at. There isn't much to do unless you're into (predominantly) country music. You'll fill up on good food and need a rest before you try another vendor. We ate at two places and picked up a third meal to take home. We didn't spend more than 3-4 hours there. The best thing is that parking and admission is free, so you don't feel guilty about not staying. I can't say that this is a fest I would insist people go to, but it definitely is worth checking out, if for nothing else than to expand one's BBQ horizons! 28/2018

Better than I thought it would be! Admission is free and so is parking. Bring cash if you're…read moredrinking. Many of the BBQ vendors accept Credit, but have cash on hand for those that dont. ATM's are available. It's only another 10 miles SE of East Troy (about 30 miles SE of Milwaukee county). Not a lot to do here other than eat, drink, and listen to live music. There's shopping of the street fair variety and some foods that are not BBQ. And there's rides for the kiddos. It's family friendly with beer. The event is limited to 12 vendors from around the country, 4 of them are local to the area. Professional judges do the judging for the rib fest winner, while the public votes for the people's choice awards. Great opportunity to try some of the best BBQ vendors in one place.

Really fun time at Oktoberfest. Plenty of food, music, and libations. The town and surrounding…read morearea were very full of celebration goers! Businesses were getting business, and parking was limited (but eventually you could find a spot). Crafters, and other distributors on premises. Pumpkin decorating was fun! German dancers were outstanding! Free admission a plus!

Big disappointment. Other than the beer, you wouldn't have known you were at an Oktoberfest. No…read moreGerman music but a DJ playing dance music both days. It was basically a craft show with food trucks selling non-German food. Lesson leaned...

Waited in line for food for 30 minutes only to be told, they only except cash or Venmo what are we…read moredrug dealers? Left it don't need it not coming back again

This was really a lot of fun. We got to hear two bands - the first "Wedding Band", was a pretty…read moregood cover band. They all wore t-shirt tuxedos (a little tacky), but their music was good. At 10 pm the headliner came out - they were called the "Cherry Poppin' Daddies" out of Oregon somewhere. The name put us off a little (no- a lot). Their music was what I would call "suggestive" but their style could be classified as swing. This was not what a Saturday night crowd of several thousands wanted to hear. Not sure why Palatine chose them and not a rock band. Needless to say, a lot of people left during their performance. Now, the festival itself was great - Palatine festivals always get a great turn out. There were the regular information booths from insurers, politicians and window replacement companies. The food tents represented the best of Palatine - I had Pad Thai from Siri Thai and a hamburger from Heybeck's. Both were outstanding. Finally, the beer garden was packed. We set up chairs by the stage, but trans-versed the crowds to get beer several times. All I can say is there was no way to get to the beer tent easily. Oh, it was a straight shot. But there were so many people and the music was so loud, in many cases you had to push your way through. The craziest thing was the way they cordoned off the beer garden. The main entry was about a 30 foot long metal plank on the south of the area. There was one other entry point to the east. The porta- potties were set up to the northwest of the beer garden which I think makes sense. But, there was no entry between the two. In order to go from one section to the other, you had to leave the beer garden from either the south or the east, then walk all of the way around until you got there. It was not convenient. But, overall, it was a really good street fest which I will definitely go to again next years. My hope is that the people who put it together take these two points into consideration. If they corrected these, it would be a 5 star experience.

Went to the Light Festival in WI for the first time and I hope that I will never miss another one…read morein the area again. Let's start with my drive from the Chicago northeast suburbs; it took about an hour and twenty mins. Because this festival was in the middle of nowhere, I drove miles and miles through farmlands and small farm towns on the perfect day and it was a beautiful and peaceful drive. Handicap parking was conveniently located by the front opening however most of the parking was on tall grass which was cumbersome to maneuver in. Check in was seamless , if you didn't have your tickets they looked you up just as easily. It's a MUST to bring layers of clothes and jackets along w your foldable chairs. Food/coolers are allowed but no liquor. Only service animals allowed .There were about eight food and snack vendors for the hungry and munchie. You could even buy some glow trinkets there. There was a program MC who kept the audience engaged with tasks such as posting on social media for prizes. Nice music-not my flavor but I like ambiance. The piece of resistance was sending up the lanterns, which by the way you could write or draw on with the markers they provided. When I tell you that I was swallowed up in about five minutes of amazing, that's what it was. I felt like I was floating in space among the stars. Some of my friends shed a tear. This would be a perfect event for families, friends, entertaining guests or even for marriage proposals. The only downside to this event was getting out of the lot smoothly but that's because the people working the grounds and picking up the thousands of lanterns miles away were all volunteers. Imagine that!

spent $200 and there was no one hired to help with traffic and we waited over 2 hrs just to try and…read morepark . After 2 hrs we saw we were still over a mile from the entrance so at that point turned around. we wouldn't have even made it in on time to set off our lanterns. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY

This is a pretty decent-sized festival for the burbs. It has the typical carnival rides on the side…read moreand food tents setup that you usually see in suburban festival. I decided to check it out after a Northbrookian (or is it "Northbrook-ite"?) kept saying how awesome it was and that he so far went on the previous two days. Most be good, I though, eh? I have to agree that it was pretty good. The weather was perfect on Sunday and its right next to the Metra stop so there was parking that was really close by. So unlike other suburban festivals that are held in residential parks (think Arlington Heights Frontier Days) you don't have to take a tour of the neighborhood and drive around in circles looking for somewhere to park. The food there was decent and "festival priced" -- the currency there is tickets, tickets, tickets and they were selling 1-ticket for 50cents. I got the beef brisket sammich at some BBQ place called TK's which was awesome, and I shall "bookmark". This place showcased a lot of Northbrook restaurants that I shall try out in the near future. My forgetful memory entails that I'll need to lookup the names again :-/ Overall, a decent-sized festival that is worth checking out if you're in the burbs.

Rides, games, music, food, people That IS NB days fest. Located in downtown Northbrook, the village…read moregreen turns into a huge carnival area with food/game/ride vendors plus a large stage area with live music. The kids love it, big enough to have fun, small enough to still be some what contained. Rides can get expensive, they used to have a band deal but not sure what the current status of that is. This event fires up on a Wednesday in late July and soldiers on through until Sunday evening.

Cornfest is a 5 star event. Let me explain why.... Every year, this beautiful "All-American"…read morefestival is a free event sponsored by Birdseye Foods. The kids love the rides. $20 and they ride all weekend. The roasted corn is free. I can usually kill two pieces. Then I spend $6 and buy a huge paper bag full of corn to take home to share with family, friends, and neighbors. All I see around me is families from all walks of life having barrels of fun with their kids and siblings. There is a huge playground here and you can also bring a cooler to picnic on the many picnic tables. Everyone is having so much fun. Check out the vendors too. Homemade ice cream is to die for. The food here is soo good. The bands, the families, the kids, best parade I've seen in a long time, the ambiance is all 5 stars and best of all, the kids are excited about coming here. Come on down, you won't be disappointed!!

Free corn! Announce that and they will come running... who you ask? Oh the townsfolk of Darien,…read moreWI. It was like the zoo, only with corn kernels scattered about everywhere you went. I personally, wasn't interested in any food due to the previous nights drinking fest. So officially, I have to say cornfest was a success for the small town it was held in. And I did see a lot of smiling faces as well as dirty ones but as for me, I just wished there was more places to sit and take naps at. And no, I didn't stay for the tractor pulling...

Always wanted to go strawberry picking, but every year we miss the picking window…read more This year we finally went. Chose Stade's based on reviews, availability and location. It was great and would definitely go again! Pricing is fair. They require a $7 minimum per person. It wasn't a problem for us because we chose (2) 4 quart buckets. As of June 2026, 1 qt was $7, 2 qt $14 and 4 qt was $20. I feel their pricing is fair esp given the price of berries recently. They provide the buckets that you keep. You can either take a trolley, train (extra charge) or walk. The field wasn't too far about 10-15 min. We opted to walk both ways. The strawberry fields were pretty big. I highly recommend coming early in the day because it gets busy and the earlier you come, the bigger the berries. They stagger their plantings so it stretches the season longer. They also have lettuce, radishes, cilantro, raspberries and sugar snap peas this weekend. Everything except sugar snap peas were a separate charge. All of their pricing is on their website and their Facebook page has their availability for the day. Strollers and wagons are welcome, but no dogs. The market is worth checking out. They had meats, pies, gifts, donuts, drinks and some produce. I highly recommend the strawberry lemonade slushy. It was refreshing after a couple of hours in the sun. The strawberry donut was tasty, too. It was moist and tender and not terribly sweet. Will definitely be back next year for more strawberry picking. We may comeback for other pickings later this year.

Stade's is such a fun place to visit with family and friends. We went for raspberry and apple…read morepicking and had an amazing time - it's such a great experience being out in the fields. They offer so many other fruits and vegetables to pick from too, so there's always something new to enjoy each season! The staff are friendly and helpful, and the prices are very reasonable considering how fresh and high-quality the produce is. Everything we picked tasted incredible - you can tell it's straight from the farm. We've made it a tradition to go every year, and it never disappoints. It's a wholesome, fun outing that's 100% worth it!