Evanston holds a lot of events throughout the year and with so many of them happening in the summer, there are many options to choose from. I've gone to a number of them over the years and find Custer Fair to be a top summer destination in the city. During our walk down Main street, Chicago, Washington, and Custer Avenues (this fair covers 4 streets) a few notable things I saw were vendors selling air plants hung from glass containers, vintage Chicago posters, handcrafted jewelry, a caricature artist, cool hand crafted toys for kids and, if you wanted to relax from all the walking, there was a booth that charged for chair massage. The food stalls had a good mix which included typical carnival fair like funnel cakes and corndogs. They also had a Taqueria stall, local craft beer, Pina colada stand, Texas bbq, Gyros, and Soba noodles. With all the savory food and tempting refreshments abound, the real hero on a hot 90 degree day was the lemonade stand. Every refreshing cup of lemonade had a whole half lemon in it. I was able to double my servings of lemonade by squeezing the half lemon and adding water and sugar when I got home afterwards. Bonus! Consider yourself lucky if you've scored a parking spot around the neighborhood. You will need to arrive an hour prior to opening to find a space. Your best bet is to take public transport by taking the Purple line train and get off on the Main Street station. It takes you right there. Pro Tip: Most stalls are cash only establishments with a few taking credit/debit cards. If you forget to bring cash, there is a Chase bank less than a block and a half across from the Main street purple line stop south on Chicago Avenue. read more

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I had the honor to work at one of the food vendors this year. In fact, it was my first time exploring the "Custer Fair" in Evanston. I was quite impressed by the number and the variety of merchants that participated. I guess the time has changed and we are becoming a cashless society. Many vendors were able to accept credit cards (with a surcharge fee). Nevertheless, the trusty green bucks still would still get you all-inclusive access! There was at least one (1) PNC bank ATM outside the CTA Main Purple Line station for visitors' convenience. The sound quality for the music lineups was decent. Fortunately, our area wasn't bombarded with an excessive volume while the concerts were in session. The tent we set up was near the center stage, and thankfully, we didn't have to "shout" to the customers to ask for their orders. As always, most ladies can have a difficult time getting used to the porta potties. Here's my recommendation: be patient and reserve some energy by going to the nearest grocery/Liquor stores, such as WholeFoods, Target, Trader Joe's, and Binny's to use their facilities. They are not located feet away from the festival, but within walkable distances. read more

Growing up in Evanston, the Custer Street Fair has always been one of my absolute favorite summer fesivals. Rich in culture and diversity, the various vendor booths are spread out in a relatively small space that wraps around on Custer Ave, Main St, and Chicago Ave, in south Evanston. It's fun to walk around and see people, and see what's being offered. There's something for everyone! Jewelry, artwork, candles, household goods, clothes, gift-type items, you name it! Decent festival food and live entertainment, too. They ask for a suggested donation, yet it's optional. This fest takes place every summer in June. Come out and enjoy! read more

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Great local fair that's good for kids and adults. It is big enough to spend an hour walking through and stopping to taste the different foods. I like how food options were more diverse than a lot of fairs including lots of taco stands, Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. read more

Custer's Last Stand is definitely one of my favorite street fairs in Chicagoland. It's like many other art fairs, but certain aspects set it apart. For one, it covers a relatively small geographic area so it's manageable. Interestingly though, despite the relatively small area, it doesn't feel too crowded (unlike some other art fairs in the region). A nice variety of vendors sell their items from the usual to the less common. Additionally, some of the local stores (i.e., the ones on Main St.) set up stands as well. I've bought great jewelry here on several occasions in the past in addition to other items. The variety of foods available is also considerable. There are the usual street fair fried goods, but also healthy juices and smoothies. Finally, a musical stage is set up on the corner of Main and Chicago facing south and performers entertain participants throughout the event. There is also other types of entertainment on the corner of Custer Ave and Washington St. The event is free (with suggested donations). read more

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This fest was huge!!! I like how it's almost like a maze. Everywhere you turn are new various booths. Very family friendly festival. Lots of children entertainment and also musical entertainment for the adults. Great Reggae band. Not as many food items to choose from as other fest, but still good choices. I had the BBQ tip dinner plate. I wish the candied yams were a little bit sweeter, but still a good value for $10. Most fest charge at least a $5 donation, but this one has a suggested donation of a $1. I still didn't pay it, but thought that was way more reasonable than other fest. I wasn't planning on spending as much money as I did. I had to buy the cherry blossom body butter (smelled too good to pass up). Also, I finally found the perfect gift for my friends home warming. A beautiful candle in a wine glass. Great and fun fest! read more

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One of the worst street fests I've ever been to. One redeeming thing was massage-by-the-minute at a few places Other than that, it was $5 ripoff designer sunglasses, 5 separate booths with gutter guards, a guy selling snapshots of downtown for $900, cruddy beads, some stupid car test drive thing, nasty fair food (deep fried blank on a stick), and pretty much nothing else I wanted. read more

This is now in my top five favorite festivals in Chicagoland. Naperville Ribfest is first and nothing else comes close but this is definitely up there and a different event anyway. It is on four interlocking streets with Custer Avenue and Main Street being the main thoroughfares. There are lots of fun artsy booths and lots of street performers and a small stage and big stage and one small row of food vendors. They definiely could use more food vendors. They have the standard carnival type food vendors and they had this Greek vendor that actually looked better than it tasted as the chicken shish kabobs that looked sooo plump and yummy were actually, chicken jerkey and dry as cardboard. I really enjoyed the Polish platter that was ridiculously heavy on a hot summer day but my husband and I shared and nearly licked the plate clean. There is no seating for eating except a small patchy area of dirt and grass and litter along the train tracks. It wasn't ideal but it was shaded and that's what we needed at that time. The food situation definitely holds this place back. Though a Park Ridge based Italian Ice cart on one of the side streets was so so delish. I enjoyed seeing art I hadn't seen at many of the other fairs. But the street performers were my favorite. There was a Renaissance Fair quality about it. The creme de la creme of the whole hot sticky day was the Piccolo Theatre performance. This was an unexpected diversion to the day. A wandering costumed actress told mee lad and lassie of a sword fight to take place at 2 o clock up the stairs in a tiny theatre that used to be a train depot or maybe is still a train depot. Whatever it was, it is the most unique theatre I have been in. And they were great. I guess, they did shows throughout the day all day, for free. Think the complete works of Shakespeare in 30 minutes. It was fun and silly and kid friendly and there was sword fighting. And did I mention it was blissfuly air conditioned? Really a nice festival. We will be back. And afterward we went swimming in the not too far away Greenwood Beach where the water was a shockingly cold 40 degrees, or so it felt. No more heat stroke. read more

I thought to myself, why are they naming a festival after General Custer? What boggled me even more was the image of a dancing American Indian on their website and flyers. Did they not know that General Custer essentially supported Indian genocide? How ironic. Then I realized, Custer is actually a name of a street in Evanston. D'oh. I enjoyed Custer's Last Stand Festival more than the Ethnic Arts Festival (July). For one, all the vendors are in a smaller area, so there's no need for much walking. Many different crafts and clothing from African sculpture to rock candles to ethnic-looking maxi dresses to organic onesies for babies. I particularly enjoyed the work of photographers as they were very inspiring. As for the food, there's the standard festival fare like hot dogs and gyros, but some vegetarian dishes like spicy tempeh and vegetable tempura and fried rice. The funnel cakes were definitely not worth $9. I was very peeved when I asked about Pad Thai at one of the food vendors. She says it was vegetarian, and I asked if it had fish sauce and she nodded. "I'm a vegetarian, but I only eat seafood", she said. Sorry, but vegetarians do not eat seafood. Period. If an animal belongs to the Animalia classification, it is considered meat. (This rant has no effect on my rating.) Anyway, great summer festival. Many, many different vendors showcasing their crafts and art. Entertainment for the whole family (including temporary tattoos and facepainting and toys for sale). It's free (with suggest donation). read more

The good of this fair was really good. A really nice variety of vendors. The bad of this fair was........well........the section with the mostly mass produced world crafts......and one statement silk screen t-shirts.........um......was not my favorite. Despite the bad, the good makes it worth going. I really liked the energy of the people who came to the fair in costume. Reminded me a lot of the fairs I would do in Oregon. The saddest part of this show was the super low attendance. Where were you Chicago? It was a beautiful weekend.....there were some really unique booths.........there was some really good music and food.........I think the cover was a suggested donation........... It's a great fair and I can only hope more people will come out to support it next year. read more

I've been boing to Custer Fair since I grew up as a kid in Rogers Park. So I've been going since the mid 1990s. While in recent years it's become a tad bit commercialized (too many booths for insurance reps, churches, and cell phone carriers) there are still a few gems to go for. I go every year for "The Bear Lady" - she makes handmade teddy bears - and I can't get her bears anywhere else. The food area is really diverse and tasty and you can also visit the shops like the Rock shop that is still on Main. read more

This was HUGe - I definitely expect it to be as large as it was. There was so much available in terms of food from Greek gyros to Mediterranean hummus and burgers and meats and Italian ice! Not only is there entertainment and live music but there's also a lot of local artwork, painters, jewelry, photographers, and boutiques, as well. I look forward to coming back here again with an empty stomach and more cash on hand! read more

Our favorite fair, it's a family tradition to go there on Father's Day every year. We've been going for so many years, I can't remember when the first time was. We love Evanston, and this fair is always infused with the colorful, loving, organic, artist-friendly spirit of the town. The art is excellent and unique, the music is some of the best Chicago has to offer, the food is a delight, and the people are beautiful! We're so thankful to Evanston for putting this on every year! read more

This is one of the better Fairs in Chicagoland to attend. Tons of exhibitors showcasing everything imaginable in the world of Arts. I personally like visiting the artists underneath the viaduct, they are cool, interesting and quite talented. Custer rules! read more

Always loved the Custers last stand, but sadly every year getting less and less exhibitors. Always a fun time and a true neighborhood get together. Good bands good kid entertainment but less and less to see, seems like need to do something to get more participation going. read more

Unless you're under 10 or over 60, this is pretty boring. The food isn't very good and the craft booths are embarrassing . There's no reason to go to this fair. And the food is overcooked and very unhealthy. And doesn't even taste very good. read more

I'd like to post a review from the perspective of a resident who lives one block south of this fair. We actually HATE this fair because we can never go anywhere with our cars during that weekend. Once we leave our spots on our street where we live (Monroe) they are immediately taken by fair-goers. So basically, we're held captive by this Fair from Saturday morning to Sunday evening. Cannot even go to church on Sunday morning -- not unless we are willing to park five blocks away from our home when we get back!! There is one city lot in the area, but you can't even get there because it's blocked by the fair. I know there's no way that the police can ban non-resident fair-goers from parking on our street because that would be ridiculous for me to expect that, but it does put a huge burden on those of us who live within one block of this fair. You either have to leave town for the entire weekend, or plan on not going anywhere for two days. I actually wish this thing would go away... read more

Not a bad festival. Good activities for kids. But, festival food is priced very high.