Located in the attractive, modern beachfront Ventnor Library building; the cultural arts center…read moreoffers has an art studio area and a dance studio area and offers exercise, dance, and art classes for both adults and children (separate classes). In addition they organize various special events, such as a periodic outdoor/indoor art show where local artists and handicraft vendors can show their stuff.. Information about the classes they offer is available on their website: http://www.ventnorarts.org/ . see my Ventnor Library review for info about the whole library building complex.

I took a yoga training class here and was initially expecting a space that wasn't very nice. My…read moreexpectations were immediately blown away when I saw what this space actually was... a nice library, an art workshop, and a ballet studio all in one! The back of the center features a playground for the kids. There are numerous classes held here for young and old alike. In other words, there's something for everyone.

I learned puppetry, dance. movement and pantomime from Nancy and Bob Brownstone. Nancy had a…read moreprofound effect on my and my life as a child. She is a teacher, mentor and friend. She has taught scores of children, teens and adults about the art of puppetry and modern dance. Her characters come to life. Zwe will all miss Bob, who passed away a few years back, but Nancy carries on the legacy - now in a small country theatre in New Jersey.

Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival was one AWESOME event. I had to say that ASAP. It was well…read moreexecuted with something for everyone. Food, Beer, Wine, Bourbon, Whiskey, Tequila and other assorted adult beverages. I must also add, that Yelp provided 2 tickets through a promotion. Thank you Yelp Gods and Stephanie Y. I have been to a few events through your sponsorship and always appreciated your consideration. You rock Stephanie. Now, I was 2.5 hours late for the noon time kickoff. Traffic was horrible. As I arrived to Bally's, $30 parking fee. Great; I am late and have to spend an arm and a leg on parking. What a start to this event. As I walked in to the event space, I was given a wine glass and life was good again. I was ready to taste wine. I had some great Champagnes right of the bat. They where refreshing with that crisp clean taste. Just right to start a wine tasting event. We then hit some Italian wines and they had that full body taste that I enjoy. I collected all the collateral from the vendors, but somewhere in my travels my souvenir bag went MIA. I just don't remember the vineyards and wine makers. Bummer. Highlight: there was a Bourbon table with Basil Hayden, Maker's Mark 46, Knob Creek and a few others I was not familiar with. I was in heaven. I think I tried them all. Outstanding. After this, I was done. I wish I had the time to taste more wines, but staff was serving 2 to 3 oz pours. Now, I don't know if this is good, but I did enjoyed this...lol... Overall, this was a well planned event. Plenty of room to move around. Air conditioning was working properly. Staff was friendly. Crowd was respectful. No long waits. Basic sample item and then slide down after taste. Tons of adult beverages with quality product. Many boutique wines. Lots of liquor tables. All around well organized event.

I can't believe I've waited this long to review the AC Food and Wine Festival... it. was. awesome…read more thanks to yelp (thanks Steph- you rock!), I was able to get two free tix to the Saturday afternoon Grand Marketplace... and I took my momma. so thanks yelp, for enabling me to be a good daughter. and by "good daughter" I mean one who gets her momma hammered in public before sunset. yeah, the event was pretty boozy. I expected more food than wine vendors, and was pleasantly surprised at the number of liquor and beer tables there. wine, tequila, champagne, whiskey, beer... and repeat. admittedly, I got tipsy. so did mom. but not as tipsy as the one guy who puked all over the place. or that one girl who knocked over a huge display. I consider this a success. a bunch of local and not-so-local foods were dished up, ranging from ceviche to pulled pork to lobster bisque, foie gras, chocolate fondue, peanut butter, chicken sausage, pork belly, anddd more. I was happy to see a few olive oil vendors as well... whoops, dropped mad dollars on olive oils. there were chefs doing live demos and tastings, too. it was nice to be able to ask the pros some questions. and we got a photo op with chef Robert Irvine (I always imagined him to be taller). um, I will definitely be back next year. I'd recommend doing an afternoon session... that way there's time afterward to play in AC for a bit, make a mandatory stop at pic-a-lilli, and sober up before heading home. that last part- it's important. or bring a DD (pregnant friends work well for this. justsayin).

My 3.5 year old did the summer creative movement class with Ms.Katie, the class was amazing. She…read morewas incredibly patient & knowledgable. Each week my daughter made progress & learned the fundamentals of dance which she will be able to build upon in the future! The studio is beautiful & we love the atmosphere

LITERALLY THE BEST!…read more Not only is the place adorable and vibrant, it's so much fun! Was in town for my bachelorette and we came here midday on a weekend. Prices are reasonable, fun selection of options to pick from, BYOB/BYOS, fun photo backgrounds. They cater to all experiences! We are no artist by any means, and ALL of our paintings looked beautiful. What more can you ask for! Had the BEST time. Thank you for making my day so special.

the entire experience with Paint Happy was amazing. all the instructors were so fun and…read moreknowledgeable and helped the kids to create and learn through the process. Jamie is amazing and works so hard to make sure every artist loves their time learning and creating! can't wait to get back to another camp!!

It was just "ok" nothing to do, 2 or 3 kiddie rides, lots of vendors. Kinda boring. We had to pay…read moreto get in to pay for food and Greek specialties. First year I was there, you had to park down the block, now you can park in the church parking lot. It draws very small crowds these days. They should utilize the empty spaces for bigger rides and older kid/adult crowd.

Holy Trinity is located at the intersection of Mill Rd and Ridge Avenue in Egg Harbor Township…read more I've been to this Greek festival before, it's been around for 26 years, but it's probably been at least 15 since I've been there. It gets crowded fast, so get there early. When we went, we got there about 5:10 (it started at 5:00) and we had to park in a field across the street because so many people were already there. Admission is $1, and the food prices are pretty reasonable, especially compared to a Greek restaurant. Beverages are expensive, but I saw a lot of people bringing in their own water bottles (I'll do that next time!) They had several booths, mostly food, but they also had a sand art booth (that used to be my favorite thing at the 4-H fair!!) a jewelry booth, an area in the center for demonstrations (on the night I went, it was hot to make baklava) and an area in the back with carnival-style rides! For food, they had a bakery booth with lots of Greek desserts and cookies (very reasonably priced, and very yummy) There was also a gyro booth ($7 for a packed and tasty gyro - not bad!) a booth making fresh loukoumades (kind of like little donuts with honey and cinnamon) a booth with "American Food" pfft... I didn't even go over there, but I did see some kids walking around with hot dogs, and then the "Taverna" with Greek platters. They had moussaka, pasticcio, spanikopita, Greek salad, gyro, leg of lamb, stuffed grape leaves, rice, souvlaki, all kinds of things that you could get a la carte or on a platter for pretty reasonable prices. The moussaka was very good, and so was the spanikopita. The pasticcio was kind of bland and the grape leaves were kind of mushy, and they were stuffed with only rice, and I prefer the ones with rice and meat inside! Overall though, the food was yummy, prices were reasonable, and the atmosphere was fun! On Saturday night they held a traditional Greek wedding, I was out of town on Saturday, but I would have loved to go. Definitely something you should check out if you like Greek food :)

Words can not express the good time we had at this festival! It had it all; food, beer, mosh pits…read more What more can one ask for? Uhh...METALLICA!!! Yes, the zenith of the festival was when Metallica took the stage and gave us two and half hours of metal heaven. The crowd went absolutely bat s**t wild!! They rocked from the moment they came on and played until the last song of the last encore. The festival took place on Bader field across from the Atlantic City Boardwalk Casinos which served as cool backdrop for the festival and the night sky. The pyrotechnics throughout Metallica's sets made for a surreal experience, especially with the opening sounds of machine guns during the intro to "One"...absolutely sick!!! Still sends chills up my spine when I think of it. Yeah, this festival made for one of those summers that you'll never forget! I know I wont.

Metal, Metal & more Metal!!!…read more I attended the Metallica music festival at Bader Field in Atlantic City. There are no complaints about the music or bands. This review is for the hosts of the festival, Orion! I purchased Ultra Mega Passes (UMP) through a club membership. After purchase there were other tickets, not as good as the ones I purchased, that came with packages for hotel and shuttle service to/from venue. If you purchased the UMP you had to book everything else separately and there was no shuttle option! This was incredibly disturbing. The venue set up was great. It was an old airport and set up sort of like a fair. There were several types of food booths, a ton of drink booths, and even water stations. They allowed you to brng in up to 2 liters of water or empty water bottles. There were 4 stages and the schedule allowed you to see all your favorite bands. The UMP allowed you access to a special pit area and a lounge area. The lounge area was set up to allow pass holders access to a special bathroom, drink station, and food station that was outside the normal population. This area could have been bigger with other food stations besides tacos and additional tables. They also could have provided more shaded areas. The prices of drinks and food were completely reasonable for this type of show. Water $3, Soda $4, Beer $7 and food between $3 - $10 depending on what you wanted. I have been to some concerts where they charge you $7 for water! If you follow a band that has a concert at Bader Field I suggest going! This is a great venue for any type of festival. I understand that they do have Phish and Dave Mathews as well! Enjoy and Rock On!

Aloha! The perfect…read moretype of Cirque show to see if a person has never seen one and does not know if they would like this type of entertainment. At a little over an hour long and a mere $20 it's a bargain for this highly enjoyable show and a great low cost way to check one out if in AC. This show features a Polynesian theme and includes fire eaters, dancers and acrobats performing death defying feats with a fun luau vibe. The cast is top notch and performs many Cirque du Soleil stunts such as the wheel of death, spinning from ropes above the stage and flying above the audience, feats of strength, hoola hoop craziness, aerialists, contortionists, and the Cirque humor throughout. All this occurs with terrific backround music performed by a few talented musicians - a drummer/percussionist and a lady who played at least three stringed instruments and a flute - setting a perfect atmosphere to accompany each performance. It's kind of like a mini-Cirque show. Fun, energetic, humorous, not overly long, and easy on the wallet. Definitely worth the time to check out if in Atlantic City. Performaces run from summer until end of Sept, and then starting up again in Nov. As the show itself is on the short side it left us wanting to see more and wish it was longer, but was still a great entertainment value. Aloha!

This was described on the show's website as a "Cirque du Soleil-type show."…read more The ONLY thing they have in common is the word "cirque." Let me make this very clear: Cirque Polynesian is NOT produced by Cirque du Soleil, and has no connection with Cirque du Soleil, but CP evidently wants to give you the impression that they are affiliated without blatantly lying about it. Only once before in my life have I felt such despair at the complete waste of an hour I can never get back. This show had absolutely NO redeeming qualities as entertainment AT ALL: EVERYTHING was done on the ultra-ultra cheap and was totally amateur. The sets and props looked like any old crap the producers found in a motley collection of junkyards and basements (I swear that a platform used by a guy who balanced atop some tubes while juggling was my grandma's kitchen table from 1955 with some tinsel wrapped around the legs!). The costumes were uniformly cheap and cheesy, and didn't even match, as though the performers were given some general guidelines re what to wear and were then left to bring in their own outfits. There was no continuity to the show and the transitions from act to act were jarring and choppy; it seemed the producers just hired whoever was available with whatever kind of act and then simply threw them together with no eye towards making any kind of a cohesive show. The music was pedestrian and mostly NOT live: the drummer may have been playing live, but the woman strumming guitars, ukuleles, etc., was definitely NOT playing, as a few times she stopped strumming while the guitar part (or whatever) continued. No, she was just there for sex appeal. And that was the extent of the "live band," two pieces, although the music track had a horn section, etc. I'd guess the budget for the whole sorry, godforsaken mess - costumes, sets, props, lights, sound, music, salaries, etc. - was around $11.82. Perhaps a little less. You'd find a more professional production at any high school variety show, and you'd have a better time, even if it wasn't your kid onstage. I don't like to disparage the performers because they do try, and I can't blame them for taking a paying gig, so let me just say the overall level of talent matched the rest of the production. This show was a truly dreary and depressing affair; I'd probably have had more fun ripping up the $30 per ticket and flushing it down the toilet. One of our party had never seen a real Cirque du Soleil show; immediately after this one ended, I begged her not to let this horror scare her off from seeing the beauty and wonder of a real Cirque show (sadly for me, none of my friends are talking to me right now, but I guess I deserve it: this was my idea. I have a lot to atone for.) The best thing about the whole mess was the end - and I mean AFTER the finale. When it was FINALLY over, after an hour that felt like THREE, what it left me wanting was to see some enjoyable, uplifting, professional entertainment: preferably a real Cirque du Soleil show. None to be had in the area right now, alas (one coming next summer, though). If Cirque du Soleil were a five-star gourmet dinner prepared by a world-class chef, Cirque Polynesian would be a moldy bologna sandwich festering forgotten in the back of your refrigerator - but the moldy sandwich might leave a better taste in your mouth than Cirque Polynesian.