I am local to the area, so I have been to various festivals over the years. I arrived around 2 pm…read moreon a Friday, and could not find parking downtown. The lots that I normally park at were blocked off and the main parking lot doesn't have much capacity. I ended up parking in the parking lot of Kildeer Countryside Elementary School. Long Grove Confectionary only makes the strawberry donuts for Strawberry Fest. The one improvement over the past was that the food at the food booths are now taking cash/credit card payment instead of tickets.

Definitely not enough strawberry items for a strawberry festival. Strawberry donuts were good…read more Mostly chocolate dipped strawberries & strawberry nonalcoholic drinks. No strawberry shortcake or strawberry pie. Even the winery didn't have strawberry wine. They sold sangria which was dry, dark red. The arts & crafts booths were mostly home remodeling booths trying to gather their business Very disappointing to drive 1.5 hours for barely any strawberry items

Such a fun little town. Hung out on the square at the local fair. Live music. Great food. A bit of…read morerich history. Fun rides. We ranged from 2-62 and everyone of us had a fun time!

Nice hometown festival. Food, drinks, live music, rides. Good times, of course it can't have 5…read morestars b/c our Chi neighborhood festivals are on a different level...sorry Liberty-thrill! But at least I started this post so you can flourish :)

Beware it's cash only but there are plenty of ATMs to charge you service fees. You need six tickets…read morefor a beer, if you aren't a heavy drinker you will be left with extra tickets. Can you return unused tickets for cash back?

A great upscale arts festival (with wine!), that is set up near a quaint little historic downtown…read morearea. Open 8/24/13 and 8/25/13. Get your wine and then walk around the art booths! If you visit, you can get the best of the permanent downtown shops as well. The downtown stores and restaurants were bustling from the art festival crowds. Parking wasn't an issue, but you may have to park on the main street (just past downtown) and walk a block or two. This is a juried art festival, which means that a jury must review an artist's qualifications and portfolio before the artist can participate as a seller. This allows for much higher quality art and crafts than at a non-juried festival. The show was heavy on jewelry, photographs and paintings, but did have a good variety of other mediums (textiles, ceramics, leather). There were no handcrafted soaps or foods (but maybe those don't fit with "fine art"). I wished there were some paper crafts, like handmade cards, but I saw none. I purchased earrings and a necklace from two different vendors. I love them! There weren't too many people, and the booths were spaced well, so you could see everything. Food vendors and musicians were there, which made for a more enjoyable experience. 4.5 stars Visited 8/24/13

While I feel like the Long Grove Chocolate Festival seems to have a little less great vendors as…read morethey have in past years, we still like to go here every year. Highlights, for me, include the parking for donations at the friendly Church of Long Grove lot on Robert Parker Coffin Road, chocolate martinis at Enzo & Lucia's, chocolate covered strawberries and cider donuts, drinks on the patio at Buffalo Creek Brewing and of course, we love that this fest is dog-friendly. While I feel there are too many vendors offering home improvements, like new windows or bathtubs, I get that the fest needs vendors to support their efforts. The businesses of Long Grove are always lovely to visit with employees and staff who appreciate their customers. An annual tradition we proudly support.

This festival is basically a summer street fair and it's quite nice for that. Despite the name of…read morethe event, just don't come expecting a lot of chocolate themed offerings. It's an oft mentioned comment in the reviews and it's true. With the kiddos in tow though, it's a nice summer outing for activities like their reptile show, some face painting, some kids' arts and crafts, browsing for kids' knick-knacks, and a bit of street food. They also had a separate setup of carnival rides for pay. There were only a couple of chocolate related offerings I saw - a chocolate martini drink, and a couple of chocolate snacks and such. They also had some small music stage acts that we did not try to see. Admission is $5 for adults (plus a $2.14 online purchase fee) and it's free for age 12 and under. There was limited free parking in their smallish public lots but there was a $5 donation lot a couple blocks away that would be your best bet. The fair is set up with only a modest amount of walking. The carnival rides involve purchasing separate ride tickets out of an unmanned dispenser which worked just fine. Rides are about $3-4 pp. This fest makes for a fine and delightful summer outing in quaint Long Grove if you just set your bar down appropriately.

Since 2015 I've attended yearly. With family living close-by and whom share a love of BBQ too, it's…read morea no brainer. If you have lived in or visited the city during festival season, you know that summers go hand-in-hand with visiting festivals. With that said, most ask for some sort of donation. The donation helps them with festival arranging and the casting of musical talent. Bands aren't free. Knowing a little bit about hiring bands for shows, $5 isn't a bank breaker. I like all kinds of live music and LBR doesn't disappoint with arranging decent Blues bands. The festival will typically offer a handful of local BBQ operators. What is unique is that there is a good mix of different purveyors. (Unlike many in Chicago that tend to hire some of the same old tired BBQ vendors.) Those with restaurants that are open to the public and others that are caterers or BBQ festival operators. This last option means they travel the country for BBQ fests hoping to drum support for their brand. Uncle Bub's is a good example. The last couple years there was a caterer I loved, called The Full Slab. At one time they had a counterspace but ended up closing. Maybe due to a bad location choice. After having their tips, I and family were SOLD. I tried my model best trying to convince family to hire them for a catering party.. Those tips were glorious.. So this year.. The mosquitoes were biting! What is the deal with this park.. They need to do a mosquito treatment in the future. The park is next to a small lake / pond. There is lots of water and after rains the grass can be muddy and wet. As was the case last night. I bathed in repellent and still have got a connect-the-dots of bites from ankles to knees. Food. A handful of vendors this year. I did not see Full slab or Bub's even though they were mentioned on the marketing. That isn't to say they won't be there this evening. Smokin T's. RUB - Real Urban Barbecue, Big Ed's BBQ, BBQ'd productions bar and grill and BoBo's which is a local fast food type joint. There was also a grilled corn and funnel cake vendors on hand as well. The setup was as previous years. Even when lines got long it didn't inundate the rest of the scene. Sometimes at suburban fests, the layout is all wrong. Not the case at all. There were lines but still ample space to maneuver. And with the lighting, passers-by could see which vendors had what available. But, some vendors could have done a better job with menu marketing. Having a whiteboard with markers positioned at ground level is newbie stuff. Gotta bring your A-game for a festival and market clearly for those waiting in long lines. Best values: Rub's BBQ nachos & Lienenkugel fried cheese curds. $9 or $6 dollars for ample quantity. Nachos were covered in cheese, jalapenos, your choice of burnt ends or pulled pork and BBQ sauce. A notable second for nachos, was from BBQ'ed productions, offering a varying kind of cheese, diced veggies and tasty sauces. With your choice of brisket. Of similar cost but smaller portion. A smaller BBQ company operating right of Smokin' T's was the only provider of rib tips. Talk about a BUMMER. I get that businesses want to make money off selling ribs. But as the other reviewer stated, $25 for a full slab without any free sides is too costly. This is a festival, a marketing ploy, there should be better sampler platters or pricing that is key to meat only. Most restaurants offer full slabs with sides and salad for around $25 dollars. Beer representation was better this year. Lienenkugels Summer shandy, Miller Lite, Fat tire and Revolutions Anti-hero. $5 a beer in 16 or 12 oz cans. Otherwise, they also have wine. I don't recall seeing boozy cocktails unfortunately. Did I mention to bathe in mosquito repellent before heading out? You'll thank me. #Trust. Moving on. Music was solid though I left early due to the biting pests! Opt to grab a seat nearer the stage. We often choose to eat near the rear of the fest where family seating is found. WE always get eaten alive by mosquitoes there. You'll often see people swatting and scratching over here. But, the most comfortable benches that aid large groups are there. Bring cash or card, it doesn't matter much. Feel free to bring lawn chairs to soak in the weather or pick your own lawn space for the Blues. For the most part, dogs are not allowed unless they are service animals. Bring fam or friends, you're bound to have a good time. If you're single.. no better place to find someone. There are lots of ages and most folks are pretty friendly. So, go early. (Single folks in a 30 - 50s range can be found.) Many of the parking lots in the area become free parking lots for festival goers. If unsure, ask a crossing guard or law enforcement working with the fest. Gripes: The fest marketing and communications department could have done a better PR job. I had found postings with incorrect vendor info and dates, times for the event.

Good selection of ribs, beer and bourbon. A strong focus on excellent blues bands each night…read more Well worth the money, especially if you like live blues.

I've been to this Marriott theater several times already to watch different shows throughout the…read moreyears. However, this most recent visit was to see heartbreak Hotel thanks to the Yelp elite event. On the night of which I came there happen to be some very severe storms that caused the play to stop at the point of intermission so that all the audience members could go home safely. The Marriott theater was so kind as to give us an option to get tickets to another scheduled show to be able to see it from start to finish and it's entirety. This was so generous and so kind of them to do. And every time they put on a show here this place is absolutely fantastic. I love being able to come here and buy tickets to come here for other shows because parking is free and there are none of these add-on fees on top of the tickets like you get for the other shows down in the city. Hear the traffic is manageable to get in and get out of it whether it's before or even after a show. So none of this craziness that you have to deal with the city. If you've never seen a show here, I highly encourage and strongly recommend that you look at the various and diverse shows and offerings and buy a ticket and support the theater.

Always a great time! We had been invited to check out Heartbreak Hotel on April 17th, but because…read moreof the storm they shut it down in the middle and offered the option to return to see the full show. Tonight, May 1, 2026 we returned to see the full show and it was great. The story line is great and the end was fantastic!

Free parking is always nice. The designated driver ticket was a bit steep. I paid $15 to meet up…read morewith a friend. I didn't want to drink because apparently all the cider places they said were co I feel either didn't show or ran out. The live music was cool and it seemed pretty well organized. I liked that you didn't have to use tickets like at the Schaumburg Craft Beer Fest. But, I won't be back.

An OK first time effort. We arrived at 1:00pm and stayed till 4:00pm. The event was well…read moreorganized...there were a sufficient number of portable bathrooms, the beer was kept cold throughout, the live music good, and the food vendors well represented at reasonable prices. About 15-20 brew pubs and breweries were represented..mostly Chicago area brew pubs like Emmits, Revolution, and Haymarket.. The weather was very warm..would like to see a "covered" seating area for eating and band listening next year. Also, I would like to see more representation by craft breweries.

They have offered virtual lessons for my son during COVID. We absolutely love it! We thought it…read morewouldn't be the same as in person but I feel like it gives my son even more confidence. Hopefully he'll have the nerves out when he starts in person. They always respond quickly to emails and voicemails. I can't say enough good things about this place. They clearly care about the families as a whole!

My grandson has been attending there for about last year, just amazing what he has learned and far…read morehe has come. So very impressed with the school, thank you !