Disappointment and just...what? The Virginia City rodeo in previous years has been pretty good…read morefrom what my friends in Reno told me, so we went to check it out yesterday (8/25/19). 10 dollars to park, 74 dollar for 3 adults and a kid to get in the door. No problem, lots of the pictures showed shaded bleachers and lots of vendors which is always fun. NOPE, unless you were in the beer garden tent there was only limited shade by some table umbrellas behind the bleachers. Only 5-6 vendors which had limited food options but at least the beer garden was supporting the local high school which was nice. The rodeo started with a skydiver presenting the US flag and then a caravan of really nice horses for the Mexican flag. Then...there was quite a lull for a while. Took about 20 minutes to get going and then they did some bucking horses with guys trying to saddle and ride them which was fun. Mutton Busting (which is normally my kids favorite event to do and watch) happened but it was so odd the kids had to participate in multiple days to actually win a belt. The main show was some bull riding...but there wasn't really bulls there nor any riders. Come to find out that the main supplier of livestock for riding pulled out and that there wasnt any prize pool for the riders either. Only about 5 guys rode what looked like steers and that was about it. No bucking broncos was disappointing. The whole event was over so fast that I was questioning if it was really close to 4 which it was. Honestly, the highlight of the whole show was seeing everyone partying at the beer garden with the mariachi band and enjoying music and beer. I would have really liked that minus the 74 bucks to get in the door.... Come on guys, its a rodeo not a horse show. I get there are a lot of logistical issues and whatever but when the Reno rodeo is 15 bucks to get in for a whole day of serious rodeo action...it's not very enduring to consider Virgina City again in the near future for anything Rodeo.

This is the real deal…read more You have mutton racing (kids training for the big time by riding sheep) You don't see that in wealthy, private school East Bay. Amador County is one of those places kids can still actually get hurt and parents are not coming apart at the seams. Don't forget the barrel racing, that would be the ladies part, riding horses around barrels without knocking them over. Then comes the big time, the steer riding, I suppose young men ride bulls for the same reason the government sends them off to war, they have so much testesterone that they actually can not see clearly. Visit the rodeo if you can. It's the real thing.

Amador County Fair has all the basics of a small town, good ole local rural fair. The down side is…read morethat it's held annually in late July. So it's super hot that time of year. Sizzling summer temps. This year it ran from 7/27-7/30. They had... 4H livestock auction Rodeo Carnival rides Midway games Carnival food Animal petting farm Pony rides Hey but that ain't all the events. They have some that are particular to Amador County and sets them apart from its neighboring counties fairs. They are the Demolition Derby, steam powered old time sawmill, working old time gold mine trommel, Miwok Village exhibit hosted by Sierra Native American Tribal Council, tractor parade of late 1800s and early 1900s tractors, and live demo of 19th century blacksmith. The fair grounds is mostly on packed dirt including the parking lot. I attended on the last day of the fair. I did not know until I got there that it was was Demolition Derby night. I didn't stay to watch that but definitely bookmarked for next time. I'm a history nerd, so I did go to all the live demos and displays even though I was nearly going to pass out from heat exhaustion. I had to duck into the various air conditioned buildings to cool down. They had several buildings for vendors selling their wares, children's arts n play area, potted flora and plant fair entries, and arts and crafts fair entries.

We have wanted to go to this fair for a few years now. The Spazmatics have performed here a few…read moretimes in the past. This was finally the year we were able to go. Since the Spazmatics played on a Friday night, we had to go after work. Omg this event is huge in such a small town and small space. Of course the fair parking lots were full. Just like everyone else we had to drive around and try to find a parking spot some where in town. No clear signs letting us know parking was full until arriving at the lot a person standing near the entrance told us it was full. Then walking back to the fair after we found parking. There were no signs letting everyone walking back up know where an entrance was. Everyone working the fair at the gates and different food vendors were very nice. Seemed like a very welcoming fair. We saw people bringing in their own ice chests. Didn't see anyone getting bag checked. We tried corn dog, steak sandwich, soda cream, deep fried Oreo's! Yummy fair food! Had enough restrooms and easy to find. I saw many drink booths. The Spazmatics of course brought the crowd like they usually do. Just wish more Security was around the stage area. At one point someone jumped up on stage. Security finally showed up about 15 minutes later. By then the man finally got off of the stage. But almost fell trying to get off. The little fencing they had around the base of the stage lighting. Was so dangerous it was plastic and bendable metal rods holding it up on the four corners. We watched a lady fall right onto the metal rods and bend them back. Someone helped her up. I checked to see if she was OK. I was able to bend the rod back into place. But the crowd came back and everyone was holding onto the flimsy rods and knocking over the plastic fencing. No one cut anyone off when ordering alcoholic beverages it showed at the end of the night..this was only around 9:30 pm. We had to cut the night sort to walk back to our car a little after 10 pm. About a 20 minutes walk through a neighborhood. If we go back to this fair I guess we need to arrive very early and make a day of it.

It's not all entirely about the food…read more It's about getting together with friends and spending the day in Virginia City and taking in some history and food. This year's Taste was a bit chillier than previous ones, go figure with our weather this year. The check in tent is in the lot next to the Jerky Company. Now you can start at one end of town and walk thru. This year there were some outstanding businesses that truly want to show off their food skills. Top two are Cafe Del Rio and the Cider Factory. Both have always created the best and plentiful offerings. Delta this year took the time to do a little research and made a apple cobbler with a johnnycake topping. The chef here was fun to talk to and her pride showed. Red's had a nice selection of small deli sandwiches. I hate to refer to the next group as disappointments, but after starting out with hits........ Virginia City Jerky Company, Mellow Fellow, And Ponderosa handed very small nibbles of very ordinary bites. Small would be fine but impress me a little. There were 5 cocktail stops. Seventeen places in all. Surprised that VC Brewery was on the list but closed. I also missed the Roasting House not participating this year. The Christmas Store was cute- Mrs Claus handed out cookies and sparkling sangria. All and all a great way to spend the day walking VC for $20

We've always enjoyed VC events, from the Candy Cane train to the Testicle Festival. We were excited…read moreto attend Taste of the Comstock for the first time with some friends. Parking in VC has never been an issue for us, just grab the first open space you find since everything is walkable. The day was a little chilly, and the crowds seemed light...a great day to be in VC! Our first stop was checking in for our whiskey and cigars, and holy cow, that was a lot of whiskey! We made 3 trips back to that tent and still couldn't use all our whiskey coupons! The single jack drilling competition was amazing to watch! Those folks are TOUGH! It's hard to have a bad time in VC, and we were there with friends celebration their anniversary (married at Mackay Mansion in '16) but I could help but notice the event just seemed to lack quality bites, especially with that much whiskey! Mellow Fellow said they "ran out" by noon and seemed to be ignoring patrons...surely they would have been advised on how many people were expected to participate. The Silver Queen literally had a 1" piece of hot dog with ketchup. Meh. Cheers to the Cider Factory, who's roasted green chili and chicken bisque and chicken bacon sliders saved the day! The Palace had nice chili, Silver Spoon featured grandma's recipe sauce with meatballs, and the Delta made a lovely spiced apple cornbread dessert. I can see from past year's maps that business participation seemed less this year, but we left hungry. I'm glad we tried this event, and we still love VC, maybe it'll rebound in years to come.

8/27/2025- I can't…read morebelieve it's been a year! A little different with the weather this year, but it could have been hailing.. Minus a star- because we used to be able to park in the garage area- but now it's for high players and & $20.. Lucked out, and parked in the other lot near the freeway. Shocked that we were able to get free VIP tent tickets- ( rarely visit in the area).. how could I say no.. My youngest wasn't able to attend, so I sacrificed and enjoyed AYCE ribs.. I was set on visiting the other vendors to take some ribs home, but I ate too many-.. Rain stopped and enjoyed the festival ! Looking forward to another year..

This was probably an awesome event back in the day prior to all the inflation, but in today's…read moreworld, it's just so-so. The rib cook-off is definitely worth going to at least once, but honestly how many ribs can one eat?? It almost should be called a BBQ sauce smackdown rather than rib cook-off because seems like the sauce is the star nowadays. The ribs itself were ok. It was lacking the smokiness, some were hit or miss, being dry or not fall-off-the-bone tender, or were slathered in so much sweet BBQ sauce that you couldn't even taste the meat. - The juiciest ribs were from Aussom Aussie. - Butch's wasn't what I remembered years ago, not much flavor on the meat but the spicy BBQ sauce was my favorite. - BJ's was a total letdown. The sticky BBQ sauce was too sweet and covered up the too-dry ribs. - Bone Daddy's had a nice sear on the outside and had a bit of a smokiness. - Bison Rib from Montana was huge! But the meat was lean and SO chewy, I looked like a bison chewing on it. The prices now are insane. All samplers are an agreed upon monopolized price of $12 for 3 pork ribs. Every vendor sells the same price. Beef bones average $45-50. The VIP AYCE is so pricey that it's not even worth it. Enticing but who can possibly eat 20 ribs plus sides, beer and ice cream?! The setup is very nice and spaced out. There are trash bins everywhere, so the space is pretty clean. I liked how they have hand washing stations around also. The event is enjoyable only early morning or evenings. During the day is way to hot. Parking wasn't too bad since ppl come and go constantly and by the freeway, it's only a short 2 block walk. Fun event, but I left feeling greasy yet unfulfilled.

Always a fun time at BBQ Blues and Brews. This year (2025) they actually had more than 1 BBQ stand…read more Got to try some new beverages that I normally would not try. SurfSide had some nice lemonade and half lemonade half ice tea alcoholic beverages that were pretty tasty. Sierra Nevada Pils beer was alsoight and refreshing. Looking forward to next year.

This function should consider changing its name. We went Saturday afternoon and I was highly…read moredisappointed in the event entertainment, considering non of them were playing blues music and they only had two bbq food vendors, neither of which I tried because the food being served didn't look too appetizing. The only good thing they had going for it was if you participated in the beer sampling there was an over abundance of beer vendors out there. Needless to say I have been wanting to come to this event for many years, and I was extremely disappointed and will not be returning to the BBQ Blues & Brews. Which should be called Very Little BBQ, No Blues & Plenty of Brews.