This is the second year that I have attended PIFA events. Wasn't a big fan of modern dances that we…read moresaw last year, but I was totally amazed by the creative, amusing, and funny Cristal Palace Performed by Transe Express featuring Nobuntu. The show was set on the Schuylkill river banks, in a area that is separated by fences and include three stations of audience seating, vendors, toilets, and such. It was raining (unfortunately) on the day of the show, and there was some technical difficulties with the sound system, but the crew still tried their best to put on a great show. The chandelier with the band was definitely an amazing piece of art. The dance and performance mix together modern dance, satire comedy, and acrobat.... they dancers/performers would come down from the stage to dance with people in the audience... Overall, it was both elegant and funny. What a great piece of art!

I was really excited for this festival, but it boasted a more approachable…read more hipster art show" presence in their online advertisement than what really when down that day. I loved that they blocked off Broad and rolled out some grass for some nice green space in this urban jungle, but the presence of food and actual art was lacking. The food selections were mainly just the normal carnival fare, which was disappointing seeing as Philadelphia is know for it's amazing food. There are so many food truck options in this city, I was just very much disappointed. In regards to the "art" aspect, there were some artists doing live works, but I didn't really get that "Art fest" vibe I was expecting, with stalls highlighting local artist's works, etc. Overall it was cool, but more so geared towards families and their children which is fine, but I was expecting different. My boyfriend and I stayed for about a half hour, decided it wasn't our scene and hopped on the MFL to head to Fishtown for the "Festivale."

The South Philly Sausage Fest did not have the amount of single guys I was looking for, but there…read morewere a good variety of sausages (spicy, stuffed with mac and cheese, vegetarian, in a taco- you got it) and it wasn't too crowded so it's a win in my book. This is a smaller festival (only one block), but the wide street makes it super empty feeling compared to the panic inducing crowds of Nightmarket, Bloktoberfest, Italian Market Festival, etc., which I appreciate! You could even score a table and chairs! This year there was some live music at one end, several local beer options (Brewery ARS, Commonwealth Ciders, Conshohocken Brewing Co, Evil Genius, Naked Brewing Co, Nodding Head Brewery, Philadelphia Brewing Co, Point Breeze Brewing, and Vault Brewing), and a few non-beer options (cider, cocktails by Manatawny Still Works), and several local food vendors (Cafe y Chocolate, Maglio Sausage, Mike's BBQ, South Philadelphia Tap Room, Taproom on 19th, and The Station). There are also a few vendors and local organizations sprinkled throughout. Drink tickets are on sale online for a discount before the event (making your drinks as cheap as $3 a beer depending on how much of an alcoholic you are (18 tickets)!) or are $7 each the day of. I find there are always extra beer tickets floating around so I would err on the more conservative side or team up with friends. One complaint was the bathroom situation wasn't ideal. Very long lines for only a few port-a-potties. Get more next year!

Major points for being one of the only, if not THE only festivals held this side of Passyunk! It's…read moreabout time this fun, little community gets some recognition! It's a smaller festival, but lacks nothing as far as really great food and brews are concerned. Local South Philly favorites Grub House, Taproom on 19th, Chaat & Chai, Mike's BBQ, Vegan Commissary and Cafe Con Chocolate are serving up delicious noms. Vegan ones too!! Yeah baby! Family Friendly: The event is extremely family friendly! FREE face-painting! FREE balloon making. FREE bounce house! Chalk and hula hoops too! My kids had a ball. Oh, and bring Fido too! Lots of pups. Music: They had kid favorite Lara & Joe Show performing a special FREE kids concert earlier in the day. There were other really rocking live music acts throughout the day! Drinks: About 6 or so local breweries working the taps. Our favorite were: Forgotten Boardwalk citra pale ale St Benjamin Franklin Abbey Getting there: The festival is very easily accessible using public transportation as its located just off Broad Street. There were are also a bunch of quarter meter and unmetered spots available. Shop: There were a few select vendors with handmade goods. From all things beer to local screen printed Philly tees, I think they were a perfect fit for the festival. I made a few purchases! The proceeds from the festival help the revitalization of the area as well as regular, twice weekly cleaning and gardening down West Passyunk from Broad over to 23rd!

Founded by artists in 1928, Rittenhouse is the oldest outdoor art show in the country, and arguably…read moreamongst the best. Concerned about inclement weather, we beat the rain Sunday morning and enjoyed the diversity of work by artists from across the country. I gravitate to city-oriented art; there were a good number of talented artists portraying scenes of NYC and Philadelphia -- two areas that interest me -- each with his or her own style. Know that this is a professional fine-art show, with works priced accordingly. The show is easy to navigate, really one square block with student artists located separately within the park. The area is bustling with shops and restaurants, a pleasant ten-minute walk from the Suburban SEPTA station. This is an annual event; check out the show if you happen to hit Philadelphia on the designated weekend next June.

Going since 1928 and founded by students of the Academy of the Arts who were inspired by art shows…read morein Paris, the RSFAS is the oldest outdoor art show in the USA. Now home to 140 artists, 6 categories and with 20,000 visitors, it's a feast for the eyes! Twice per year in late spring and early fall, tradition has had student art at the inner part of the square, and the more established artists along the outer sidewalks. We made it around two sides of the square with a hefty break in between those, and my mind was about full. TIPS Suggest doing the show over its three days. It's a lot to take in! Don't look at prices. They will distract you from the possible and interrupt your flow. That is, unless you find an artist that moves you. Most artists are on site and ready to discuss their work and answer questions! Amazing! Can't wait for the fall show!

Great spring festival featuring over 50 food trucks and vendors!…read more Main Street is closed down with food trucks nicely dispersed to accommodate lines. They had benches and tables clustered every so often. There's also 3 stages with live music and bands performing. For adult beverages there's the Beer Garden on Cotton Street. There's also bars and restaurants along the street that have outdoor seating and offer drink specials. The Bayou and the Cactus are good choices to grab a drink, let yourself digest a little, and you'd also have access to an indoor bathroom. While there are a lot of options for drinking, people don't wander around drunk and the festival is still very family friendly. Would definitely recommend arriving early. The parking lot on Green Lane fills up pretty quickly at $20 for festival parking until 5pm. The Mac Mart Cart and The Cow and The Curd lines fill up quickly so I'd try to make that your first stop. I would definitely recommend: -Cheese Curds with Siracha Mayo from the Cow and the Curd $9 -Mochi Nori Fried Chicken from Poi Dog $7 -Strawberry Nova from Undrgrnd Donuts I would pass on: -Spinach Artichoke Mac & Cheese from the Mac Mart Cart - nothing too exciting, not worth the wait -Bahn Mi Waffle from the Foolish Waffle - tasted good but the toppings were pretty minimal

Hello cool weather, hello festival season! Heralding the gorgeous Fall season and Manayunk's…read moreRestaurant Week (9/14/15-9/25/15), the Manayunk StrEAT Festival takes over Main St and stretches from Shurs to Green. http://manayunk.com/signature-events/fall-streat-food-festival/ With a gorgeous day in the forecast, we took advantage of the seasonal closure of Martin Luther King Jr./West River Drive (April-Oct wknds) to bike to the festival. (Also wanted to burn calories and avoid driving ... because festival parking is as frustrating as the traffic). Vendors: * ~40 Food Trucks in attendance, as well as several arts/crafts, ice cream, wine/beer, and fashion trucks! Food prices vary, but most are in the festival-reasonable range of $4-$12. The wallet buster award goes to Surf and Turf for their $24 Surf and Turf Roll: Steak, lobster, kale, sundried tomato, and parmesan cheese. There was no line for this truck! * I noticed a high proportion of tots, mac+cheeses, and a multitude of pork products ... or maybe the fabulous smells and long lines of those units caught my eye more frequently. The trucks were well-clustered - there were a few strategic empty stretches on the street where folks have space to breathe. Omg I need a break!: * Most of the stores are open, allowing for a bit of quiet respite from the outdoor festivities. Spouse had a bike issue and stopped in Human Zoom for a quick repair. Whereas I underestimated the cooler temperatures and dropped by Philadelphia Runner for a pullover - giving it a road/bike trial run on the way home! I gotta go PP (cause, yea, you know me): * There are porta-loos strategically/discreetly placed around the festival. I did not use them, I did not smell them, I did not see serpentine lines leading to them. I even doubted they were there! Foot Traffic: * With the nice weather, the festival was quite busy but nowhere near the crushing insanity of Rittenhouse Row Festival. Pets are allowed, and strollers in abundance. Watch your step, and watch your pets! Notes: * Don't eat the morning of (and night before?) the festival to max stomach space for yums. * Walk on sidewalks for free smells (kitchen vents out the back of the trucks) * Walk on sidewalks to fast track to desired destination(s) * Bring cash - don't let a faulty card swipey thing stand in the way of noms! * Bike/take mass transit if possible - vehicle parking is scarce! Will definitely be back in Spring 2016 if weather permits!

We all have gone to a block party here and there in our times. You haven't done a block party like…read morea Philly one where they block off 4 blocks. This will make for some good times. Does your block party have a live band? Maybe some do, but not like this one. Does your block party have multiple food stations where you can go into a food coma? Again I'll go with maybe, but I will bet Barclay , Butcher , Alma De Cuba, Rouge, Oyster House, and so forth aren't catering to it. The food I could go on with the countless racks of ribs being layed out by different places, the burgers from Rouge or Lobster Rolls from Oyster House that was a taste of perfection. Lamb Burgers, and Underdogs doing their thing. Everyone trying to be better than the rest. I love a healthy, stuff your face with this mouthwatering dish kinda competition. Drinks you say? Every block had a section designated so you could enjoy a libation or two , or three in honor of Spring coming into full swing. I'm sure you've been to a block party with a keg or two, but this one simply blew out whatever you experienced. A great flow of people(more like an endless sea of people) becoming one giant, over fed , well hydrated, party going family. Besides the endless amounts of food to be consumed, or drinks to satisfy your thirst, ice cream to cool you down, there is more. Vendors selling house things, trinkets, cloths, you name it they sold it. A great day in the city of Brotherly Love to be enjoyed. Plus the after party to keep things going are at the bars and restaurants right at your feet. Can't wait for next years festivities and another Mojito !

I'm what you would call a festival connoisseur. This weekend alone I was at the Night Market, the…read moreRittenhouse Row Festival AND the Italian Market Festival. I'm addicted. PROS This festival had A LOT of freebies/spin the wheel/enter this raffle/cornhole/beer pong: My friends and I came home with beach balls, hand sanitizer, tote bags, pens, a bag of hamburger rolls, a measuring cup, hand cream, Helium comedy club passes, yogurt, mints, etc. Let's just say I'm going to have to unsubscribe from a few hundred emails next week. All the fancy Rittenhouse restaurants were out-Le Bec Fin, Oyster House, Butcher and Singer, and some of the not so fancy ones-Dunkin Donuts, 500 Degrees, etc. CONS Some of the food was kind of pricey for small samples coming out of a tent (Il Pitorre, no one wants to pay $7 for 1 shrimp). Lines for alcohol were lonnngg (but hey some of the drink samples were free). I'm a big street jewelry/craft fair display person-there was a lack of that here. VERY crowded at some parts. Overall great festival, but it did conflict with the Italian Market Festival, and I am aggressive and did both (we stuck to a strict schedule), but if I had to choose I'd go for the Italian Market Festival.

I love this event! Great food and free entertainment. You don't like what you see? GO TO ANOTHER…read moreTRUCK. So now that it's over! We got bubble tea we drank out of over sized light bulbs that light up! She had plantain/black bean arepas from The Puyero truck. I got the sweet fried plantains as a snack. Those were both great! My main course was from the papermil truck. A vegan tofu wrap. That was pretty good. I do not think I'd get it again because it was pretty spicy. However I am glad I tried it. I'm not a huge fan of spicy. I tend to lean towards sweet. So take that into account when reading my future reviews. So unfortunately we got full pretty quickly! I was hoping to try more stuff. Especially philly Fry. Those and the cheese curds are favorites of mine. Welp, better luck next time. COME HUNGRY. these happen all over the city! http://thefoodtrust.org/night-market

The timing seemed too good to be true, but one week after moving in the Roxborough Solstice…read moreFestival took place in the park about 100 yards from our new house - it seemed like an obvious choice to go check it out and start meeting some of the new neighbors. We were busy during most of the day, so we headed over a bit later, once the day had started to cool down, to grab dinner from some of the food trucks and a beer or two from the beer garden. I was totally impressed by the setup - lots of inflatables for the kids, a decent selection of food trucks, and scattered vendors in tents, plus a large area flagged off for the adults. There was a crowd, but we didn't have to wait in line for anything, and we easily found a high top table to stand while we ate and drank. Not exactly sure who we caught on stage, but the music was good, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Overall the event was well organized and fun, and I'm feeling lucky to have moved so close!

I'm what you might call a festival-phile. As my friend said when he ran into me at yet another…read morefestival for three weeks in a row "if there is a festival in Philly Melissa P. is there!" True story. This was my second year at Bloktoberfest and it was once again a good time despite the little fall of rain and some intense lines. $15 presale online (with a few dollars processing fee) gets you 3 beer tickets and a sweet wristband, they're $20 the day of. You can get a 5 beer ticket for $25 or additional beer tickets for $5. There are some fancy strong beers, some ciders, and a lot of pumpkin ales and Oktoberfests. I would recommend going with 3 tickets and taking it from there in case it rains/gets too loud/crowded/your lame friend wants to leave/your awesome friend gets too drunk and needs to leave, etc. Lots of food trucks are out and places like Jamaican Jerk Hut, Sawatdee, and Magpie have food for sale. Lots of live music and even activities/performances for the kiddies (but ya know 26 year olds like to paint pumpkins too!) Some freebies from State Farm, City Fitness and even free on site eyebrow wax! Also love the print your own instagram table. It gets really crowded though so if you're not into things like night market... I would not recommend. I'm really not sure what my weekends will look like without all these fall fests, probably a lot of crying and moping around the house.

Had I had even considered reviewing Bloktoberfest before I would have done so 5 years ago when it…read morewas Graduate Hospital's event of the year! But since that time I've have seen it grow into a big time festival that showcases everything that's awesome about my favorite side of South Street. Deep down I'm happy to say that I was at the first 2 Bloktoberfest's that took up 2 to 3 blocks of the Graduate Hospital hood just south of Sidecar. And even though they were smaller scale, had fewer food trucks and brews, and the 2nd one suffered a huge hit by a considerable rain storm; it was a solid event that showcased the best of a South Philly community. And even when it expanded onto the best of South West South Street, teamed up with Bella Vista Beer Distributors to bring in even MORE beer, added in even more food truck and restaurant involvement, and utilized even bigger musical acts; it maintains the central organic theme that it was based on. This years fest gave me the chance to catch up with bad ass Philly bands like Swift Technique, West Philadelphia Orchestra, and Jason Jefferies & Tall Trees. While it was great to catch up with old food truck standbys like Say Cheese, Koja, and Sugar Philly Truck; I was blown away by new trucks like Mom Mom's Polish Food Cart. Grabbing familiar brews from the likes of DuClaw and Clown Shoes was definitely a winning combo. But I enjoyed new brews from Horny Goat, and the fact thar Neshiminy Creek brewed Bloktoberfest's own fest beer. Add in some suitable previews of restaurants I've been meaning to try like Rex 1516 and Cambridge; and this year's festival might have been the best one yet!