It was a beautiful, perfectly sunny warm October day for the festival, so that scores high just…read morefrom an experience standpoint, but there are a few positives and negatives to this festival worth noting for future attendees. Parking in the daily area at the Brookhaven Marta Station is permissible and free and easy, but expect a 15 min walk to the festival entrance. Seriously, it is a HIKE up Apple Valley just to get there. Tickets are reasonably priced: $5 if you paid in advance, $10 at the door and this entitles you to a wristband to prove that you are a paying attendee and you get a spoon for all of the little sample cups of chili you would like to try. You can enter the festival without paying and if you are not really a chili person, but are attending with others who will be more likely to get their money's worth, I say, don't pay and just walk in and explore. The festival has very LONG hours - from 11 am to 7 pm, so one would expect that you could go most anytime in the afternoon and be able to try a variety of the chili cookoff entries, but nope, almost everything was completely gone by 1:30 or 2 pm, so go early! Beer lines were very long early in the day, perhaps as many as 40 people in line, so that was a slow process. These did clear up later and the price for a 16 oz beer was fair at $5. There were 3 live bands who performed and the caliber of music was good, so an enjoyable backdrop to the festival. Overall, a fun fall event for a short while if you are in the area, or really like chili!

This is a new endeavor in the budding Brookhaven community and while it needs some work, there was…read moreplenty of chili, lots of great music, fun activities for kids, and a really awesome lemonade stand making fresh lemonade on the spot. For just $5 you got unlimited tastings of restaurant and home-prepared chilis, and after three trips through the various lines I definitely feel I got my money's worth. They plan on having more eating areas set up in the shade for next year and trying to expand to offer more things to do before and after the chili tasting hours, but there was a good turnout for a first time event, especially considering it was competing against Music Midtown. I do plan on coming back next year!

We came, we saw... we got soaked. The music was great (and free!), the food was delicious, and the…read moreweather was awful. It was $5 for a drink wristband-- Red Stripe and various cocktails were available for $5-$10 each. I would have loved to see more than one water tent because the heat was borderline unbearable. So it may have been disgustingly hot outside, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the food. There were probably 20 food vendors there, including El Burro Pollo, The Fry Guy, Good Food, Westside Creamery, King of Pops, etc. The festival was very well organized, but I'm sure that the turnout was lower than expected because of the nasty heat and storms. Midsummer Music Fest was definitely one for the books; we were drenched from head to toe by the time we got home. Take MARTA to Candler Park if you can and bring plenty of cash since this festival is mostly cash-only!

I was out here yesterday afternoon and parking was not horrendous. But only because I parked about…read more6 blocks away. I did this without circling around Candler Park and just pulled into a spot that I saw open as I drove down Clifton. Since I don't drink, I didn't need to get a wristband for $5. My bag was just peered into (without anyone sticking their hand or wand in it) and I sauntered in. I could hear the music and saw some artisan tents at the mouth of the festival. As I made my way deeper in, I saw a huge lineup of food trucks. "Oh, this is going to be a fabulous Saturday afternoon," I thought to myself. I found my friend, whom I was meeting up with. Funny enough, his family was visiting from out-of-town and he introduced me and we chatted the whole afternoon away while listening to great music and enjoying the amazing weather (we were fortunate enough to snag a table right in the shade--the temperature was incredible--until we got up to look at the eating options and started to sweat profusely). Since I was in good company and have great conversation, I actually did not get the chance to see anything other than the corridor that I walked through to get to said table. I, of course, looked at all the food trucks lined up but I didn't even get close to the stage. The festival was fun without being overrun with people like some other more popular festivals in Atlanta. The weather couldn't have been better (or maybe the tables couldn't have been better situated). I would recommend that you make it out to this 1 1/2-day festival next year, if you have the chance.

This year at the RV & Camping Expo was amazing. This year they was fully stocked with all types of…read moreRV's, Van's, Toy Haulers, Tear Drops and Fifth Wheels. When i say the house was full, that's what i mean. They had them inside and outside the building for you to go inside to see how they looked. My feet was hurting once I left. They had plenty of vendors and food stations. This was the first year I wasn't disappointed with the inventory, the selection of everything possible to fill your expectations for buying an RV. All I have to say is I HOPE the next expo will be like this one or bigger.

Talk about looking for an activity to do by thinking outside of the box. I never would have thought…read moreabout attending a camping and RV show and after attending I feel like I have been missing out for so many years. There must have been 30+ RV and campers there in all different sizes. You got to go on all of them. The kids made up stories of where we would travel in each one we went on. I couldn't believe how spacious some of them were too. There were also camp ground vendors there giving out brochures and info. It would have been nice to have more food items for sale though because we were hungry but there wasn't anything my kids really wanted to eat. The staff was super nice though and even the sales people were kind enough to leave you alone after you told them you weren't interested in something.

The festival definitely had a good number of tents even though it was on the smaller scale. It was…read morefree for sightseers but I'm guessing there's a fee to be a vendor. For anything art related or handcrafted, this was the place to pick up such things. There was also a small area that the food vendors congregated in with the occasional small booth set up throughout the park selling lemonade and ice cream. There was also a mini fair area with rides and an inflatable bouncy for the kiddies. Parking... Always a problem and concern. Well, my friend and I opted to park along the streets of the nearby neighborhoods. It seemed like all the cars were doing it so we went for it as well since we were going to only be there for an hour. Some areas were marked with signs that no parking was allowed so be on the look-out the next time the festival comes around.

The family and I attend both the Fall and Spring Festival on Ponce. Honestly, they are both very…read morealike as they tend to sell similar items. If you are into arts and crafts, you will enjoy this festival. They also have a few jumpy houses for kids. They can be purchased separate or you can buy an unlimited ride bracelet. [Review #398] (45th Review of 2016)

In the spectrum of Atlanta beer festivals - and there are sooo many of those - the PdL Beer…read moreFestival ranks in the middle. Not as vibrant and fun as those at the Masquerade but better than others. Much better than some. The festival primarily occupied the main hall of the Shriner's temple. If you've been to any Atlanta Rollergirls events - and you should if you haven't - same place. The courtyard area was not used for much of anything except getting your wristband and a couple of games. A few dozen people were out here, probably just to be outside for a bit. If you had a VIP ticket, as I did, they had a separate area for you. More on that later. Off to the back of the courtyard were a few food trucks. However, there were not enough of them, which is a rather poor showing given that Atlanta has embraced the food truck phenomenon so enthusiastically. Hopefully, next year the festival will entice more trucks. As it was, the lines were too long for me to waste my time. I chose to snag a lot of pretzel samples instead. Lots of great beer vendors including a few that I've been itching to try, such as Blue Tarp and Strawn. Really, an excellent lineup and a whole lot of people thought so as well. While the floor wasn't impassable due to the throngs, it wasn't far from it. There also were a few non-beer vendors set up inside the main hall including beer-related and non-beer-related stuff. If you wanted to adopt a pit bull terrier, they had you covered. The VIP section. Yikes. Set way off in the second floor of the main building in a large conference room (or whatever), this was kind of disappointment. Yes, there were a several beers to sample that weren't available in the general admission area, but they were for the most part higher gravity. I don't know about you, but I tend to avoid high gravity beers at beer festivals. A person's got to know his limitations. The VIP space itself was so lacking in appeal that I fled for the general admission area pretty quickly. Way more fun was being had down there. However, being a VIP did mean getting a small beer glass as opposed to the plastic variety the peons got. Yay. Plus, this is a charity event, so ponying up for a VIP ticket means supporting the Children's Hospital just that much more. Not a bad reason. A good event. I'll probably do it again next year.

Hard core local representation and affordae VIP that is worth every penny…read more I've had Blaxican fries and a coriander stout aged in a rye barrel. I have to say it was a good day.

This is a great event. So many different type of food here. I love it. There are so many people…read morehere trying out different type of food. The weather is great the environment is great the food is great. Can't ask for much more. Love it!!

After a full morning of moving all my furniture from one apartment to the new place, and having…read moreonly 3 hours of sleep, I gotta say I wasn't exactly in the mood for Taste of the Highlands. We (somehow!) arrived only about an hour into the festivities and quickly made the rounds. The best food I had was from Pura Vida, but I also go to try lots of other tasty treats including olive oil ice cream from Ecco (which is um...not in the Highlands). I also thought the shrimp & grits from Goin' Coastal were mighty good! Oh- and the specialty blend iced coffee from San Francisco Coffee hit the spot! But, quite a few of the vendors ran out quickly. Many places also only offered one option so if I wasn't interested in what they had, I didn't get anything. Our vegetarian friend came later on and was extremely disappointed that, by that point, almost everyone was out of food and there was almost nothing that didn't have meat. She had a croissant from Bakeshop. Alcohol was flowing, and I got to try a few margaritas, some beer from Terrapin, some vodka drink, wine, etc. I got my buzz on for sure! Overall I was a little disappointed in the restaurants running out of food. Okay, I wasn't on time, but really? You should know how many portions to bring and be smart (like Pura Vida) and keep some foods for later on, or keep fresh batches for each half hour instead of giving people fourths in the first 45 minutes. Luckily I didn't pay for this ticket (my bf covered this one)... but good thing proceeds were going to charity. Don't forget your camping chair or blanket to relax on while you listen to local bands!

Taste of the Highlands is a smallish tasting event, at least compared to such giants as Taste of…read moreAtlanta. I like it despite some flaws. It's somewhat crowded, has the usual inefficient check-in process and there were long lines at either of only two beer stands (they could have used a third stand). And not enough places to sit. I really think events like this should include fold-up chairs. Lots of them. Wow, great food. I really liked Alma Cocina's gazpacho, and Cypress St's BBQ pork thing. Plus several others. Most of the food tables didn't have long lines - the vendors were pretty good at setting the samples out so everything moved quickly. Long line for Flip's slider, so I passed on that. In the end, I left satisfied, which doesn't happen at some of these shindigs. Parking is not as bad as you might imagine provided you're willing to walk a few blocks. Virginia Highland has quite a bit of street parking in the neighborhood. For events here (not just this one), I like to park a couple of blocks in from Ponce and walk the five or six blocks to the event but there were spots as close as two blocks away when I arrived at 2:30.

Taste of Town Brookhaven has a lot of potential, but for me this year it fell short. It is their…read morefirst year though so hopefully they learned a lot from this year. Value-wise, I thought $30 was way too expensive for this. Even $20 in advance was expensive. It did, seemingly, go for a good cause called "Angels Among Us" Pet Rescue. Still though, I thought it was a lot. Let me start with the pros. All the food there was awesome. The best part about this was that it was great how all the businesses came together and strengthened the community and presented their known dishes. Noche's bacon-wrapped dates, There gastropub's gumbo, Newk's pimento cheese croissants, Cinebistro's peanut butter minipies, marble slab ice cream, and flipflop's sangria were some of my favorites presented. There were many other items there though. Another great thing about the Taste were all the cooking demonstrations. There gastropub did a demonstration about curing meats and pickling vegetables. Now I can try pickling my own veggies! Noche did a guacamole demonstration. Apparently the ingredient that makes their guacamole so great is tomatillo salsa. I missed Smash's tartare presentation. A third great thing about the taste was that people were able to meet the chefs of the restaurants here. There was a direct chef to community opportunity. The DJ was great too. However... the space was really cramped. It would have been nice if the booths were spaced out a little more. Maybe utilizing another part of the plaza would have been helpful. Second, they didn't have nearly enough chairs for the demonstrations. Also, people didn't seem to stay for longer than an hour or two so they could have doubled up and done the demonstrations again later in the evening. Third, the drink tickets situation was really confusing. Apparently all the wristbands came with a drink ticket, but we got to the FlipFlop wine station and they were asking us for drink tickets that we never got so we purchased some drink tickets. We came back to the FlipFlop booth and they didn't ask for our tickets anymore? So we spent money on drinks for no reason. Fourth, there was nowhere to sit down. Justin and I just wanted to enjoy some wine and the music and sit down, but there was no shade and nowhere to relax. They can't help the weather being really hot, but providing space to sit down would have been nice. I look forward to seeing if they do a Taste of Town Brookhaven again next year and if it improves next year.

Taste of Town Brookhaven took place on the perfect sunny day in Atlanta. With plentiful parking and…read morea busy but not packed crowd, the day got off to a great start. First of all, I bought my ticket for $15 to benefit "Angels Among Us" Pet Rescue. The only thing that was annoying was that the event promoted the tickets as covering food, beer and wine. I thought that $15 was an amazing deal, especially if it covered alcohol as well. Surprise, surprise...it didn't. I felt a little duped by the organizers--they should clearly state that drinks are separate from the very beginning--but I still think the entrance price was a great deal considering the amount of food I ate. Some of the food highlights of the day: - Noche provided their crowd-pleasing bacon-wrapped dates (ALWAYS a must when I go eat at that restaurant) - CineBistro's peanut butter minipies - Olde Blind Dog's Kilkenny Reuben (I had never had this before and now I am HOOKED) - Publix provided delicious milkshakes and free bottled water (a must in this heat) - Lucky's Burger & Brew (fresh burgers made right on the spot) - Marble Slab Creamery (delicious cool mint flavor) - Shuck's Oyster and Wine Bar (tasty lobster mac & cheese) - YogurtLand (refreshing strawberry lemonade sorbet) There were a few aspects I wasn't particularly enthused about, such as: - I wasn't interested in the beers or wines they had available, so I stuck to water before heading over to Olde Blind Dog to watch the Hawks game and enjoy some beverages. - Not many places to sit...and it gets exhausting to stand for hours on end. Luckily, we found a spot in the shade behind the stage where we could sit for a bit. - It also got pretty hot...would've been nice to see a few industrial fans in some areas. It looked like everyone, especially the children, had a good time. I'm hoping they make this an annual occurrence! This event was a great way to sample all of the food Brookhaven has to offer!