This was my first official Taste of Wheaton, which took place in Marian Fryer Town Plaza in the…read moreArts District of Wheaton. The event featured a combination of 40 restaurants, food vendors, representatives from local businesses, family activities (e.g., face painting, soccer, and dance exhibitions). I dunno, I thought there could have been more restaurants that participated in this year's event. From what I heard, previous years had more participating restaurant/food vendors. However, I understand that maybe some restaurants in the area probably did not think it was in their best interests to participate due to increased costs and uncertainty that it would generate new business. In terms of tasting, perhaps, it was not anything too special to me since I have dined at about 90% of the restaurants that participated in this year's festival. So, it was not like I had the opportunity to try out any new restaurants. I guess it was nice to have several of my regular restaurants together in the same couple of blocks. While I get that the vendors want to make a profit or make enough money to make it worth their while, I thought some of food prices were a bit high relative to the experience. If I'm going to pay close to $20 for tree tacos from a restaurant, I'd much rather just go to and eat at the restaurant...especially if when super hot outside with limited amount of shade. Although I (as a childless 40-yr old) probably will not block off my calendar to check out next year's event. I'll be more than willing to check it out if I'm in the area and/or have plans to hit up one of my local, nearby bars.

I've gone to the taste of Wheaton every year for the past several. This year's (2026) seems to…read morehave taken a sharp nosedive. Everything still seemed well organised and such, but the number of stalls, and the quality of the existing stalls, was noticeable less than previous years. Not only were they fewer, but a higher proportion of non "taste" ones, with random arts and crafts, dentists, someone selling compost kits.... No more wine bar area, either. It just seemed half hearted.

I have not seen anybody looking at the phone screen @ this festival which is a testament of things…read morebeing interesting and moving quickly. Entertainment was great: starting with the basic African drumming, continued with the dance and followed by steel drums music with a lot of good fillers between (African Zumba and South African country dance). The vendors offered very unique items to buy - from minerals to clothing and sandals and jewelry. Sales people were very kind and willing to explain the meaning of everything they were selling. It was a teaching moment for kids to see the works of art featuring Mandela. The venue was perfect, 7 story garage right at the venue, big parking lot nearby and street closed. The menu was interesting - a true African cuisine. My choice - it turned out very good - was a food vendor from Ivory Coast. Croaker fish was delicious and it offered a different experience just by virtue of having to pull the meat from the bone instead of eating it in a fish stick. The fish was wonderful, not fatty but flaky. The couscous was not North African but West African style and slightly sour. Plantains were divine (soft and sweet) and doughnuts different (consistency more like bread - a bit harder). Rice and greens met my expectation. I did not notice any North African country represented in the entertainment or in vending shop. Most northern products were from Ethiopia selling under premise of African art. This is a very convenient, very fast pace and fun festival with good food.

Peruvian festival is a festival of happy and friendly Peruvians and friends of Peru that just…read morecelebrated its 30th anniversary. The parking was good, no entrance fee, a lot of free stuff (ice creams, water, bags, jello's, etc...), plenty of Peruvian food choices. Entertainment was rich and fun as you can tell by the pictures - they even had the horses do the tricks... I had food that I had never tried before: Anticuchos - marinated and grilled calf hearts, was delicious meal, with the taste and texture close to a calf liver. Picarones - Peruvian doughnuts were soft and sweet. I was expecting they will be soggy but they were perfect, melting in mouth. This festival is very colorful, and had all the colors under the sun, not just red and whites (their flag). The festival is family friendly and even had a NPS stand where kids can learn and touch objects. Only problem with that is the lack of alcohol (I would have loved a Peruvian beer) but that is a small price to pay for an excellent Peruvian experience.

This was my first time at the festival and I had such a great time. I love Jazz and right in the…read moreheart of Silver Spring downtown, this event adds to the excitement of the line up Veteran's Plaza brings up every year. I personally know the event manager, Eric, at the Plaza and he is a wonderful guy. The bands were awesome. The atmosphere was so casual with the crowd getting their own chairs, bringing food and drinks from the many near by restaurants in the area and just chilling - very fitting for the event. There were two stages. The bands alternated between the stages every 30-45 mins. So people kept switching the direction they faced. Cool. If you are in MoCo or visiting around this time, make it a point to spend a few hours at this event next year. If you appreciate jazz, you won't be disappointed. And what's better, the event is free!

I've attended many concerts at the Annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival; but there are certain…read moreattendees that immediately come to mind: David Sandborn (saxophonist), Dianne Reeves(vocalist) and most recently Dee Dee Bridgewater with her all female quartet! There have been many artists that has participated but these stood out! Always recommend this event.

B'more Artscape 2025 -- A Whole Vibe…read more Love art and music, plus I'd never been to Baltimore's version of an art festival. It had more of an authentic city atmosphere, working people vibe. More accessible, art for the people by the people. There also was a Black Country Artist playing the festival, whom I love "Tanner Adell" and it was my favorite price, Free. Free to attend but you did have to pay for the food, drinks and art/things. I love this festival, everyone was happy, friendly and approachable at the festival. It was also a perfect time to hangout with my B'more friends. Should you attend next year?! Definitely!!

It's always nice to get to see nice art, select vendors, and performers that come to Baltimore…read more However, the lines for food were incredibly long and intolerable. We ended up walking around to Baltimore St to find something to eat.

St Mark's Eastern European Festival is a feast of food. So many layered cakes/tortas and so little…read moretime to eat. One person said to me that they come to this festival every year to buy a few slices of the lemon/coconut cake - you can see devotion there. There are vendors in three rooms but large and modern church kitchen is an excellent excuse for plenty of good food. It was even hard to choose platters so at the end Russian Platter and Beef Stroganoff platters were selected and you can see one after another item being loaded to the plate and you already start thinking how to transport that much food home because nobody can eat a platter by her/himself. Chicken Kiev was so good that it will be hard for me to go back to salty Barber Food frozen Chicken Kiev ever again. St. Mark's chicken Kiev make you feel good about eating healthy food - it was that tasty. It was washed down nicely with light Russian beer available for purchase. All the food was good but mischievous eye kept looking at the deserts tables. I refuse to use numbers in order to grade food so I will say that the deserts I purchased were all divine (lemon/coconut cake, Praline cake and raspberry torta). Three large pieces for only $10 was a steal. The church is (according to its members) defined as an "orthodox fusion" that gathers mostly 2nd and 3rd generation of the Eastern European immigrants. Due to its real estate configuration, the church still has the pews but when I asked if that feels weird or good considering that orthodox churches do not have pews they said that people stand entire time during the service so it does not matter to them but it is helpful to elderly. Parking is not an issue. I was happy to support St Mark's church. There are no taxes or tips for this food purchase, just plenty food to bring home.

I was invited by a friend to join her for this festival yesterday. I was initially apprehensive…read moreespecially after reading some less than glowing reviews on Facebook but heck, I'm new to the country so I'm going to give almost everything a try (as long as it's within reasonable limits). The drive from Loudon to the festival site was beautiful. I went with low expectations and wanted to check out the food vendors however, the craft exhibitors were pretty interesting too. There were about 18 food trucks and stalls offering a wide variety of festival food. There was BBQ meats, kettle corn, ice cream, Mexican food, Asian food, waffles, espresso-based drinks, pepperoni rolls, butterfly potato, hotdogs, burgers and even an Oktoberfest-themed vendor. I had the Purple Piggy Pulled Pork Sandwich with Purple Mango Slaw, Smoked Mac & Cheese, and Baked Beans (made from scratch and not from a can) from Rolling Smoke Bar-B-Que's food truck. Cooked with wood fire, the tender pulled pork had a lovely smoky flavour. Don't miss the sides at US$4 each for a small portion. Though I've never been a fan of baked beans (scarred for life by canned beans), these were excellently smoky, sweet with maple syrup and was in all, a game changer. There are tons of food samples from dips to chips to slushies to coffee and wine (bring your ID) so you can get an idea of what you're buying. I didn't think I'd wind up buying anything but soon found myself buying quite a few soup kits, herbs, Chai tea, 3 bottles of wine and a handcrafted hardwood coin bank with an antique post office box door. The fair's on this weekend from 10 am to 5 pm. PS: Most of the vendors accept credit cards but bring cash as some only accept cash.

The Mountain Heritage Festival is an outdoor fall craft festival that takes place during three days…read moreeach September near Harper's Ferry. Besides crafts, there are fine arts vendors, music, wine, and food. Craft festivals are NOT my thing but I was invited on an outing and decided to try something new and I was not disappointed. Overview and Vendor Examples: There were close to 200 vendors onsite situated under large tents. Vendors sold items such as art glass, baskets, candles, bath and body products, clothing and accessories, dolls, dried flowers, furniture, jewelry, kitchen accessories, leather, metal, musical instruments, knives, photography, pottery, toys, etc. Some of my favorite non-food vendors were Forest Flower Jewelry which sold beautiful hand pressed flower necklaces, bracelets, etc. I also liked smelling all of the candle scents from the Pennsylvania Soy Candle Company. They went all out and transported a store full of candles to the festival. They had a large variety of scents such as Maple Bacon, Reindeer Poo, Nutty Taffy Apple, etc. There were lots of homemade soaps and lotions to choose from at various vendors as well. I did not intend to purchase anything but I bought a small bud vase, a pearl necklace, and three wine frappes. Food and Drink Samples/Vendors: At the end of the row of tents (or at the beginning if you wanted to start in a different direction), there are some great food and drink samples. I will mention a few favorites. A coffee vendor called Snookie Snookerwitz had vats of coffee and hot chocolate samples with flavors such as cinnamon hot cocoa (delish!), mint cocoa, hazelnut mocha, snickerdoodle latte, etc. Their station was really clean and inviting and the cocoa was great, albeit sugar laden. Meadowcroft Farm displayed a large array of relishes, pickles, salsas, pepper jellies, and jams. Their onion relish was really great. They had interesting items such as cinnamon pickles and cherry pecan jalapeño pepper jelly. One of the most popular vendors was Nectar of the Vine which served samples of mango and pomegranate wine slushies, or frappes as they like to call 'em. The pomegranate slushy was fantastic! I purchased several bags of the mix in various flavors (watermelon, pomegranate, and sangria). The bags were flying off the tables! The other food vendors provided samples of roasted nuts, dips and spreads, jams, syrups and a variety of sauces. You can look up any of these vendors via their website. Good to Know: You can consume wine samples on the grounds, but actual consumption of alcohol is prohibited on the grounds. Parking is attendant-guided, grass parking. Admission cost is $6- $7. The festival is opened daily from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm. I visited on a Friday and it was perfect. It was likely much more crowded on the weekend. I had plenty of space to move about and was not overwhelmed by the crowds except at one clothing station. The vendors were low pressure and did not push their items. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Many of the items are expensive. Plan a budget ahead of time. Even expensive items tend to look less expensive the longer you are browsing. Pack a lunch if you are trying to eat healthy. Food vendors are onsite but they serve items such as ice cream, fries, deep fried vegetables, and burgers. Bring a backpack. Do not try to carry a heavy purse all day. Wear comfortable shoes Bring sunscreen Restrooms are Porta-A-Potties only

We use to really enjoy coming to this annual event but it's progressively gone downhill. A lot of…read moremarketing and seldom do the food vendors display the ticket costs until you ask. Fun with small children for maybe a couple hours. Huge increase in Latino and Asian foods, be careful a couple of the dishes were so bad we threw most away. Also the cost for what you get continues to climb. My 2 pics were 4 tickets each which converts to $8 apiece? Yikes.

Bad service and mediocre food. Disappointing, nothing homemade or special about it. Just average…read morechicken and French fries. I seriously think Popeyes is better

The DC Cherry Blossom Bus Tour with Tidal Basin Guided Walk…read more I've been a resident of the DMV for 15 years and welcome the opportunity to show the highlights of D.C. when members of my family come for a visit. My sister Mary lives in Delaware and had long wanted to experience the color and drama of the Cherry Blossom Festival. These visits can be frustrating - we never really know when the blossoms will be in full bloom, and how long they'll be pretty and photogenic. This year (2026) was no different. The DC Cherry Blossom Tour, hosted by USA Guided Tours, was our go-to provider for this outing. After I ordered our tickets for a mid-week 10 a.m. four-hour tour, I received a prompt acknowledgement from TripAdvisor that the reservations were ready. I made the reservation just a few days earlier, so it was great to see the email that acknowledged our tickets and told us where to go to join the tour. The logistics involved in getting to the correct bus were easy: my sister and I showed up at the Navy Memorial, across the street from the National Archives (which is on the Yellow line Metro). A tour representative was already there and did a great job of getting us into the proper queue for our tour (USA Tours had four different tours departing that morning). The tickets were scanned and we were on our way, right on time. Highlights of the tour included walking through the cherry trees with abundant blossoms, photographers everywhere, and really pretty expressions of an early summer day in the District. We could see across the tidal basin to the impressive carved statue of Martin Luther King, Jr., which we headed to after spending the first walking excursion in the tidal basin and then the FDR Memorial. Our guide did an outstanding job of providing backstories and context to the places we visited, including the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, and the Vietnam War Memoria. We had ample opportunities to stretch our legs, take free bottles of water, and use restroom facilities (as the bus did not have one on board). Both driver and guide handled their responsibilities very well, and we all had an excellent opportunity to see the blossoms. And, just as our guide had predicted, a severe thunderstorm rolled through the tidal basin later that day and wiped out 100 percent of the blossoms we enjoyed earlier that day. Luck of the draw!

It was pretty nice, fun and delightful. The costumes, foods,…read moremusics, colors, products, people, parade... all was really enjoyable! I can't wait for the next year! There is a band consist of Japanese Embassy stuff. They were good! I tried, kimono, hat,... There is a chopstick, origami, fan, anime characters, bowls,...all was from traditional Japan culture... Next year I will get ready with traditional Japan costume and make up!

This was an interesting experience. First time hearing about this event. It was quite busy on the…read morefirst day and loud. We went right at opening and was able to get parking on the lawn, which was managed by police and volunteers. Outside has tents for frappes and some desserts. The main hall has seating and vendors all around. Walking through the hallway leads to the main kitchen area where there are two lines - one for actual food and the one in the back just for desserts. Both can take a while. If you're there with two people, I would split up here. Finding seating is the next problem as it rained during this time. But it cleared up and most people took it to go. The live music was loud, but you wanted that because of how many people were there and talking. They do serve alcohol on premises and they had a "Bar" corner. Fun experience for the area and while you're driving around, you see some nice houses.

The weekend before the St. Katherine's Greek festival in Falls Church was the St. George in…read moreBethesda, which is a bit of a drive but worth going to Maryland as it's always well organized and a lot to do/see/eat. They have multiple outdoor areas with tents for food options like the coffee (frappe) and it can be customized according to your liking. There's Loumoumades which were well cooked, fried so it's crispy enough and also enough honey/syrup. There's other food too when you go inside and we managed to catch the dance performance at the stage. This church hall also has a flea market and multiple vendors. And there's a large area/section towards the back where there are pastries and other goodies to buy like Greek pasta, candy, coffee bags, etc. Even though the lines can seem long, they actually do move pretty quick. There was also pistachio ice cream this year with the Greek sour cherry spread on top reminiscent of what I'd enjoy when I travel to Greece. The parking lot does tend to fill up pretty quick so folks can do street parking, and they have volunteered directing crowds as well.