Edison Park Fest is a fantastic weekend neighborhood festival located in, well, Edison Park. If…read moreyou're not familiar with Edison Park, it's a neighborhood of Chicago north of Harlem Ave, on Northwest Highway, just south of Park Ridge. Edison Park fest spans several blocks and runs parallel to the Union Pacific Northwest Metra line. The festival totes two music stages, plenty of port o potties, several good vendors, a kids section, traveling carnival games,and several business vendor tents. There's pretty much something for everybody. Edison Park fest was well organized and spaced-out. I really had a good time walking around, sipping a beer, and perusing the many business tents. Metal barricades stops any temptation to trample on any residential front lawns running along this neighborhood festival, so make sure you get in on either Oliphant Ave or Ozark Ave. I had a really good time. So if you are in the north side and looking for a street festival without the crazy amount of crowds, definitely check out Edison Park fest.

Edison Park fest is a decent street festival located on the far North side of the city. The fest…read moreruns in mid August and always draws a healthy crowd. Edison Park is home to many police / first responders so you know it is going to be safe here. The crowd from here can get a little sketchy, but it is always a good time. The fest is between the Metra stop and Moretti's and spans a few city blocks. The food here is standard carnival fare. Nothing too great that I saw, but I enjoyed the fresh squeezed lemonade. They have vendors that serve up everything - most unhealthy, but delicious. Prices aren't too bad and the lines were pretty short when I went on a Saturday. There is a giant area of kids bouncy castles. These are pay as you go and is managed by an outside company. Some rides are good and take a few minutes, others are over in 30 seconds. They all cost $2-$3 each, so choose wisely if you don't splurge on the $30 day pass. There are several live music acts performing all weekend. It isn't my cup of tea, but people seem to like the 80s/90s rock cover bands. Rock on!

The Park Ridge Park District puts on an excellent October Fest the last Saturday of every…read moreSeptember. It is located in Hodges Park which is right in front of City Hall. The fest is free to enter, but there are charges for food, beer and kids activities. A wrist band for all the bouncy castles and kids games is only $5. There is plenty of parking in the neighborhood behind the event or you can try by the library. There is live music at night and plenty of activities during the day. There are a ton great food vendors including Holts, Harp and Fiddle and a few other places that serve German fare. The giant pretzels with dipping sauce were a hit and the beer list was extensive. Prices were pretty reasonable for a festival and the lines to get food/drinks were not bad at all. You could use credit cards for beer, but everything else was cash only. This is a great way to celebrate the beginning of fall and hang out in the park.

This was my first visit to this nice summer festival. Without any kiddos in tow, which is not…read morereally in the job description anymore except in umm special situations, I was only interested in the free concerts. The atmosphere on a pleasant Saturday evening was crowded, festive, buoyant, well-behaved, and safe with a good visible presence by the Skokie police. This festival is really great for the area and has grown in its local renown. I actually lived in Skokie from 1982 - 1995 and this event didn't exist until 2007. We saw about half of Americana singer Micheal McDermott's performance followed by alt-rock band Vertical Horizon. For the price, t'was very enjoyable. I never heard of either and it was no biggie, but I saw that the Bash drew Foghat here at least one year, so they occasionally get some big names. I also learned I didn't need to lug around portable chairs to watch the main stage. There's fold-up chairs already set up and available and it's easy to nab a couple of seats if you're there before a performance starts. Midway through one though, it's harder at prime time, but with people coming and going, the wife and I still managed to nab a couple seats pretty close to the front. Parking can be a little challenging as it's virtually all neighborhood street parking. You just have to circle around looking for an opening and be willing to walk a little. Great festival, and a great first visit for us! Thank you Skokie!

I like the fact that I could just walk to this event from my home, no car necessary, not at all…read more Downtown Skokie is experiencing a resurgence and the Backlot Bash is part of that good feeling about living close to Oakton and Niles Center Rd. And it's a three day event (Friday - Sunday) and there's a little something for everyone - kiddie rides, funnel cake, a beer garden, car show, good food (relatively speaking), live bands and you can go during the day and at night. I really have enjoyed the bands, here's a list of who I've seen - The Wailers (without Peter, Bunny and Bob), the Fixx (One thing leads to another), Blue Oyster Cult (more cowbell please), Flock of Seagulls (actually missed them as I was in Ireland) and most recently Foghat (I just wanna make, love to you - whoops, this is a PG rated review). So that's a pretty awesome list for a free neighborhood concert. I do worry though because this event is getting bigger and bigger and bigger each year. I think they need to go West on Oakton for more space. I haven't asked the home owners though, for their opinion. I do have to say that I enjoy the folks who bring their little kids or their aging parents to watch a rock concert, that just warms my heart. Like I said, there's a little something for everyone. It's also really safe, there's always the Skokie 5-0 swat truck parked right in front. Now I just hope next years band will be even better - how about Rush, REO or Cheap Trick, The Romantics, wouldn't that be great?!?

I know there are a few people who would disagree, but I miss Des Plaines old summer party, where it…read morewas a "taste of" and actually had tents serving DP restaurant's food! Tents, not 4 tents, but a slew of them. The Des Plaines Summer Fling, while better entertainment than we had in years past (if you're into David Cassidy), didn't hold a candle to years past! 1. $3 cover! WTH? Lucky they had a singer (David Cassidy) who drew a bunch of people (odd though, I really wasn't a big Partridge Family fan, but had a ton of friends who went just for him). 2. 4 food booths, and I do not believe any of them were DP restaurants. 3. Carnival rides, complete with carnies and a full-fledged rip-off! 20 tickets for $20, rides were 3 - 5 tickets... I've got three kids who wanted to ride stuff, if I let them ride that stuff, there, I may as well have taken them to Six Flags for the day... it was a ridiculous waste of money. 4. ONE beverage tent, right by the stage (since that was the draw, I guess if you're only going to have one, that's where you'd put it) 5. Arts and crafts... BULL @#$%! There were 4 tents with artsie-craftsie stuff, two of them (the ones on the ends, because they were all in a row) had the same stuff! See below for a brief description of what this used to be if you want, but if it's run by the same organization next year, we won't waste our time! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Years past, when a company wasn't contracted to do this, but it was done by the city: 1) our restauranteurs came out and represented with good food and great personality; 2) free bouncy houses for the kids to play on, along with arts and crafts station; 3) historical center sold fresh baked pies from the porch for $3 a slice and it was GOOD!; 4) free to get in because you spent a ton-o-cash while you were there; 5) arts and crafts: portraits, hand made jewelry; knick-knacky stuff; you name it - it was there and it was worth seeing; and 6) local bands with local flavor and local followings were showcased.

The best part about this fest was the band JAKTRIPPER. They should headline this event next year!!!read more

One of the best of the best summer weekend festivals around Chicago. Hungry - choose from around 25…read morelocal vendors; thirsty - no problem; games and rides for the kids - voila!; Music - nearly non-stop - vendors with clothing, crafts, jewelry, toys, beauty items, candles - enjoy. See you next year!

I have not been to Taste of Elmwood for decades and it has not changed. It had several food…read morevendors, at reasonable prices. Everything from Italian, Mexican and American. To purchase alcoholic drinks you are required to get carded and a wristband, regardless of age. Cocktails were good, but a bit pricey for the size. There were music events throughout the fest.

This was the first-ever Pizza Fest, organized by the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce. It sneaked up…read moreon the events calendar unexpectedly, but we found time to attend it, since it's so close to home. The fest took place in pretty much the same space as Taste of Park Ridge, closing off Summit Ave. between Touhy and Prospect, between the library and Metra station. As a festival, it didn't really have a huge setup and not much in terms of variety. All the food vendors, except for a carnival food stand, were pizza places from the area. Caponie's, Carmine's, and Georgio's Chicago Pizzeria were a few of the vendors participating. There was a concert stage setup on the street and for a small festival they did pretty good at lining up shows: Foghat (big-time 70s band) on Friday and Daryl Stuermer (Genesis & Phil Collins guitarist) as the headliner for Saturday night. Weather did not cooperate Friday night, as a cold wind blew through at peak dinner time and dropped the temps about 15 degrees, blowing away paper plates, napkins and a light drizzle followed. Still, it did not deter us from trying pizzas, sheltered by the walls of the Metra station to shield us from the wind. Weather notwithstanding, I was disappointed with the fest. For an event focused completely on a food, pizza in this case, I really expected a more adventurous menu from each of the participants. But instead it was the same thing pretty much across the board: cheese, sausage, or pepperoni, thin crust or deep dish. Why bother doing a fest dedicated to pizza if you don't have something more exotic to offer as a topping: BBQ chicken, pineapple, shrimp, goat cheese, heck, even mushrooms! But it gave me a level playing field to try. I had a Caponies brick oven sausage pizza, which was very good. One of my kids had Carmine's cheese pizza, which had an odd-tasting sauce and the layer cheese peeled off the top in one bite. Pizza fail! Carmine's probably had the worst. My other son and my wife both got Giorgio's of South Barrington's deep dish personal-sized cheese pizzas and those by far stood out as the best pizza at the fest. For a kid who never tried deep dish before, my son was very impressed with it and ate the whole thing. Cost-wise, the pizza prices were reasonable. There was a $5 admission fee to the fest, just to get in the gate, but if you are going to see a show, it's a good deal. I saw the Daryl Stuermer concert and he put on almost 2 hours of Genesis material and a few of his own instrumental works mixed in. Daryl's band sounds really good and he did a very authentic job covering Genesis, even some of it dating back to the 70s. And there was even a contingent of diehard Genesis fans, the ones who wear the Foxtrot album cover T-shirts, in attendance. If Pizza Fest II happens next year, I hope the participating vendors open up their cookbooks and bring out more pizza variety, putting forth some adventurous pizzas rather than just playing it safe with essentially the same selection at every booth.

The last time we attended this neighborhood festival was eons ago, when it was smaller and…read morerelatively inexpensive. This year, having received free admission tickets from a friend (valid only for Friday evening), we decided to revisit. This event provides little or no accommodation for the elderly and handicapped. We wouldn't have gone at all except that a friend offered us free tickets. General admission is $15 across the board ($45 for a 4-day pass), with no Senior discount. The shuttle between the remote parking lot and the event has a very high first step and my Missus had a hard time with boarding and alighting. And, once we got our food, we found absolutely nowhere to sit. Only standup tables are provided. We anticipated enjoying some traditional Polish music; polkas or whatever. Ha! All we heard was over-amplified hard rock. One band was banging out music of the Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger is about as Polish as Yoko Ono). The entertainment stages are close enough together that the bands were drowning each other out, making conversation difficult. We explored a row of vendors' booths: Mostly mobile phone, financial and travel services, cheesy jewelry and accessories, and T-shirts. Blah. My shopaholic Missus found nothing to buy. Well, that leaves food and drink. If you leave a Polish festival hungry or thirsty, there's no one to blame but yourself. We were starving, and boy, did we stoke up. My Missus devoured a Polish combination plate heaped with stuffed cabbage, potato pancake, Polish sausage, 3 pierogi, and sauerkraut. I tackled a fat, garlicky Polish sausage that must've measured at least a foot long, after which I managed to bolt down a humongous freshly fried potato pancake. We had no room left for paczkis. All told, we spent $54 on food and drink, which is around what we spend on a typical restaurant meal. In truth, we've had better Polish food at restaurants, but we were satisfied. Afterwards we really needed to sit down and cool off, so we waddled into Copernicus Center. The auditorium, formerly the Gateway Theater (opened in 1930), retains its movie palace splendor. Seeing this was a treat! The free admission tickets, the theater, the food, and the camaraderie - strangers chatting with each other - are what made our visit to Taste of Polonia worthwhile.

When we arrived, a very good Polka band was playing. But it all went downhill after that. The…read moreabsolute worst hard rock band played bizarre noise and screeched from the stage. Looked like teenage boys who wished they were Led Zeppelin. Awful embarrassing noise. This is a Polish Festival, stick with Polish music!! The shuttle service was excellent however. People in my group said the food was ok, but I refused to pay the exorbitant prices. All in all, a disappointing experience. I won't return. The $15 entrance fee was ridiculous too. $2 would be about right.

I am sooooo looking forward to this fest and the 4th Of July Fireworks. Been waiting tooooooo long…read morefor a really good fireworks show and I know Elmwood Park will kick it out of the park. Thank you to the Village of Elmwood Park for celebrating a wonderful Holiday.

As I understand it, this is an event that is put on as a joint venture between the villages of…read moreElmwood Park and Oak Park (I think River Forest might be involved as well). The family and I made the trek to this fest on the 4th for the fireworks. I am not sure if there is designated parking for the event (it did not look like it) but we just ended up parking on a side street almost a mile away like everyone else (most streets are parking for residents only and have police directing traffic but if you park far enough away you should be ok). The walk there was fine at about 8:30 when we started. The place (which is the field and other areas around the Elmwood Park High School) was packed and there was more people coming all the time. I highly recommend bringing folding chairs, blankets, water, and food if you need something to eat. There was a live band playing the usual hits and there was about four or five booths selling alcohol (id's checked by the police department), pizza slices, snow cones and cotton candy, and those annoying blinking trinkets everyone needs to have...(otherwise there was not much of anything in the way of vendors so again come prepared). We were able to get a nice spot in the grass to set up. Thankfully, it was a little cooler on the grass and I did not get eaten alive by mosquitoes as is usually the case. The fireworks started at 9:28 and ended about 9:48 so about twenty minutes though everyone in our group thought it seemed longer. The fireworks were well done overall and we thought the finale was spectacular (the music was ok but not anything fancy or coordinated like Chicago's (Grant Parks) fireworks are though of course they were cancelled this year so it was a moot point). Everyone enjoyed the fireworks and the grounds and we will probably be going again. We highly recommend this event if they host again in 2012.