Took my niece and nephew here and my nephew kept screaming "best day ever" while running around, so…read moreI'd say this place is a resounding success! We went at around 9 pm on July 4th and there was still a lot of people but not enough to dampen the experience thankfully. Tickets are easy to grab online and there is ample parking available because it's in the great mall. When we first walked in we were greeted with lots and lots of foam. Foam in the air like its snowing, and foam on the ground. My nephew was so excited and kept running through it excitedly which was cute. We were also told the last show of the day was about to start so we luckily caught it. Loved watching all 3 performers - aerial, juggling, and hoops. From there we just walked around and saw as much as we could. The little rooms they have with different decorations and aesthetics are great for pictures and selfies. There are so many good photo ops that I basically spent an hour being the munchkins personal photographer :) was a great time

Saw this event on my feed on Facebook and brought my daughters over. They both absolutely love it!…read more There is so much magic on this exhibit! It was just beautiful! It is so fun to see them laughing and skipping and jumping around. It really melts my heart. Yeah. Lots of photo ops for all of us. The exhibit also had a small acrobatic performance and a show that a transformer changed into the robot from the car. This was not communicated. We figured out when it was too late. Wish these timeline were either on their website for informed when people checked in. The flowers are beautiful to look at but it had the plastic smell. Also there are some rooms that we just can't breathe with so much chemicals..: hence one star off

I've been coming to the Willow Glen Holiday lights for almost 10 years now, and it is pure…read moremagic...minus the crowds. It's amazing to see how all-out so many of the houses go, just about every single one has some sort of Christmas or Hanukkah display, light, or decoration. It's also amazing how much more crowded it gets every year. I used to drive it, but now I don't dare try. I'll typically park near one of the main streets and get out and walk. This is usually much more enjoyable since you aren't having to fight nonstop car and foot traffic. This year I went a little late in the season and even walking it wasn't all that enjoyable because of the groups of 15+ people together and the people running around doing a scavenger hunt, so lesson learned. This past year we parked a bit further and got to see some displays that I either haven't seen in the past or are newer, but it was nice to stroll the less crowded streets and still enjoy the holiday magic. Unlike in years past, there were even street dog vendors out this time around. Felt like I was leaving a concert or a sporting event!

We visited the Willow Glen Christmas lights after dinner to walk off our meal, and it quickly…read morebecame more than just a walk. What we thought would be a short stroll turned into a full holiday experience, one of those nights where Christmas feels alive. We have seen many decorated streets and cul de sacs before, but Willow Glen surprised us. Multiple neighborhoods followed shared themes, with streets labeled things like Candy Cane Lane and Santa's Sleigh and Reindeer. It felt like walking through a storybook, where each street had its own chapter. The decorations were beautiful and thoughtful. Some areas felt like a small festival, with trains, horse carriages, brews on bicycles, and families everywhere enjoying the moment. Vendors selling churros, hot chocolate, hot dogs, and light up toys added to the fun. These streets truly embody Christmas, warm, joyful, and full of wonder. The highlight of the night was meeting Mrs. Santa Claus of Willow Glen. She was kind, welcoming, and full of heart. She hosted the churro truck and clearly gives so much back to the community. She felt like the soul of the neighborhood, a reminder that Christmas magic often comes from people, not just lights. Bring your family and friends and take your time walking around, or enjoy it from your car. There is so much to see and feel here. This is the kind of place that turns a simple evening into a memory, and it will definitely be an annual Christmas tradition for us.

It was a wonderful day with excited and warm loving people. People were very warm with many…read morecompliments of Tracey Mitchem's artwork.

I wasn't able to go last year so I was even more excited to go this year for my 2025 art and wine…read morefest glass......only to be told there were none. If this is the trend, I won't be as inclined to come every year. No glasses = not coming anymore.

This is the big summer festival for Fremont. First the good. This festival has everything. There's…read morea section of rides for the kids. They have a nice selection of local services. You can maat and talk with the local emergency services employees (firemen,police, EMT). I like how the food vendors were all along the same row. It's nice to say some new vendors, along with same old usuals. Now the bad. No parking,or charging $10 for parking. I saw everyone parking in the shopping center. Even though there were signs stating no event parking. Otherwise you had to park way down the street. For such a large Indian population,not much if anything representation,no Indian food vendors. I personally feel there weren't enough garbage cans near the food row. Most were full or needed to be emptied. But still a great time.

IMHO 5 years since…read moremy last review. Went on a Sunday this year. Hoped it would be cooler. Nope. Still lots of vendors, but many were different and new. I missed my favorites. Understandably, prices are higher... but dang!!! Normally my hubby and I like to buy a Lockeford sausage roll but they weren't there! Nothing piqued my foodie interest this year. Before we left, I bought a medium Dipping Dots bowl for $8. It was the perfect way to end our visit. It was very refreshing. The only item I purchased was a colorful wind spinner for $15. It brings me joy when I see it spinning in my garden! Will we return next year? Probably.

This is an annual festival taking place the Friday after Thanksgiving, with a tree lighting at…read more6:00pm, followed by a delightful parade at 6:30pm. For the 2024 event, most people brought their own chairs, others just stood behind those seated. I arrived an hour early, and set up my chair to ensure a good view, situating myself near Niles Town Plaza, midpoint of the parade route. Then I walked around to explore the antique shops on Niles that were still open after 5pm, as well as a couple merchandise vendor tents outside. Entertainment before the parade included live music by Anthony Arya Band, street performers like jugglers, as well as costumed characters including the Grinch and SpongeBob SquarePants walking down Niles Blvd and posing for photos with kids. I also saw 4 food trucks on site, serving sushi, sliders, chicken sandwiches, and mexican food. And there was a drink stand selling hot chocolate, coffee, and tea for a dollar donation. The tree lighting was not your traditional christmas tree, it was just a regular tree along the street (the one with the stage set up next to it, across from Nature's ice cream shop). But they did make it look pointy at the top, with the lights, lol. Decorated vehicles and performers in the parade represented numerous organizations in the community, including little league teams, East Bay Regional Parks, and Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. Golden Gate Basset Rescue had several dogs being walked with colorful string lights on the leashes. It was adorable. American High School color guard did a wonderful job with their performance, and marching bands from various schools and institutions created impressive sounds on percussion and wind instruments galore, including the bag pipes. There were plenty of cars in the parade too, adorned with beautiful designs, lighting, and props to put you in the holiday spirit. The crowds grew as it got later into the evening. But it never became chaotic or unmanageable. The event seemed to be organized well, yet still casual and flexible (like people could cross the street during the parade), even with a heavy police presence. It was such a laid back and joyful atmosphere, free to attend, and parking and traffic isn't too difficult if you arrive early and leave early before the parade ends. Otherwise, good luck.

I feel like the experience gets bigger and better every year! Been coming here for 3 consecutive…read moreyears now and have enjoyed it every time. I'm a big fan of local functions and activities and community involvement so this Christmas tradition is always a delight. My son loves seeing Santa and Mrs. Clause! He enjoys the entire parade full of cars and many lights with local performers. our friends and family always gather here every year now as part of our new tradition. We have a friend who lives on the street where they have the parade so her place is usually our usual spot. We've started bbq'ing and drinking before the parade as part of our festivities and then head over to Papillon's down the street for our dinner to celebrate Christmas season amongst friends. I appreciate Fremont a bit extra for having this tradition that I feel we are a little late in experiencing but now that we have, we refuse to ever miss it if we're in town. (We live in Southern California now.)

It was a BIG event with many vendors and food trucks. People seemed happy and most tables had many…read morecustomers so I assume the merchandise was good. For a middle aged, Middle Eastern. Woman like me, I felt out of place... Really out of place. The little things they were selling didn't have any meaning for me, the thousands of stickers left me wondering: what did I miss!!! So I would say the even was great for younger people who are knowledgeable of Asian anime industry. After all, it was a lovely stroll followed by a dinner on Murphy Street.

nice event wine festival and musical performances…read moreEnjoyed a lot with friends and colleagues

This festival started out a couple of years ago as a really good one to enjoy. This year though,…read moreit was barely better than doing ones laundry. The amount of vendors selling crafts has gone way down and those participating here have to jack up their prices because the Milpitas Chamber was sucking 10% off the top for all money made by the vendor. This is a perfect way to keep the little guys away and to make the big guys really gouge the customers. As to beer or wine? What a joke. We are in the middle of Micro Brewery America and are offered Michelob and a couple of other tap choices. Wine was worse. If it wasn't for Schlossadler Wines being there as a booth trying to sell wine by the case but offering tastes of their great line, the fair only had Beringer which is about $13.50 a bottle. At the festival it was $5 for half a plastic glass. I go to an Art and Wine festival for the arts and crafts and for some wine. Milpitas lacked in every regard here. Try to do better next year. More variety for the wines and foods. Do something to attract as many vendors as you had three years ago.

This festival changed its name to Celebrate Milpitas. This was very packed and very…read morehappening...Then suddenly it wasn't so much...and cancelled it this year. The real story??? They changed the people planning the festival, and the traffic died and then no more...the economy probably added to it. The new people planning it didn't advertised it as much...it was a balloon over the Wells Fargo building on Calaveras...that was it! They didn't continue any of the signs all over Milpitas and in high traffic areas...real sad! Hopefully in 2010 they'll revive it...

We came, we saw, we left…read more Very few vendors. That's fine if there's a good selection of stuff, especially food vendors. But we found it almost impossible to find any vegetarian options! How many meat on a stick items can a night market have?! Even the hardcore carnivores in our group didn't see anything exciting and voted to leave too. Also, everything was really pricey. Potato curl on a stick (admittedly it was a large stick!) was the price of a whole noodle soup at a regular Asian restaurant. 1 star for it not being as crowded as the Pleasanton one. 1 star for relatively easy parking in the huge mall lot. 1 star for the nice weather lol. I'm feeling generous.

(Went April 2023) First time going to a mini night market and I have to say it was fun! There's a…read moresmall amount of vendors but you can see who the vendors are in advance so you can decide if you want to go to at that date or a different one. There's plenty of parking since the event is held in the parking lot of the Great Mall. After you're done eating, you can spend the rest of the day in the mall.

Ok I think they need to say Festival first & some BBQ and not the other way around! I came here…read moreexpecting a lot of BBQ places from different countries but it's not. Some good music and they do have tables and chairs to eat what food truck meals they had. It's mostly advertisement vendors and maybe 4 places that offer BBQ but that was only tri-tip or pulled pork... That was a disappointment! :-( The vendors were nice and what they sold were a little on the expensive side. Where's the BBQ people?? Where's the ribs? All I know is don't come here hungry!!

Good: Easy location to find. Parking along the streets. Trees provided shade to sit in the grass…read moreand eat, but might want to bring a towel or matt to sit on because the grass was a little moist. Live entertainment on stage where a young girl was singing and she had talent singing the pop songs you hear on the radio. Random flash mob did a dance in the middle of the street. That was the highlight. Most tables in the center of the street were vendors selling random stuff, knick knacks, art, etc. The far end looked to have a bouncy house for kids, but I didn't go that far to check it out if you have to pay or not. Beer available in clear plastic cups. Bad: Signs said "international" bbq, but all I really saw were a few local food trucks. This event seemed to focus on the art vendors rather than BBQ food. Mogo's, a Louisiana kitchen, and I don't remember the other trucks. This was my first time going to the Milpitas one, but I recently went to the Santa Clara BBQ festival, which was much bigger and much more legit with a LOT more BBQ vendors who actually specialize in BBQ and brought their grillers and smokers.

Finally decided to attend Enchant with some friends. For the price, it was mediocre especially when…read moreyou add on parking and any snacks/ ice skating/treats. We've attended some other holiday light events and this was probably the least exciting and most expensive of them all. The parking attendants were not very friendly nor were they directing traffic very well. One told me to keep pulling forward and not block the crosswalk until I was almost touching the car in front of me and then when that car moved one person said keep going and the other said stop. Very disorganized. The maze was a cute idea and finding the different statues was fun. If you complete the maze or scratch off all the boxes you get one piece of chocolate at the end. The lights were ok, they're all white and gold so nothing too exciting. Colored lights with move able statues were better at previous light/lantern events we've been to. It was crowded and if you wanted any pictures you had to wait in line. If you want to buy drinks go to one in the back, the one in front was so slow just to make a hot cider. Ice skating is extra and it's a small rink. The market is cute with different local vendors but paying to go inside to shop is not an ideal place to have a Christmas market. This was definitely a once and done kind of event. Luckily it was close by and I didn't drive far to attend.

I've been seeing so many ads for Enchant on Facebook and we saw the display last year but didn't…read moreget to go. This year I checked it out and told my husband we should go this year. The pictures looked so cool. The prices of admission are pretty expensive but we figured we would just try it. The parking was kind of insane. If you wanted to get a close parking space, you could've paid online for $60 for a VIP kind of stall. Not sure how far the parking was from the exhibit but it was a totally different entrance. There weren't any signs for parking for those non VIP people so all of us went down that one street. There was one guy out there telling us to turn around and go down to the next street to the next lot. Parking in that lot was still $35 which was insane. And you had to pay to a person as soon as you entered. $35 wasn't even that close to the exhibit but it was way better than paying $60 for parking. Along the way there were a lot of vendors selling all kinds of street foods so it made it a quick walk because we were observing and smelling all the yummy treats. Enchant is in the PayPal arena when the Quakes soccer team plays. It was nicely decorated and the whole arena was decorated in a whole wintry theme. They had bars and snack items and they even had a skating rink. My daughter wanted to go skating but I just couldn't. I don't think the enchant ticket covers the expense of the skating. I think it's an extra fee. Soon we reach the exhibit. It's beautiful inside. The lights and colors make it so magical. They hand out these scratch cards. If you want to participate, you have to locate all the winter animals listed on the card. Once you find them, you scratch off that portion of the card. We had fun taking pictures and doing our scavenger hunt for the animals. It was a great time. It was kind of pricey but it was definitely a memorable experience for all of us.