I was disappointed that many of the booths ran out of food by 3:30pm when the the event was…read moresupposed to run till 5pm. There were plenty of vinyards w/ tasty wines to sample. The food that I did try was tasty and made me want to try their full menus. The cooking demonstrations were also good.

Not your typical closed-streets festival, this community event invited guests to visit local…read morebusinesses in the neighborhood. This included Bambino Thrift Shop, Pegasus Books, Atomic Garden, and Preserved (kitchen supplies), along with a plethora of eateries and dessert shops of course, some places offering free giveaways and discounts, others featuring live music throughout the day. Face painting, pet portraits, and an Art Bazaar too. The organizers did a good job posting the schedule online for the public, but the art and music didn't quite fill every block, as advertised. In fact, the section near the market hall with plenty of outdoor vendor tables set up was the busiest. Other areas were dead. I walked the entire street and back while exploring. The narrow sidewalks also weren't ideal while visiting places along the path, especially where there was live music and people would just find a spot to stand. I did enjoy some of the musical entertainment in the afternoon, including Konceptualizer at Open Mind Music (record store) and Five Pines at McNally's Irish Pub, both bands in good spirits bringing smiles to audience members. The festival also featured tunes by DJ Danny Santos and Cocoa Keys at Bad Walter's Bootleg Ice Cream and an accordionist at Saffron Kitchen. Picked up some tasty treats from Chocolate Dragon Bittersweet Cafe & Bakery, as well as savory arancini and dumplings from Belly who was actually giving out free samples during the event. I had fun engaging in the festivities while discovering lots of unique shops and businesses along College Avenue I would love to return to explore next time. There was no charge to attend, and parking was free and easy too.

Thanks to Yelp I was able to get in to the 3rd Annual Vegan Festival in Downtown Berkeley. Regular…read morecost at the door was $20 and I guess it's mostly for the speakers & food demos because you don't get much for that fee. It's only a block away from Downtown Berkeley Bart, next to Taqueria Cancun. They gave some vegan chips & vegan giant cookies at registration. There were a bunch of tables set up around the main area & another room. Most of the food vendors charged money to eat their food, only a few gave samples. Tamale Love - I got a vegan tamale with sweet potato & some mole & green salsa $4 - it was ok, nothing special about it. The Taste of Tea - tiny samples of hot or cold tea Local Love Catering - he sampled out a hot potato soup - it was pretty good. V-Dog - got some samples of vegan dog food - will give to co-workers that have dogs. Beyond Eggs - they made a tasty chocolate chip cookie & gave out sample of something that's like egg just add water. There were talks in the Conf Room; Theater, Main Lobby. I only stayed for the Dr. Alan Goldhamer talk on Avoiding the Dangers (and achieving the benefits) of a Vegan Diet. He was good & talked of avoid sugar, fat, salt, get his book "The Pleasure Trap" I left after a while, went to Cal Day.

Full disclosure - this year I won tickets for BVED, but otherwise probably wouldn't have attended…read more I volunteered to help with the first BVED -- helping the very kind, ambitious and all around awesome Karine B with the event as well as working with James Hall/Raw Daddy at his table. Wow - it's been FIVE years! I haven't been to the David Brower center before -- it's a beautiful lobby, and probably not ideal for a crowd, really. I did check out the itinerary of speakers before the event and the charter for the event implies that it is really more "Vegan 101/201" -- lots of food prep demos and nothing too controversial in the topics. However - if I were a new vegan or interested in going vegan - I'm not sure I would be all that jazzed about paying $20 to go spend more money. It was great to see Raw Daddy there -- and there were plenty of vendors and food samples available. I was surprised to see Synergy there - and ended up spending about $200 at the expo in food & clothing. Since the event charges the vendors a percentage of sales -- as my friend pointed out, "it would be nice if they gave a refund if you spent over a certain amount at the expo" -- certainly that might encourage more people to shop! While most of the expo focused on lifestyle/consumer vegan offerings -- there was table full of very informative and engaging folks from Food Empowerment Project (www.foodispower.org). This sparks my intellectual curiosity as a trained political sociologist (now you know - I'm a marxist) and the volunteer who spoke with me asked me about chocolate. I love chocolate. And, of course - I thought that I knew about what chocolate to eat: fair trade, organic etc. But honestly - with so many excellent vegan candies available at places like Republic of V, I think I just assumed that vendors like Amy E's chocolates or Vega were using fair-trade/organic/equal exchange products. It turns out that the Food is Power folks have a massive list and many vegan food producers are on the "not recommended" or "problematic" list (including Amy E's and Vega!). I'm glad that these events exist - they provide a very important function to new vegans and in exposing more people to vegan lifestyle oriented goods and services.

Moonlit Circus offers unique and fashionable up-cycled products both on-line and at local art and…read morecraft fairs. Award-winning proprietor and head clown Jennifer W. also teachers craft classes at several locations in the San Mateo area. What's up-cycled? It's about re-making items that are no longer useful into new items but without the costly and energy-intensive recycling process. Their most popular product is called "Fittens" - a corruption of "fingerless mittens" and are made from wool sweaters that are acquired at local thrift shops and then reprocessed into unique felted wool mittens complete with clever and stylish stitching and adornments. Jennifer W. is a DIY (do-it-yourself) champion and is a prolific contributor to whimsical and creative events including the Maker Fair, San Mateo County Fair, SF Pride Parade, and many other art & community events throughout the Bay Area.

I plan on going here every year. It's quite an experience to see the culture represented so well…read more They had mariachis and low riders. They had pretty much everything I could desire.

Saw this event listed on Yelp so decided to check it out. I haven't been to RWC in a long time so…read moreit was nice to see it looking good. They had a small procession that started from the Main Library, 1044 Middlefield Rd from 6:30-6:45pm. There were some girls carrying an alter filled w/ orange marigolds and fruit hanging, then dancers were behind them. They lead the procession to the Courthouse Square which was only .21 mi, about 2 blocks. At the Courthouse Square were tables & chairs set up so the public could enjoy the program on the Square from 6:45-8:15pm. There were tables for the kids to decorate pan de muerto (little bit sweet, just ok..no spices in it) & skull cookies. There was also face painters, and Free hot chocolate. There were some youth art work on display in the pavilion windows. Overall, I thought it was just ok, probably more fun for the kids. Good for people that live in the area.

What a fun night market on a Friday night in FiDi to unwind after work. Happening only twice…read morethis year, the next one closer to Dewali in October. Perfect location right outside of the Embarcadero Center that offered $10 validated parking after 5pm for the event, there are food trucks, popup food booths, vendors, entertainment and family friendly hula hoops and sidewalk chalk to draw to your hearts content. Food first for us before the lines get long, pani puri, masala chai, jollof, rose chai, thai empanadas, lamb kebobs, agua frisco, then off to their dance performances, before the music starts and the audience dances away.

Fantastic event! The live music was so much fun, the drum circle near the vendors and the bands on…read morethe main stage were fire! There were lots of booths selling jewelry, clothes and candles. The food trucks looked great, but even the shorter lines didn't seem to move much. We wanted to support the food vendors, but after waiting almost 15 minutes, it seemed like a waste of time. Suggestion for next time, more diverse food options There were at least 3-4 momo trucks, better to have less duplication Overall wonderful experience!

I have to say that I just loved the location of this event! The Craneway Pavillion is…read morebreath-taking! There is so much light, so much space...And, the boardwalk was just what everyone needed after tasting a few craft brews. With the sun beating down and the crisp air, it was so relaxing. Although I do enjoy the Craneway Pavillion, it seemed to be such a grand space for the Chocolate & Beer Festival. I spoke with a few guests who actually pointed this out as something that pleased them, so it might just be my taste of small, intimate gatherings. There was so much space in between the beer and chocolate!!! And, there seemed to be quite a bit more chocolate booths than beer selections. The Chocolate Nut brew was my top pick, for sure. Everyone was super friendly and social! I LOVED tasting the various brews and chocolates! From the chocolate side of things, I enjoyed quite a few chocolates. First, I am always a fan of Galaxy! I tried their chocolate cups of fluffy mousse at La Soiree--just delightful! Landru had some fruit jellies AND chocolate! Clarine's Florentines brought some snazziness with their sliced almond brittle on bittersweet chocolate, for sure. There were many others as well! The chocolate was such a nice sweetly loved snack, but it did leave me craving something more... Since it was a beer and chocolate festival, I understand that there would only be beer and chocolate (plus, food and wine for sale). However, I felt people dropping off the taster map as they had a drink or two. Beer pong was fun! That was definitely the fun crowd. I felt a bit of confusion surrounding the tokens and the tickets in my party and in the crowd. Some guests were under the impression that tastings were included in the price of the ticket, not that they would need to purchase extra tokens to taste. This could have been more clearly stated. Overall, it was a very enjoyable day. The band was entertaining and fun, Chloe and Rob were easy to find and super informative! The sound was a bit difficult to hear in the back, but if you were hanging out near the stage, all the speakers were knowledgeable and interesting as well.

This was a pricey event. Luckily, we got our tickets for super cheap from living social ($9 for…read moreVIP!) so the price wasn't too bad, but I feel sorry for the people who had to pay full price. The admission was $15-25 and didn't include any beer or chocolate tasting. They had a VIP package for $60 that included admission, a beer glass, 2 chocolate samples, 2 beer samples, parking and a poster. Additional beer samples were $6 and chocalate samples were $2-4. I think the beer glass was $10 if you didn't get the package. They filled the glasses (16oz) up if you had them or else you'd get beer in a plastic cup (12oz). There was an area set up for beer pong, a staging area for music and a bunch of benches in the middle. There was double the amount of chocolate vendors to beer vendors. The stand outs were tea infused chocolate, chocolate covered brittle, and quinoa bonbons. My favorite beer was a locally brewed Indian beer that's only served in Thai and Indian restaurants. I wish i could have bought a 6 pack of that! Sadly the only chocolate stout there was just meh. I liked that there was a lot of space and no ridiculously long lines. Apparently the event was a clusterf**k last year. Overall It was fun and a great way to try out some local breweries and chocolatiers. I would go again next year, but definitely not at full price.

Come barely clothed in your sexy Halloween costume! Great EDM but it sounded a bit repetitive (to…read moreme!) after awhile. The people watching was definitely interesting. I saw a ton of really cool and creative costumes among the expected sexy costumes. The crowd is pretty young, mostly in the range of 18-22. I went with some friends, and they were carded even though they're over 50! The organizers let you bring in an empty reusable water bottle to fill up at the fountain. There was a huge list of things that we couldn't bring inside, including candy and eye drops. It might be cold outside, but it's definitely warm inside, even sweltering hot, especially if you're in the middle of the general admission floor area. Try to stay hydrated for a long night of dancing! Highlight of the night - a solid performance by Empire of the Sun! Lowlight - EofS didn't come on until 12am midnight! Thanks Live 105! You guys rawk!