Pig and Whiskey is a great time-beers, BBQ, and great music. The festival takes place every year in…read moreFerndale in mid-July. The stage for music is located right next to WAB and beer and whiskey tents are set up in the parking lot behind WAB, The Emory and surrounding restaurants. Admission is free and you can bring your own bottled water with you. It's also a dog friendly event and lots of people walk their dogs around the fest. You purchase tickets at designated tents similar to Arts Bears and Eats. Tickets are $2 a piece. Most beers are about 3 tickets and whiskeys are between 4-7 tickets. I usually start with a sheet of tickets for $20 but you can buy as few or many tickets as you like but they are non-refundable. Food vendors for the BBQ portion were located further down, past the whiskey and beer vendors this year. Surprisingly BBQ/food vendors only accepted cash or credit this year and didn't accept tickets which was kind of annoying because last year they only took tickets and wouldn't take cash and I wish they had posted that somewhere before I had bought extra tickets. The food is good. I had BBQ ribs from Bad Brad's BBQ with a Mexican style watermelon salad with cojita cheese and cilantro which was light and refreshing. Their Pig Candy-candied bacon is delicious! There were lots off BBQ vendors with pulled pork sliders and tacos, ribs, mac and cheese, jalapeño cornbread, and Cheeto covered street corn. Picnic tables were all the way at the other end of the festival this year and it would be nice if there was seating near the food tents. Lots of great beers too from Dogfish Head, Griffin Claw, Shorts, B. Nektar and more. They have whiskey from Jack Daniels, Jameson, Old Forster, Four Roses, Woodsford Reserve, and more. Last year they had some tents that mixed craft cocktails with whiskey and bourbon. I had a Woodsford Reserve mint julep that was amazing and a pineapple upside down cake cocktail with brown sugar bourbon mixed with pineapple juice that was delicious. This year I didn't see many cocktails, just strait whiskey or bourbon or you could add a a mixer but mixers were only limited to lemonade or Faygo soda. The main reason I go every year is for the music. A friend and I love Electric Six and we attend to see them perform every year. Electric Six has closed out the festival on Sunday night for the last six or seven years. They always put on an awesome show. Last year there were torrential downpours and they had to call the festival due to rain, so lots of people got stuck with drink tickets which were non-refundable. However they didn't cancel the music and moved Electric Six's set down to The Loving Touch and it was a really great show. This year we also saw Ann Arbor band Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers who are a lot of fun to see. Verve Pipe also played on Friday night. The festival runs Friday through Sunday. It starts at 6 pm on Friday and around noon on Saturday and Sunday and goes until midnight with music ending at around 9:00 on Sunday. I always have a blast and I'll definitely be back next year.

Super fun event. It was cold but not too busy when we went. I love the location! Great fun stuffs…read moreto do.

This last weekend was the second, of what will hopefully become the annual, BRU - Burgers, Wings…read moreand Beer Festival held at the Royal Oak Farmer's Market benefitting the Children's Leukemia Fund. The event was hosted by Bagger Dave's, Buffalo Wild Wings and Bell's Brewery and for $40 you got around 12 beer tokens and 5 food tickets to use sampling all different forms of instant gratification. Beginning at 7 pm and running until 11 on June 16th, I can only imagine what a huge success this was for CLF and the ROFM. Last year, on its first run, the event ran well but not nearly as well as this year. With a more organized 4 sided Bell's beer tent offering several brews unavailable outside of the actual brewery like Deb's Red, a Smoked Ale and a Sparkling Ale, patrons had more choices to sample and more taps to keep the lines ultra ultra short! There was plenty of bell's swag to go around and everyone got a gift bag at the end of the evening including a Bagger's pint glass and some killer Oberon posters. To top it off, our very own Yelp Ambassador, Annette, was there serving up some great Yelp swag too. Food this year was great again and provided by Bagger's and BW3's on a ticket per item basis. The food tables were on the second half of the venue so that you could just walk up and order what you liked from their menus, and hi-top tables were arranged in the center of the room to eat and mingle at. Whereas last year, servers had to carry trays while walking through the crowd, this year was so well organized that it should insure its return next year!! Live music played all night and two sets of Bell's bean bag toss were free for guests who felt like some sporting fun. Raffle tickets were sold throughout the night and the drawing was held at 10 pm to round out the festivities. All in all this was a great evening that benefitted an amazing cause and ran even better than last years event!! My only suggestion would be to add about 24 of those hi-top tables around the venue so more people had a place to stand and eat. Great Job CLF and ROFM!! Looking forward to the 2013 BRU Fest.

This is a really great festival, and the location at the Royal Oak Farmer's Market is great! It is…read morewell-organized. The food was okay - the burgers from Bagger Dave's were not hot. Also - the band was a little annoying - they played some strange (old) music that might have been better for an older crowd. A lot of the people at BRU seemed to be in their mid-20's to late-30's.

Too pricey for what is being offered. Should cut off the capacity of people being allowed in. Too…read morecrowded.

This was my first time attending and I was impressed by the variety of things to do and eat here!…read moreHeld over Labor Day weekend in downtown Royal Oak, there's a great variety of things to do, eat and experience. The scope of this festival is big and sprawls many, many blocks. The biggest draw would probably be the music, because there's a main stage with some big names like Joan Jett (2023) with other musical acts located throughout as you walk through all the food and art vendors. There's a variety of musical genres in all the musicians from country, pop, rock, and even more eclectic mixes. Food and drink was varied just like the music. Chicken wings, asian stir fry, Middle Eastern, desserts, beer, and so much more. Prices are obviously a bit inflated because it's a festival, but I felt that the quantities of what you can get are fair. There was a section of the festival that had fair rides and foods so I was even able to get elephant ears! Fair food is fun. Lastly the art on display for sale ranges from prints, framed paintings, sculptures, leather handbags, soap, and more. The artists were friendly and on hand to talk with patrons. Overall Arts Beats Eats is a big festival with lots to do. I would say that the parking was the only difficult thing to find, and I ended up paying $15 a few blocks away for a spot. There was an admission fee, but it's worth it to check out the music. You can buy a ticket online ahead of time for your convenience.

My review is about this venue as an event space…read more I attended a networking event at the RO Farmers Market on last week. I was first pleased with the parking. There's parking surrounding the building as it shares lot space with the municipal offices of the city. It's quite a large space, great for expos, fairs, etc. I could even see it as a wedding venue; which it likely is. The are food services spaces and bathrooms inside of the building, and a nice outdoor sitting/dining space.

We Love the Royal Oak farmers market! So much variety and so many happy jolly people, I returned…read morehappy!

This place is nothing less than pure magic!! The energy is HIGH...so be ready when you enter the…read morespace. I found The House of Oracle while looking for something else. It wasn't an accident. I highly recommend this business!!

Casper was very knowledgeable and helpful! Always love to support a PoC business. Highly recommend!read more

This is a fantastic event. Burgers, beer, ice cream, chocolate, corn hole, music, voting, shopping…read moreand photo booths. What's not to like? Upon entry, you get a tasting glass (giving drunk people glassware was not a great idea) beer sample tickets and voting cards. I was very thankful for the rinsing stations and proper indoor bathrooms. VIP entry was an hour earlier than general admission and thanks for that! It was very crowded an hour after main doors. When handed a flier, we were excited at the prospect of a couple sour beers and assortment of mac n cheese, fries and other sides. Unfortunately, the flier or the vendors were mistaken - no sour beers to be had, only one mac n cheese, and only two burger spots had fries. Which made the voting for best fries and best mac n cheese a bit puzzling. There were turkey burgers, Asian-fusion flavors, and traditional patties with minimal toppings. Something for every burger-lover. Our favorite came down to Mt. Chalet. The burger was cooked perfectly, minimal toppings but so flavorful. Their mac n cheese was excellent too though the only one there. I think the secret ingredient is pork. Shredded pork in the mac n cheese and fried pieces of ham on the burger, but just a tiny bit to compliment the flavor. Bfree had my vote for best desserts and gluten free items. The Guernsey ice cream was pretty rich and perfect on the little cones. There was also a chocolate company that was on point, but cannot recall their name. If you are on the fence about going - the icing on cake for this event was NO KIDS!

I had the BEST time here! Thanks so much to Annette, Chelcie and Yelp for the opportunity to…read moreattend! The burger bash was a belly busting adventure in all things burger, mac and cheese, fries, beer and cider. What is not to like about that? It was an embarrassment of riches and even the veriest glutton wouldn't have been able to sample every item. My husband and I quickly determined even the slider sizes were too much and the only whole burgers we ate were Red Crown and Lazybones Smokehouse (which were the two clear best), the rest we split in half or each just took a big bite. Lazybones, which won best overall, was the hub's fave. I quite liked it too. Pulled pork, cheese and Better Made chips on a burger? Delicious. Red Crown won my heart though, as well as winning most flavorful according to the other attendees, with the crispy pork belly, kimchee and avocado mousse. It was sooooo good. I voted it best burger. Other favorites were the Novi Chophouse burger which featured excellent bacon and paper thin long slivers of grilled onion and the burger with the coney on top of it (I cannot be sure whose this was but kudos all the same). As for mac and cheese, Onyx took the prize and it was good but I preferred the Red Crown version myself. We had quite a few misses on mac. These two were the standouts. The seasoned fries from Blackfinn were awesome, thanks so much to the woman in line behind me who let me sample some of hers, I was not tempted at all but she insisted and they were amazing. I also liked the garlic dip that accompanied the perfectly thin and crispy fries from Lucky Strike myself. The beer was fun. I am not much of a beer person myself but if you were it was right up your alley. I had a suprising maple concoction from Tommy Knockers that held my interest. I was most into cider though, which I have had before but really discovered a love for here. I liked the blueberry apple varietal (Blue Gold) from Vander Mills Cider but I fell in absolute love with Woodchuck's Belgian White. Like a marriage and kids type love. The clear winner of desserts for me and the rest of the crowd was Serendipity Cakery of Wyandotte. They had huge variety and it was seriously tasty. Cake balls? That is some triple yum stuff; good cake, excellent frosting and fun decorations. The chocolate banana and the creamsicle versions made James and I extremely happy. Desserts though were a huge disappointment because many vendors were out so quickly. Poor planning as there was no more Peteet's (I love them though and have sampled plenty before and will again), Cacao Tree or Slice of Heaven (which I was DYING to try). This was relatively early in the night too, at nine-ish. The event ended at 11. Sad. The Detroit Mini Donut people were awesome though, sweet people and fresh tasty donuts. We all know I am a doughnut snob and I really liked them. The Chez Chloe lava cake was so sinfully good, not for my husband who gets dark chocolate headaches but for me. I could have eaten it all day long. The crowd was so friendly and fun. So many people just talked to us, gave recommendations and opinions, welcomed us to seating areas, even shared some food. I mean I was not expecting that at all. Despite the lines and waits it was just peaceful and happy. Well done to the farmer's market, the organizers and the participating businesses for making it so easy and well organized. If you bought additional beverages it was reasonably priced and all, no silly gouging. They even had a smoking area so my husband did not have to leave or feel uncomfy. Overall it was just a great night. I rolled home fat and happy. We will definitely return next year! I also have a new list of local places to patronize, so more reviews to come. Win/win.

I'm not much for haunted houses but I have to say- I really enjoyed myself here. The pumpkin patch…read moreis a nice edition.

Wow this place- Eloise- we finally got to check it out. I'm glad we went for the haunted houses!!…read moreIt was amazing- they were the longest and coolest ones I've ever walked through. They utilized the hospital in most of the attraction, which made the whole experience even more creepy! I went for a private event, but it opened this weekend. I recommend everyone to go check out this historical site. So much has happened here in the past, you can feel the grounds energy as you pull into the parking lot. Looking up at those old windows, you can just feel someone or something peering from one! Go check out Eloise Asylum! The best haunted attraction in the state of Michigan!