My review is based on a visit to the Appalachian Fair at the end of August 2023. It was packed!…read more The event is okay for Carnival rides and such. (Please take that with a little grain of salt because after living in Texas and experiencing the Texas State Fair - anything else, hmmm). There were livestock displayed which drew the attention and crowds of the youngest patrons. I didn't realize, but there was also a livestock competition that probably ended by the time I entered the grounds. I chose to purchase the pass for unlimited rides, not the wisest investment I've made. Lines were extremely long for the most popular rides that I probably would have waited at least an hour or more to experience. This is a fair, not an amusement park! I would have been better off purchasing a sheet of coupons for rides and entertainment. However, I do see the draw for friends and families to enjoy a summer day / evening of rides and fair food together. The grounds itself hosts different and various event throughout the year. There is a driving Christmas Light Show that starts the day before Thanksgiving and runs until the beginning of January. That might be an event considering to visit.

Love this fair! The concerts are great and the people are really nice. Always a fun time for the…read morewhole family.

This was not at all organized…read more The lady who owned the property "Pioneer Point" had said she had 80 acres and the event could have been held there, but a contract was already signed prior. Parking was $10 and about 1.5 miles from the venue. There were 2 different areas you could park. They had NO bathrooms at the parking area and only 2-15 passenger vans, later they added a regular van. Mind you, they had over 10k people interested in this event since it was well advertised on social media. We waited in line for 1h 15min to get on the shuttle. Once you get to the venue, if you didn't buy your ticket online prior to the night before, you had to wait in another line for approximately an hour to get a ticket and go in. For the people who had a ticket, we still had to wait about 30 minutes juts to get in the venue. I had commented prior to the event asking if they would have turkey legs. I was told yes. So I was not happy that there was no turkey legs, let alone very few food trucks, maybe 3 or 4 and one being wetzels pretzels. Usually at Ren-Faires they have food that tailors to the event, not random crap like pretzels. There was 2 lemonade stands, and not much else. There was around 60 or so vendors, but I noticed a lot of them tripled or quadrupled prices, such as gems, rocks etc than you can buy anywhere else. They should have put porti-potties on both ends, but instead they put them in the middle , where you have to take tiny steps because it was extremely muddy. If you know red dirt... you know that you sink when it's wet. So everyone had caked on red dirt on their shoes or boots, slipping around, hoping you don't fall. This event is not handicap friendly at all. They have no handicap parking or seating for handicap when waiting for the shuttle..... one lady in a wheelchair kept getting stuck pretty deep in the mud so couldn't even move or see the event. Whoever puts on this event needs to be mindful of pricing ($30 for this event was ridiculous for what we got), parking (needs bathrooms and BUSES not a couple vans), more than one entrance to get in, MORE food and drink choices, had no security, people could walk through the bushes to get in, and a bigger/flatter location so people aren't getting stuck in the mud and having to climb up and down hills. I would not recommend this Ren-Fair, I have been to numerous different ones around the country and this one was by far the least prepared for this type of event.

Amazing faire it improves every year. There is something for everyone there from the shopping to…read morethe shows on 3 stages!

Attended the 2026 Rhythm and Roots Reunion with Bestie. She's been here before. She has family that…read moreare intimately involved with the reunion. I was familiar with Bristol's history related to Appalachian and country music. I am a NASCAR fan as well so I knew where the Bristol Speedway was located. Having never been in downtown Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia I found it to be such a charming town. This music festival ranks up there in my top five music festivals I've attended. This was pretty well thought out. There are plenty of places to park. They offer shuttles in and out - you have to but tickets. There's a surprising amount of free parking if you're willing to walk a little bit. There is also paid parking in various that is closer. Average price on those lots was $20 to park. The entire festival covers 8 x 4 blocks. With various stages set up all over town. They did have an app that you could use for maps, vendors and schedules. The app was available a few weeks before the festival. A really nice feature of the app is as you're checking the music schedule most of the artist you could click on and actually hear a sample of their music which was really nice if you weren't familiar with them. You could even tag events to your own schedule and set reminders. There were so many various types of rhythm and roots music --bluegrass, country, blues. There were known such as Los Lobos, , Marty Stuart, Del McCoury, Old Crow Medicine Show and Scythian as well as up and-coming acts like Sierra Ferrell and FUST. There was something for everybody. We brought our own folding chairs. Some of the stages do have bleachers and/or a limited number of chairs available. Or you just sit on a ledge, the grass. Dancing us always optional. There are plenty of various local vendors, local restaurants, and food trucks. I am definitely looking forward to coming back again. It is definitely a family friendly event we saw lots of families with very young children. There were plenty of restrooms available at very strategic points. They were very clean and well-maintained. There was a baby comfort station with a few changing stations right on State Street. There was a large police presence all over. It felt very safe even when we were we were leaving at 1 AM walking back to our car. The app provided information when there were rain delays. It did take a bit of time for them to get information out, though that could've been a little more timely . Overall, I felt like they did a very good job communicating to everybody what was going on. The prices for things were extremely reasonable compared to other music festivals I've gone to. I would highly recommend this if you are a country music, bluegrass or just an overall music fan and are looking for a festival that isn't super huge with hundreds of thousands of people. They are already selling tickets for 2027 and they do sell out so I would suggest buying them early. I know they do sell VIP packages, but in my humble opinion, I don't believe the VIP packages are necessarily warranted. You really only get a little bit closer seating and sometimes it's goofy depending on where the stages are. It's not always a better viewing area. There's plenty of good places to see these artists without paying exorbitant amount. Unless of course you want to do a meet and greet then by all means pay for it. There are a couple hotels downtown and in the outskirts we stayed with family so we didn't have to worry about that. Plenty of restaurants in the area. We had a great time.

At the gate price is expensive for the quality of entertainment. Parking is a nightmare. Beware…read moreof utility vehicles driving thru the crowds. Seems to be a lot of vips getting shuttled thru. We were lucky enough to have a friend give us comp tickets. Apparently there are a lot floating around. We enjoyed some of the music and had fun. for the most part. Not family friendly once the crowds come in especially after dark. Highly recommend seeing any show in the paramount theater just to see the architecture

As someone who doesn't drink, it feels strange to rate a beer fest. They had so many options and…read morethe lines were fairly tame since they had so many vendors. They had a few NA options and they had some free fancy water. They also had some yummy food truck options and some tents set up for some shade and a spot to sit down!

Unfortunately, the organizers of the event ended up scamming me. I purchased tickets. I was…read morerequired to sign a no-refund agreement. After the fact, they announced that to get into the festival you had to have a negative COVID test from within 72 hrs of the event, but also said they would be making exceptions to the no-refund policy. I took the test, but because the labs were slammed, I didn't get my results back for four days. I went to the festival and explained the situation. They said they couldn't let me in but took down my info and said they would refund my tickets. Two weeks later I still hadn't received a refund, so I contacted the organizers. They refused to refund me. I'm very disappointed. You don't expect people to basically rob you at an event like this.

Art in the Park was an adorable event. We found free parking nearby and walked through the booths…read more I didn't buy anything, but there were a wide variety of pieces for sale. I especially liked the waterfowl decoys and carved wood pieces.

A true apple festival people! Well worth the drive here. Apple cider fried donuts, several several…read morecraft vendors, 3 music stages, and food vendors galore. We were pleasantly surprised by the vendor options and very impressed by this organized and fun festival.

Since moving to North Carolina we have gone to a number of fairs and festivals. I think the people…read moreof Taylorsville know how to do it because a Apple festival should be surrounding Apples....and it did. If you have the chance to go to this in the coming years, take the time and go. There is a lot of great food and craft items there for sure.