This is definitely an experience you need to do once but I can't picture myself doing it again…read more General admission was $55 including tax and they give you a small plastic cup that indicates where to stop for the 2 oz pour. There are about 5 food trucks there but the lines get ridiculous. We picked the truck with the shortest line and it still took about an hour for us to order and receive our food. The lines for the cider depending on the booth could have no wait or a long one. I'd suggest picking which booths you want to try first because towards the end of the event many booths ran out of certain flavors. This goes for the donut booth in the center too. They only had one flavor left of normal sized donuts then only minis. Most of the ciders weren't that impressive plus it was hard to distinguish flavors without palette cleanser in between. My favorite was not a cider haha. It was actually a wine slushie from U-Freeze and second was a pumpkin cider from Doc cider.

I had a WONDERFUL time with my free tickets thanks to Yelp! I never thought there would be this…read moremany ciders and flavors to choose from, and was really impressed with many of them there (except for Virtue - which was straight vinegar, bleh). It was a perfectly gorgeous and oddly hot day, which made it incredible for this festival. Pros: 1. Huge selection of ciders! 2. Vendors were all super nice and most over poured that 2 oz mark! 3. Lots of Freebies! I had a LOADED bag of free Kind bars, free Mrs. Cookies, free chips and all this other great stuff by the time I left. 4. Great selection of food trucks from arepas to cheesesteaks 5. Awesome crowd! We made friends everywhere we sat or stood, people were just in a fabulous mood. Cons: 1. Music!!! It was limited to the strong bow tent - which let's be real was a scene straight from a VIP lounge in the club. Loved it. They had GREAT music, but that was about it. The venue could have really benefited from a live band or DJ or something. I really enjoyed myself, actually way more than I anticipated and look forward to future Cider festivals....I will just remember to book a hotel room closer to the venue!

Don't come expecting a "festival" per se; this is a good old fashioned neighborhood block party…read more Laid back, well behaved, family style event with enough beer, food, and music to keep you entertained for the afternoon. If your in the hood around graduate hospital and it's a sunny day - well you could do worse. Hang out, dig the the tunes, quaff a few, and feed your taste buds a few tasty morsels. Trust me- it's great way to pass a nice day. Bring the dog- everybody does....

This festival was really more plaza than palooza. On a gorgeous spring day with 5+ festivals, this…read morebarely made a blip on most people's festival radar. But I was determined to hit as many festivals as possible so I made this stop 2 (of 5). It was definitely my shortest stop of the day. With only a few good trucks ( what up poi dog) and tables, there wasn't much to palooze. There was a good amount of seating area and it was not nearly as crowded as the Rittenhouse Row Festival, Headhouse/South Street Fest, Maifest or the Piazza though which was a big plus. Live music was great and I think they were giving out free pretzels. Just a cute little neighborhood fest. Not worth the trip from out of town, but totally worth venturing to if you're in the hood and like festivals and truck food but not crowds!

Here is the skinny on a Night Market, a summed up version if you will. I tell you what the "Pros…read moreand Cons" were in my humble opinion. Pros~ * Food Trucks lining up so you can stuff your face. * Beer Tents to keep you hydrated while waiting in the lines. * A workout where you are walking around exploring what else you can eat, while trying to burn a calorie or 2. * Food, a whole lot of food to peruse. * Side tents with more food being grilled, smoked, or barbecued. * Being with friends who enjoy block parties. * Dessert Trucks and stands. Cons~ * Waiting in line. * Some only take cash , no credit cards. * Walking behind slow people , or when they just stop and cause a jam up. * Not seeing the food truck you want there. * Promotion tents set up trying to save the planet by going green, but offer you a free beer to sign up. * Can get crowded, so if you lack the patience to deal, then stay home. This one was on Front and Snyder underneath I-95 where yes it was great you could move around more easily than on the street. The issue was the smoke for the tents, pits, and trucks couldn't really escape, it kind of was hovering in certain areas. This one was a 3.5 , so I will again be generous and round up to a 4.

The Immersive Van Gogh Experience is definitely worth it. Absolutely loved it. Not sure how long it…read morewill be at Tower so go check it out if you haven't been yet. It's $35 and assuming you take the time to soak it all in, it will take about an hour. Be patient and watch all the moving pieces and read the placards. When you get to the big room, take a seat or lay down and enjoy the beauty unfolding. And color your own art at the end. This is such an incredible way to experience Van Gogh's art and I highly recommend it.

Checked out "Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" from seeing all the promos around the net. It was…read morea unique technological experience. In the late afternoon on Saturday, decided to purchase the basic ticket online for $49.90 and took myself on a solo date to The Tower Theater. The staff had some technical difficulties finding my ticket in their system when I arrived, but eventually they found it. Before you go into the experience, you can grab a drink, which I did. I went for the "The Van Gogh". It was a very light cocktail, and I wasn't expecting much from it. It was interesting to read some of Van Gogh's life and to see his paintings in a moving visual or in a 3D dimensional type of way. Afterwards, you can color one of his paintings with medium sized crayons and/or do the virtual reality (which I did not purchase). I think the price for the weekend was way too expensive for what was offered. The entire experience was decent. Also, was able to find nearby street parking and downloaded the needed app for meter parking.

I had a film accepted to this festival, didn't know anything about it so I flew out to it before…read moreother festivals on the docket, as a good excuse to see Philly for the first time. They had the various films playing all around the city, which makes it impossible to get a pass and really enjoy other films since parking in Philly is a nightmare. They need to consolidate the films, like other festivals do. Anyway... so the checking in... again, impossible to park, so get a friend to drop you off while they circle the block. The volunteer was great but they ran out of lanyards to hold our passes (a sponsor pulled out)... which didn't matter anyway, since nobody checked them to get into the screening. Our film screened... um, literally, in the upstairs/back room of a bar? WHAT!!? ZERO signage out front, the people working at the bar had no idea it was going on later that night. Nobody knew how to operate the projector. When they finally did get it running, the picture was out of sync and totally cropped. The place, at max, could hold maybe 20 people, but since they didn't do any publicity or advertising for it, it was just us filmmakers watching our own movies, like at home - the screen was tiny. I was actually embarrassed since we got two friends to come out. The other films there were great though... we all just deserve a better viewing situation. There was such a lack of communication every step of the way. The general email had a typo in it so that got bounced back and, one of the organizer's email address ended up spamming us, and leading up to the festival... any questions went unanswered. They finally said to bring a Blu-Ray screener... but that was wrong for our venue, fortunately I brought a DVD back-up. I love what they're trying to do but after having gone to similar festivals with five years under their belts as well... this one is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind. They really have to work on getting butts in the seats and getting one or two 'great' venues instead of one decent one four other embarrassing ones. It's great for a "laurel" for your film, but I'd highly advise not to fly in to support your film... unless you really want to see Philly. On the other hand, a friend of mine had a feature in this and didn't go... and he lives in Philly. Honestly though, for God's sake, if you're entering a festival in your home city and you're too good to go... then don't enter. Nobody creates festivals to make money... I just hope they can iron out a couple things... namely, scratching venues that are upstairs above a bar.

This festival is definitely up and coming with some of the most imaginative venues you could ever…read morehope for. I had a feature film in the festival and was completely psyched with the staff and overall experience. My film played in Sanctuary, a 200 year old cathedral about 1AM. There was an open bar and a nice bunch of people out late to see the film. My guests were treated to the open bar as well, which was a very nice touch. It was the most surreal venue, and the sound and screen were fantastic. The church held two other smaller venues as well. The fest had a big party atmosphere to it for the late night screenings on Friday/Saturday. I returned to the festival (90 minute drive) on the last day to support the other fillm makers and caught films on the three story IMAX screen of the Franklin Institute. This was intense. I saw an excellent documentary about gangster Willie Sutton as well as the animation program curated by the festival. I was certainly blown away. Landing a true IMAX at one of Philly's biggest museums is a real score. But I also caught a mindblowing foreign short, "Sea Pavillion" at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, another wonderful venue. Earlier in the day, I met experimental composer Joel Thome at a screening of the documentary about his life and work with Frank Zappa, "The Perfect Circle", when it played at Sanctuary. This was a very emotional film, but even moreso with Joel on hand for the Q&A afterwards. The closing party was a blast as well, also at Sanctuary, and also with an open bar for all filmmakers and their guests. I wasn't at all of the venues, so can't speak for the ones I missed, but I believe the staff did their best with limited resources. From one of the other reviews, I wonder if they simply spread themselves thin while trying to accept as many worthy films as possible. But I do know for sure that the staff worked very hard all weekend, and that they cared for the film makers and spread love to the Philadelphia film community. I have no complaints and nothing but praise for the staff. This festival is going to emerge over the next five years as one of the top spots on the East Coast. I'm sure they will work out any issues they had this year. I will attend next year whether I have a film ready for submission or not. It was well worth the entry fee and the trip (twice) to Philly. The presentation was ambitious and experimental. The vibe of the festival was pure.

Great spring festival featuring over 50 food trucks and vendors!…read more Main Street is closed down with food trucks nicely dispersed to accommodate lines. They had benches and tables clustered every so often. There's also 3 stages with live music and bands performing. For adult beverages there's the Beer Garden on Cotton Street. There's also bars and restaurants along the street that have outdoor seating and offer drink specials. The Bayou and the Cactus are good choices to grab a drink, let yourself digest a little, and you'd also have access to an indoor bathroom. While there are a lot of options for drinking, people don't wander around drunk and the festival is still very family friendly. Would definitely recommend arriving early. The parking lot on Green Lane fills up pretty quickly at $20 for festival parking until 5pm. The Mac Mart Cart and The Cow and The Curd lines fill up quickly so I'd try to make that your first stop. I would definitely recommend: -Cheese Curds with Siracha Mayo from the Cow and the Curd $9 -Mochi Nori Fried Chicken from Poi Dog $7 -Strawberry Nova from Undrgrnd Donuts I would pass on: -Spinach Artichoke Mac & Cheese from the Mac Mart Cart - nothing too exciting, not worth the wait -Bahn Mi Waffle from the Foolish Waffle - tasted good but the toppings were pretty minimal

Hello cool weather, hello festival season! Heralding the gorgeous Fall season and Manayunk's…read moreRestaurant Week (9/14/15-9/25/15), the Manayunk StrEAT Festival takes over Main St and stretches from Shurs to Green. http://manayunk.com/signature-events/fall-streat-food-festival/ With a gorgeous day in the forecast, we took advantage of the seasonal closure of Martin Luther King Jr./West River Drive (April-Oct wknds) to bike to the festival. (Also wanted to burn calories and avoid driving ... because festival parking is as frustrating as the traffic). Vendors: * ~40 Food Trucks in attendance, as well as several arts/crafts, ice cream, wine/beer, and fashion trucks! Food prices vary, but most are in the festival-reasonable range of $4-$12. The wallet buster award goes to Surf and Turf for their $24 Surf and Turf Roll: Steak, lobster, kale, sundried tomato, and parmesan cheese. There was no line for this truck! * I noticed a high proportion of tots, mac+cheeses, and a multitude of pork products ... or maybe the fabulous smells and long lines of those units caught my eye more frequently. The trucks were well-clustered - there were a few strategic empty stretches on the street where folks have space to breathe. Omg I need a break!: * Most of the stores are open, allowing for a bit of quiet respite from the outdoor festivities. Spouse had a bike issue and stopped in Human Zoom for a quick repair. Whereas I underestimated the cooler temperatures and dropped by Philadelphia Runner for a pullover - giving it a road/bike trial run on the way home! I gotta go PP (cause, yea, you know me): * There are porta-loos strategically/discreetly placed around the festival. I did not use them, I did not smell them, I did not see serpentine lines leading to them. I even doubted they were there! Foot Traffic: * With the nice weather, the festival was quite busy but nowhere near the crushing insanity of Rittenhouse Row Festival. Pets are allowed, and strollers in abundance. Watch your step, and watch your pets! Notes: * Don't eat the morning of (and night before?) the festival to max stomach space for yums. * Walk on sidewalks for free smells (kitchen vents out the back of the trucks) * Walk on sidewalks to fast track to desired destination(s) * Bring cash - don't let a faulty card swipey thing stand in the way of noms! * Bike/take mass transit if possible - vehicle parking is scarce! Will definitely be back in Spring 2016 if weather permits!

So much fun! Lots of variety of food and arts! Must go ... add it to your calendar! Glad I wentread more

We love going to the Manayunk Arts Festival. We had a great time, but unfortunately it was too hot…read moreto walk around for any length of time. Hopefully next year the weather will be cooler.

Fantastic intimate venue with a wide variety of music! A longtime friend of ours brought us there…read morelast year and we were completely blown away by the band and their ability to sound exactly like so many different famous artists. This year, the same friend rented out the entire place including two sets by the house band for a milestone birthday celebration. I believe they have catering packages, but in this case, our friends supplied the food while the venue supplied the beverages and took care of cleaning up. The band really engages the audience with singalong parts, clapping, waving your hands in the air, etc. It was incredible fun; take a look at some of the pics: Note: the sound is superb but incredibly loud so don't forget to bring some hi-fidelity hearing protection.

The music is fantastic. The house band has always been great and I've enjoyed every show. However,…read morethe "concert seating" is extremely tight and uncomfortable. I'm 6 foot 1 inch and I can barely fit between the seats.