10th Annual Sacramento Aloha Festival 2021…read more Aloha kākou! This year the Aloha Fest was held at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn. I've never attended the location at the Cal Expo but the location in Auburn was a beautiful park-like venue with lots of greenery outside in the open air. It was a nice place to hold the event. The weather was sunny and in the low 80's. Perfect weekend for ending the summer! Folks were out in their lawn chairs just enjoying the day. There was no shortage of entertainment (live native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander), fun workshops, Aloha merchandise, and delicious Polynesian food!!! There were resource vendor booths, educational exhibits, and an arts and crafts Keiki Korner, and lots more. Restrooms were nearby and the grounds was wheelchair accessible. We attended to watch my boss's little keiki participate on stage with the KŪHAI HĀLAU O KANOHEAOKALIKOLAUA'E PĀ 'ŌLAPA KAHIKO dance group led by Kumu Hula, Nohea Macugay. We also participated (attempted) at the Tahitian Workshop with the VAIPUNA NO TE HERE dance group led by Director, Stephanie Manuel. My daughter belongs in the dance group and was part of the workshop. -whew- what a workout. Also, saw my favorite band, Island Sunset Band, on stage. My favorite because "Unko" is a guitar player (married to Yelper, "Aunty" Ronnie B) This was a much needed coming together and made me miss the islands. It's the next best thing in the mainland if you're not in Hawaii... Aloha... A hui hou! Review #2397

It's no longer held at Cal expo. It's held in Auburn during the month of September The new…read morelocation is a lot better than Cal expo

We came for the first time on NYE night & could tell that some homes were not as decked out/lit up…read moreanymore & the experience was not full impact. However, there were hardly any cars, so we could do a slow, easy drive. It was still magical with lots of lights throughout this neighborhood. The standout feature was that the streets were lined with continuous strings of white lights that swagged down the participating areas, creating lit paths to follow. It was impressive! There were definitely some houses that went above, while others were more simple, but all delightful to see. Here & there, Christmas trees were in the middle of a court or roundabout. We aren't familiar with the neighborhood & lost track of how we meandered through, so next year we'll try to figure out a good route. We'll definitely plan to come back earlier during the next holiday season to enjoy the full experience.

Rockmont/Java Ct. Lights are some of the best Christmas lights I've seen! My favorite was the Home…read moreAlone house! The lights are viewable the day after Thanksgiving until New Year's Eve! They collect non-perishable food for local food banks and donations to local charities as well! We'll be back, maybe again tonight! SYOY! :D

Beautiful Time Celebrating Ancient Cultural Diversity in Sacramento!…read morehttps://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/lantern-street-festival-sacramento?select=wSSUqMiUI0sCyIE8XEcSpw&userid=3mNz5nQFTIBQm0oU5mBR0w SITREP Fremont Park in Downtown Sacramento became the site of the lovely Lantern Festival. https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/lantern-street-festival-sacramento?select=Ay_BfKSvzAy8Nd9X9w4rzw&userid=3mNz5nQFTIBQm0oU5mBR0w THE SETUP Sacramento has a large Chinese community - and has had one nearly since the founding of this city, and definitely since the founding of The Great State of California. The Spring Lantern Festival ("Lantern Festival") is a Chinese festival celebrated historically on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar. It marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. Fremont Park was the site for this year's festival and became a hub of activity with Decorated Lanterns, a music concert, a food truck convo, and so much more fun! https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/lantern-street-festival-sacramento?select=ud0mxk_sXgV9GGoSp91EdQ&userid=3mNz5nQFTIBQm0oU5mBR0w LIGHT TOYS! A festival such as this DOES inspire some marked "branch-offs" when it comes to pleasing the sensibilities of children: many lighted toys make their way into the festivals. Many kids brought their light-sabers contributing to the visual array of lights. There are also some creations that I swear are Harry Potter-inspired, such as the "Lighted-Wands" that come with their own lighted globe on the end of the wand. https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/lantern-street-festival-sacramento?select=a2aUOqyuUd10pTam9dVN9w&userid=3mNz5nQFTIBQm0oU5mBR0w ANCIENT HISTORY As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC), the Lantern Festival has been imbued with great significance for children, who go out at night, carrying their paper lanterns, and solving riddles that adults have placed on the lanterns. In those ancient times, lanterns were plain, and often only the nobility could afford the making of large ornate lanterns. These days, lanterns feature many different embellishments with intricate designs, including being in the shape of animals or symbols. THE WEST Because of our significant Chinese communities all over the United States, including here in California, the Lantern Festival is a significant Cultural Celebration. It is noted in many other Western countries as well, especially in cities with a large Chinese community: for example, in London, the Magical Lantern Festival (the largest Lantern Festival outside of China) is held annually. THE LOWDOWN A beautiful celebration giving we Sacramentans to enjoy some more great cultural diversity with our neighbors.

This is my second time attending the Harvest Festival and it's just not worth it. I will say the…read morefirst time I came, it was $10 to park and $10 to enter but this time it was $10 to park and $5 to enter. Even then it didn't seem worth it. The space wasn't even at capacity for vendors and a majority of the vendors seemed like food items. I've purchased wholesale items before for my small business and a vast majority of the clothing is white labeled and marked up at a huge increase, which I get but don't try and pass it off as homemade. There was a sign for a full bar and maybe 3 food truck vendors as well as a live singer for entertainment. There is also a large sign stating no video or photography of vendor items which is kind of a bummer. Took me about 40 minutes to make my around the entire thing and I ended up purchasing nothing. Side note - the fliers they sent out to their mailing list says you can purchase tickets online for $6.50 but you also have to pay a processing fee BUT buying at the door is a flat $5, makes no sense. And there is no benefits to doing so online because you still wait in the same line as regular at the door ticket purchasers.

We were looking forward to attending at this large venue on Saturday, which we did. Unfortunately…read moreit was just so-so. We saw all of the vendors and purchased a couple of loaves of bread but we left not talking about anything we saw. Nothing just knocked our socks off or was memorable. I guess overall it was disappointing.

We have attended the Buddhist church Japanese food & cultural bazaar so so many many times. This…read moreyear 2025 it was expected to be 100 degrees. Thank goodness the band we came for started playing at 11 AM. Even then it was toasty already that we decided to leave early like before 1 PM. A suggestion is they need misters to combat the heat! We were at another different kind of festival where there were fan misters! My wife loved it! We ran into old friends. This year we didn't bother getting food bc the lines were crazy busy but my wife is on a special diet so she can't eat much of the food anyway. Many people around us bought food & the sizes looked smaller. We were even tempted to buy Gunther's freezes! Now that was super smart to have for sale, very refreshing! The teriyaki beef sammy was huge I heard this year. Inside the church gym they sold sushi & udon. Outside the food was for sale & the lines forked for days. So you must be patient. This year like the last year it was only a 1 day event. I think since Covid it has changed considerably bc before it used to be a 2 days event. I'm sure we will try again if we aren't gone traveling & the weather is cooler! I know fat chance that happens! It's like the live band Eastwind always brings the HEAT!!! There has been an occasional time that it was cool that day. That's very rare though. Maybe next year! Heehee. Watch my wife book a trip! We shall see...

This year was my first time coming to the Japanese & Cultural bazaar. I've always wanted to check…read moreit out, but my schedule has never allowed me to. I met up with friends and ran into friends I haven't seen in a while so this was a nice meet up. I arrived early as my friend has a table and we checked out the different food offerings and split up because the lines were going to be long so each person took on another order and got in line and bought the food to make the process faster. There was so much food to choose from I was so excited! We got Yakisoba noodles, Udon noodles, teriyaki grilled chicken, rice, and my favorite!! The beef sandwich it was huge! And Spicy tuna sushi rolls. They had desserts of all kinds for sell, but I didn't get any it looked amazing thought. It was a lot of people and long lines everywhere. I had a great time enjoying food with friends and just mingling. I will definitely come back next year it is well worth it and the food is fantastic! They also had a band performing ol'skool music. If you haven't been you have to check it out. You will not be disappointed.

This was the first year I attended the Farm to Fork Street Festival and I'm so sad I missed out on…read moreyears of fun. No worries though, this has become a must attend event for my family. The festival was Friday and Saturday for 2024 and we attended on the Friday. It's free to enter. We arrived on the earlier side, around 5pm and it wasn't too crowded and lines for food were short. We grabbed drink tickets, which were reasonably priced- $8 for beer, $12 for cocktails and I think $10 for wine (we didn't get any wine though). There was music, a silent disco, local vendors, and on Friday there was a private Grand Tasting event that costs extra and was sold out the day of the event. We ended up stopping for drinks with Midtown Spirits, grabbed some adobo bacon jerky with Baboy Boys, a chicken and rice plate with Sweet Mother 101 and a bucket of lumpia and chicharones from Lumpia Bucket. It seemed like prices were a bit more festival prices than everyday prices, but the food was good! We walked around for a while, visited some of the interactive booths/vendors and headed out after a few hours. As we were leaving the crowds were getting larger and the lines were getting longer. They had music going throughout the event, and it was fun to listen to. Next year we plan to come on Saturday and start early in the day again. We would also consider doing the Grand Tasting in the future.

This is our second year in a row going to this festival and it's one of the better ones in town -…read moreand best of all it's free! You can reserve parking ahead of time online too for a cheaper rate so we got a spot in a parking garage right up front for only $8. There are tons of food and drink vendors, as well as shopping and local goods! They have live music all day with brief breaks in between. There are some chairs and tables set up around the event but you're better off just bringing a picnic blanket and setting up on one of the many grassy areas. I appreciate that they do the event for two days so you have the opportunity to make it to one or both days. We like going in the afternoon because the tall buildings will block out the sun by then so the weather is much cooler!

After missing a few years of the Sacramento Arts Festival because of the pandemic, Joe K and I were…read moreexcited again to visit this once a year event! It only happens for three days in November. This time I felt like our lives were starting to have a semblance of routine and normalcy. We chose a Saturday to attend. Masks of course, were required and we were even asked to show our Covid-19 vaccine cards. I looked forward to seeing several of my favorite artists, but alas, they were not present this year, except for one. I did splurge on a lovely glass blown sea creature design by Shawn Tsai. But many wonderful artists did participate this year, making it an enjoyable day. We still made a point of visiting the regulars, seeing some new ones, and missing the ones that were not there this year.  But at least we had a full and enjoyable day making special purchases and conversing with some of the friendly people. It's nice to have more culture in our area and this show is one that makes you more aware of the beauty that people can create and inspire! The yearly tradition resumes!

It is time again to dust off the murse and head to the Sacramento Arts Festival for a great day of…read morelooking at art while listening to some mellow music. Hopefully I will find some great Christmas presents for the family at the same time. After a stop for banana nut pancakes and Belgium beer we finally made our way into the convention center while a band played some smooth jazz in the background. The first thing I noticed was that the venders had their noses stuck to their cell phones, i-pads, and Kendalls. No one seemed to be paying attention to their potential customers. Is this what our world has come to? I wanted to yell at them; "put down your phones, the real world is out here". This baffling behavior continued until I finally came across a tie salesman from Berkeley by the name of Mitchel Rubin. You might think there is not much interesting about ties, but that would be because your eyes have not crossed paths with these whimsical artistic masterpieces. Mitchel not only had regular neckties but had pre tied bow ties and bow ties that you had to tie yourself for the bow tie purest and if that was not enough to get you all excited he had whimsical artistic suspender masterpieces as well. This guy was talented! He even had matching sets. Of course my girl friend had to check out all of the handcrafted jewelry and we both enjoyed the various pottery and hand blown goods. Then my girl friend found a comfortable pair of sandal that she could not pass up and I found a couple of hand thrown coffee mugs with frogs and dragonflies to buy my sister for Christmas. We stopped for a couple of frozen mochas (this has become an annual tradition) before continuing on. It was not long before my girl friend came across a ceramic masterpiece she had to get for a family member and I came across a hand blown glass Christmas ornament that looked kind of like a sparkling avocado (I buy my daughter some kind of handcrafted ornament every year). That is when I realized that I had not bought my annual Todd Borg suspense novel yet so we went in search of the Novelist from Tahoe. After purchasing the latest "Owen McKenna Mystery Thriller" and having Todd Borg personally sign it, we had just about conquered the show when my girl friend decided that we needed to get a present for a very special friend of hers so we spent at least another hour looking for the perfect present that would most clearly express our love for this friend. It was truly another successful year at the Sacramento Arts Festival.

What a fun annual events for all ages!…read more There is free parking in the nearby lot if you get their early or you can park in the neighborhoods and walk into the park. There is also paid parking ($13) that you have to pre-pay online. Follow the signs for "PRE-PAY" and scan the QR code with the person at the gate. Paying for parking was the way to go, it was a short walk into the event when some of my family members had to park far into the neighborhoods. There are some chicken themed vendors and a few chicken dishes can be found at the food trucks. We witnessed a chicken call contest on stage where the person with the best chicken cluck got a gift card for $25! There seemed to be some chicken themed activities for the kids as well. Country music and hay bales as seats. 2 Beer/Wine gardens to ease you from the heat. I bought a load of jalapeno cheese bread from the cutest bakery vendor. We brought our camp chairs and set up under the shade to hear the music and check out the vendors. Beer tickets were $7 and there was a pretty good variety. Fun time!

The Fair Oaks Chicken Festival is a must go to event for everyone. There is something for all ages…read more Lots of craft and business vendors, a few food trucks, music on multiple stages and a place for the kids to have fun & play. First time attending the festival, my 2 year old granddaughter and I went and had a blast. We walked around the different vendors, received some free items including a cool chicken hat, little chicken squish toys which she loved, and we learned a few things from the vendors. Had a Mango sorbert and Pink Lemonade from one of the food trucks that was the best I have ever had. Yum! Prices were good for the large size of the items. Parking wasn't too bad, we found some at a nearby business who offered their lot to festival patrons and didn't have to walk to far. There was lots of security walking around the festival, which made you feel safe. My granddaughter had so much fun coloring on the Kids Color Board, bouncing in the bounce houses and playing the mini carnival games. We will definitely will be back next year.

This was our first time visiting the Fab 40's this year (2025). We arrived on a Saturday night…read morearound 7 p.m. and only made it to the beginning of 40th Street before running into heavy congestion. It was already packed with people and cars on the narrow street. With young kids in the car, the experience quickly became frustrating, so we decided to leave. It also took a while just to turn into a less busy street so we could exit the area. Unfortunately, we didn't get to fully experience the Fab 40's due to the traffic and crowding, so we're giving it two-stars despite the positive reviews. Next time, we'll likely try visiting during non-peak hours in hopes of better enjoying and appreciating the holiday lights.

This spot offers a delightful experience. We finally returned this year after not coming for a bit…read more You see lots of beautiful lights & original displays. On some streets, tree trunks wrapped in lights line the sidewalks. On other streets, strings cross from above. You can also admire the architecture of the neighborhood. Lots of walkers & cars visit, so be courteous & careful. You won't see too much in the way of over-the-top crazy displays of saturated decor or inflatables, but it's definitely worthwhile to enjoy a magical time here of lots of lights in one area.

71/18/2025- Another…read moreannual family day at the State Fair-! Although we didn't arrive when they opened-, lucked out- no lines and weather was very nice-.. Very grateful as both my boys took the time to spend the day! A little disappointed with the exhibits - which we all love to see- the one exhibit was more like an empty building with a few vendors selling.. The livestock building only had goats- might have went at the wrong time-.. My oldest son had a very good observation point- When we walked by the seals- they were blaring out music-and one can only imagine the seals enduring that for how many hours-.. Massive corn dogs were $19.99 - better than last year which was all dough- Cinnamon rolls with a new Tres leches variety!". Glad we made it down... and looking forward to another year..

Parking is $17 on top of admission cost (advance purchase) at Cal Expo, and they enforce a…read moreridiculous bag rule (bags need to be 5×8 or clear), a shitty policy that's super inconvenient. Besides these two things, I think the California State Fair has much improved in the last two decades and has plenty to offer for different tastes and preferences. Rabbits, alpacas, llamas, birds, cattle dogs, guinea pigs, goats, horses, pigs, and sheep can be found in the Tractor Supply Co. Big Barn. Obviously most of my attention went to the adorable bunnies! In addition to this, there's a petting zoo outside for guests to interact with the animals inside their pen (for a fee) and pony and camel rides on site (for a fee). The fair also offered sky rides on gondolas over the Sky River, and plenty of exhibits and entertainment for festivalgoers. I enjoyed checking out the Insect Pavilion at The Farm where I got to view and read about the greenbottle blue tarantula, thorny devil stick insect, and painted lady butterflies, cooking demonstrations galore and free tastings (tea sampling, honey sampling, olive oil sampling), the Superhero Exhibit (which looked fun for kids), the beautiful California Flowers on display, the animal sculptures at the California Forest Center, and the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs, classic entertainment at the fair not to be missed. The Drumheads were awesome! (separate review on this). The Sea Lion Splash was new to me and quite adorable (separate review on this). Master hypnotist, Tina Marie, did her thing at the PG&E Center Stage with a massive seating and viewing area in the middle of the Expo Center, I've seen her show too many times to count, at different locations, but she does the biggest show at this particular fair. At the Exposition Center, eight expo halls each featured a unique experience for visitors. I explored several that stood out to me, including a "Candy Maze" with some sweet photo ops, "It's a Wild Wild World Adventure" (Conservation Ambassadors' Wild Things) with several species of wildlife on display like black and white ruffed lemurs, kookaburras named Chuckles and Giggles (their bird calls sound like human laughter), capybara, red kangaroo, african crested porcupines, and reindeer, "POPnology" with displays highlighting pop culture's impact on technology, and the "Rustic Charm Marketplace" selling antique signs, furniture, and more. It wouldn't be a fair without carnival rides and games, great for kids. But I'm more amused by the various entertainers roaming the fairgrounds on stilts and community stage performers throughout, with an endless schedule and diverse lineup of live music by numerous bands. I enjoyed the sounds of Dylan Vroom playing tunes on the acoustic guitar, Michael Country Walker rockin songs like Tennessee Whiskey, and Jay Rin (part of a father/daughter duo) performing hits like Cups (When I'm Gone) and Come Together by the Beatles with her guitar and vocals, as well as the Silver City string band with its classic bluegrass and country music. The food court had a great setup, a stage on one end, a ton of shaded seating, and endless food stands lining both sides as well as the outside of the food court. No shortage of fair food could be found throughout the venue actually, lots of options to choose from. I had a pastrami sub from Grinders Sandwiches and of course a chocolate and strawberry funnel cake from one of many funnel cake vendors (they had at least 5 different stands selling these yummy deep fried sweet treats!).