Amazing free all day jazz festival on the plaza. Last year I think it was the day before Father's…read moreDay. Also a great way to get people from all over the region and even some visitors like my dad to support the many amazing businesses in Downtown Silver Spring.

The Silver Spring Jazz Festival is an enjoyable event. There was a variety of jazz styles and…read moreartists, which I appreciated. It didn't really get busy until after 5. There are some benches but it's best to bring your own chairs. The beer garden was disappointing because it was only beer--no wine, mead, or cider. And there were only two breweries with limited offerings. It was a cute setup but the furniture looked flea-ridden. We sat on the least chairs with the least amount of fabric. Food and shopping vendors were limited and disappointing as well. One Thai food vendor that has awful food and then some stands that looked like they belonged at Fiesta Shows. Better to support local downtown restaurants. So when you come to this event, you are really coming for the music. Which is fine because the music was really good. I've been to a few DTSS events and this was the best one by far. Every other event has been dismal and I want better for Silver Spring. But the Jazz Festival is worth it.

I have not seen anybody looking at the phone screen @ this festival which is a testament of things…read morebeing interesting and moving quickly. Entertainment was great: starting with the basic African drumming, continued with the dance and followed by steel drums music with a lot of good fillers between (African Zumba and South African country dance). The vendors offered very unique items to buy - from minerals to clothing and sandals and jewelry. Sales people were very kind and willing to explain the meaning of everything they were selling. It was a teaching moment for kids to see the works of art featuring Mandela. The venue was perfect, 7 story garage right at the venue, big parking lot nearby and street closed. The menu was interesting - a true African cuisine. My choice - it turned out very good - was a food vendor from Ivory Coast. Croaker fish was delicious and it offered a different experience just by virtue of having to pull the meat from the bone instead of eating it in a fish stick. The fish was wonderful, not fatty but flaky. The couscous was not North African but West African style and slightly sour. Plantains were divine (soft and sweet) and doughnuts different (consistency more like bread - a bit harder). Rice and greens met my expectation. I did not notice any North African country represented in the entertainment or in vending shop. Most northern products were from Ethiopia selling under premise of African art. This is a very convenient, very fast pace and fun festival with good food.

We use to really enjoy coming to this annual event but it's progressively gone downhill. A lot of…read moremarketing and seldom do the food vendors display the ticket costs until you ask. Fun with small children for maybe a couple hours. Huge increase in Latino and Asian foods, be careful a couple of the dishes were so bad we threw most away. Also the cost for what you get continues to climb. My 2 pics were 4 tickets each which converts to $8 apiece? Yikes.

Bad service and mediocre food. Disappointing, nothing homemade or special about it. Just average…read morechicken and French fries. I seriously think Popeyes is better

It pains me to give two stars to any festival as the festivals are supposed to be celebratory and…read morehappy, great culinary experiences and sharing cultures and knowledge. The problem with the Nigerian Festival is that the Nigerians did not show up. Being late one hour does not mean anything when you are late for nothing. Music was going on, few vendors showed up. Three food vendors (Senegal, Congo and Nigeria) with limited food choices. I tried two dishes. One had a fake jollof rice as jollof rice should be red. One tasted like a subdued Indian spicy meal and the one with real (reddish) jollof rice was not amazing. The doughnuts were OK. Whoever organizes this carnival needs to care a bit more about it and get the crowd moving and get them excited about something. I cannot wait to tell my Nigerian friend at work how disappointed I was with the entire thing.

Shame on me for not consulting with Yelp before going to today's (5/8/22) Jamaica in Silver Spring…read moreEvent. I was looking for something interesting to take my mom and the some of my siblings to and this event looked interesting. I came across the following advertisement on EVENTBRITE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taste-of-jamaica-tickets-257838169907 And after reading it, I thought, "whoa, what a bargain and even better that proceeds were going to charity." So I purchased four so-called "early bird tickets" for $15, with a $2 service charge for each ticket. Now, I like to consider myself a semi-intelligent person and an even savvier shopper who usually reads the fine print. The main reason I purchased the Early Bird Eventbrite tickets was this section: "EARLY BIRD MENU PRICE OF $15 will be offered again for JERK CHICKEN, JERK PORK, JERK RIBS, CURRY CHICKEN AND BROWN STEW CHICKEN. VALID ONLY AT THE TASTE OF JAMAICA BOOTHE. REGULAR PRICE WILL BE $20----$25." So most "reasonable" folks buying this would assume that the $15 price would pay for any of the items listed in the description of the ticket..right? So imagine my surprise when we arrived around 1:30pm, showed our etickets and were flatly told that the $15 early bird ticket only allowed us ONE of the chicken items - which BTW were already priced at $15!!! So what did I pay the extra $2 service charge for, if the it would've been cheaper for me to just pay at the tent? And when I tried to show the "manager the text of the ticket which said my early bird ticket, he insisted that it did not cover either the Jerk Pork or Jerk Ribs" since those were extra. He kept reiterating he wasn't "responsible" for what "gets put on the website," however I see the review for 2018 has an eerily similar experience. What's worse, the group before my family stepped up to order, also got the early bird tickets, and they were able to split their entree orders (such as getting 1/2 curry chicken and 1/2 jerk chicken), while we were curtly told, "that wasn't allowed." Saay what? I don't want to speculate as to why my family received different treatment from the group before us...you'd have to ask the "manager" guy. As for the food - meh. The curry chicken was super oily and the only real flavor was salt and hardly any curry spice was detectable. And the jerk chicken was super dry and mostly bones (again, similar experience to the last reviewer 4 years ago) and had a very bland flavor profile. As one final "shady" item, when we got our food and were leaving, I asked some of the staff about the charitable contribution that the Eventbrite ticket listed: "THANKS FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT. WE ARE COLLECTING SCHOOL MATERIALS FOR OUR CHARITY ( JAMAICA EDUCATION FOR THE POOR FOUNDATION, 501(C) NON-PROFIT) The lady who portioned out our food had a bewildered look on her face and then once again referred me to the "manager" guy who said, "oh yeah, we are using 'some' of the proceeds today are going towards a charity." Not really a resounding vote of confidence there. BTW, there was also ZERO signage anywhere in his tent about proceeds benefiting any charity. In the future, if this business comes up again with Eventbrite, I say avoid, avoid, avoid.

Taste of Jamaica does not gather tens of thousands of people so the wait in the line for the food…read moreis only between 2 and 10 minutes. It has free nearby parking, no entrance fee, jamming reggae, a lot of food vendors. Hats were only $5. People are walking around, sipping coconut water from fresh cut coconut. Everybody is smiling or dancing. Vendors product are priced reasonable. I got a got a goat curry with the vegetable and it was great. Meat was just about to fall off the bones and goat meat had the texture of lamb meat. It was just mildly spicy and it was plenty. I tried fish with jerk seasonings and it was good too. Here is a small video that brings the atmosphere. https://vimeo.com/221112689 I would love to go again next year and try ox tails and dance more.

Bladensburg Waterfront Park was transformed into an African marketplace when artists, storytellers,…read moredancers, and food vendors from Senegal to Somalia converged for Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation's inaugural "Celebrate Africa! Festival!" Parking was free with no entrance fee. African Market was very interesting with about 25 market booths. The biggest problem was that there was only one food stand (Ghana food) with the most expensive meal being $10, so the cost was reasonable but the food line was not. That is one thing where this annual festival must improve next year. The food (Jollof Rice with beef/chicken) was good but I would have loved to have had fish. The program was great - the drumming almost puts you in some state of trance while figures on stilts went by blessing people and dancing. The faces of all people around me had smiles as if drumming touched the soul and found goodness in everybody. I learned/listened Kalimba, an African instrument I never knew existed. I was amazed how well the (American born) kids played and enjoyed it themselves. It was so refreshing to see how they care about their heritage in such artistic way - with music and dance. Here is a small video with an atmosphere: https://vimeo.com/295049688 Since we are solely children of Africa - modern humans (Homo sapiens) having a single origin in Africa - it was easily to understand why I enjoyed so much. I would have loved to see The Art of African Head Wrapping Workshop next time and try more different food. Thank you P.G. County for a great event.

30th Annual Lunar New Year (TET) festival loudly celebrated decades of strong presence of hard…read moreworking and crafty Vietnamese community in Maryland. This was the second time I attended this festival and I saw no glaring differences. Lots of music, lion dance, even "adorable children contest" (I saw only adorable children) is a standard staple of celebrating New Year. Lot of flowers (apricot blossoms) that are traditional blooms for Viet New Year makes this event very colorful. And then there are drinks and food. Sweet Vietnamese coffee and bubble tea are everywhere. Women were busy making Banh Mi. Dozen other stands offered various Vietnamese food specialties but they all carried the spring rolls. This is not very diverse festival and I really stuck out (maybe because I am super tall). Yes, the spring rolls and meat balls were affordable and delicious but the best thing that I could have hoped for (something new and different) happened when I saw the stand serving CHAO LONG. The Cháo lòng is actually quite mild and surprisingly palatable. The consistency may be a turn off to some, but I completely embraced its subtle chewiness (slices of pork liver and heart and added blood sausage). Cháo lòng is certainly not the most aesthetically pleasing dish, but its flavors and textures more than make up for its lack of presentation. Fresh bean sprouts, scallions, rice, fresh ground pepper, lime wedges addition to the broth and meat create a really flavorful dish that I enjoyed very much. I was very happy to make a pilgrimage to TET Vietnamese New Year again and this was my second New Year this year while still expecting Chinese, Tao, Persian and Ethiopian New Year's celebration to follow.