I had a lot of fun at this faire! Loved the setting with plenty of tall trees and dappled shade -…read morereally helped in the hot weather. There was a huge variety of vendors with high quality goods, and plenty of options for foods and drinks. There were free water-refill spots to help everyone stay hydrated and keep those reusable water bottles full! I caught several shows, a bit of music, and sat and admired all the incredible costumes of the staff / vendors and the other guests. There were archery lessons, a blacksmith with a forge, several vendors with beautiful swords, and so much more! They had a booth with a game for kids to catch "rats" throughout the faire - I didn't catch the details, but the kids were clearly having a ton of fun with this. I arrived shortly before the gates opened and was happy to see plenty of parking, and plenty of staff on hand to direct vehicles (sounds like this is an improvement from last year). I would happily make this drive again, it was very enjoyable.

Not a Ren Faire - something maybe for children - pretty much sucked. Jousting was good. Vendors…read morewere meh

Had a great time at Oktoberfest this year. In my mind, Mount Angel is the one and only top quality…read moreOktoberfest around here. I've gone to others and assist us a disappointment after going to Mount Angel. I've come here every year for at least 15 years maybe longer. Thank you to the city officials for putting on such a great event.

Disappointing. Commercialism at its worst. Little to no music or events. Vendors everywhere trying…read moreto feed the masses. Very expensive. Take what's great with Germany and turn it into a $$

This is the (often literally) beating heart of Mount Angel's seasonal festivities: a massive,…read moreBavarian-style community center, within which the largest, rowdiest and most festive events can be found! With its high ceilings and spacious interior, it's a safe gathering place, even amidst the Covid crisis (although masks and social distancing are still recommended, as much as possible, especially around drunk people). Here, you frequently find live music (polka!), beers, ciders and other beverages on tap, a modest if unspectacular grill (Pro Tip #1: eat elsewhere during festive events), and actual restrooms (Pro Tip #2: forget the Honey Buckets; use these)! Oktoberfest, Volksfest, Wurstfest are all worth attending for the fun and frivolity, and I'm sure there are several other local events that make use of this colossal community space, during the "off-season". Despite the booze and brews, this venue is for all ages, up to a certain point in the night, when the parties start to become a bit...unhinged. Best to preserve your dignity and make sure the kiddos are tucked into bed before you really tie one on. Great gathering place, filled with wonderful memories and a spirit of community and brotherhood, even if most of us are drunken imports.

Great addition to the Mt. Angel venues for Oktoberfest and community use year round. It opened just…read morein time for Oktoberfest in 2011 and served as a biergarten. We visited later in the Winter for Wurstfest. This indoor community center has the benefit of modern construction and amenities with charming Bavarian scenes above the stage and throughout the building. Really nice multi-use facility for the community.

Came here for a late afternoon performance and has a great time. We arrived at 1pm to give us time…read moreto check out the animals and ride some rides. Loved visiting with all the sheep, pigs, and other farm animals. Then we bought $50 worth of tickets (120 to be precise), and most rides cost 12 tickets. Kids had a lot of fun. And visiting a fair wouldn't be complete without an elephant ear, which was tasty but much softer than I'm used to, plus cotton candy, an Amish donut, a gyro, burgers, and a corn dog. The lines for parking were atrocious so we parked off-site and walked, which worked out well. We'll be back!

best thing this year: draft horse shows were so well curated and exciting…read more worst thing: AI everywhere including actual fair signage :( depressing to look at

It's a naked bike ride, what more is there to say. It can be fun and interesting. Be open minded…read moreand remember it's for a great cause. It's to protest the world's dependency on oil.

The only problem is the date. It should be a Saturday in July. Its mostly at night and it was a…read morerefreshing 60 degrees. Cathedral Park was the best start location in five years. The band, stage, slope for viewing, just perfect.

From the website: "Wulapalooza is an annual urban earth, art and music festival that takes place on…read morethe campus of Willamette University. Local schools, performance groups, and professional bands perform for over a thousand students and community members annually with local businesses and student groups fundraising for various charitable organizations. We are an Earth Day and community festival that yearly brings in thousands of community members and students." Thee Emergency is one of my favorite bands, but since they usually stick around Seattle, I knew I had to make the trek to Wulapalooza to see them play. I did miss the entire first part of the festival with the student and community booths and whatnot, so my commentary pertains solely to the evening program. However, Wulapalooza remains one of the strangest events I have ever been to, and it's not just because of the name. We arrived when the band was setting up to a crowd of a hundred or so students milling around a field. I had to keep reminding myself that it was a community festival, because it always seemed like we were the only non-students there. So Thee Emergency came out and rocked hard, as they are wont to do, but Willamette U. students must not be the rocking-est, because they were dancing around as if it were some hippie drum circle or something. Now, I love me some hippie drum circles, but there is a time and a place, and it's not when this bluesy, punk-y, soulful throwback to 70's-style rock 'n' roll is playing out live ten feet away, the guitar player throwing out sweet licks from behind his head and everything. Maybe it was the dearth of shoes. Maybe a body requires footwear to rock out. Anyway, we couldn't take any more of that for a while, so we went to get some dinner before Mirah was set to take stage. When we got back, the beer garden seemed irresistible, but we saw the door person checking off names. Now, I went to a huge state school, and it seemed entirely impossible that a university could have a full list of its 21-and-over students contained entirely on printed pages in a small-ish binder. How quaint. The beer garden really was only for students, but we were somehow convincing as alums. Beer was 3 for $10, which mathematically doesn't make sense and is also silly for two people to split, but whatever. Also, they had all kinds of free food up there that we abstained from due to the fact that we weren't really meant to eat it. The fact that the school was providing an entire free party for its students was starting to set in, holy crap. Next was Mirah, who was unfortunately playing in a gymnasium due to some noise ordinance shenanigans. When a very serene sort of performer like Mirah is playing, you have to really pay attention, especially when she is playing in the middle of a gymnasium and you are sitting cross-legged in front of her. However, dozens of side conversations almost drowned out the music, and then some students decided to get as close as possible to the bassist in order to flick their Bics, and someone's kids were allowed to walk all over near the performers and grab their hand percussion instruments, and the people dancing majestically still couldn't get the beat right. We stayed as long as we could bear, but the magic was gone. On the way out, a big truck was backing up to the stage, shining its lights on some students on the field wrapped up in the provided blankets. Moral: private school is strange.

Wulapalooza is the day I look forward to the most all year. Wula brings Willamette students, Salem…read moreinhabitants, and music/art/earth/fun enthusiasts from surrounding areas together under the glorious umbrella of everybody having a damn good time for free. You'd be a fool to miss it.

I've been involved in a few organizations that put on successful event's and I'm perplexed at the…read moreUFO FESTs management. They consistently deliver the top tier speakers of the field, often people you would believe unobtainable, and these speakers ALWAYS deliver! Nothing feels rushed, the speakers are a comfortable walk from the downtown festivities that are entertaining and fun without feeling like a cheap money grab. Nothing about this fest lends any atmosphere of fundraising or profiteering strictly focusing on enjoyment. Last but not least, the volunteers. Everyone I interacted with was knowledgeable, helpful, and just plain genuinely pleasant to talk too. Where they found this many nice people I have no idea. Our 3rd year attending. I give McMinnamins UFO Fest a solid 10! 100% worth the trip!

Poor rating due exclusively because of a hugely disappointing Friday night presentation spoiled by…read moreone speaker, Jeremy Corbell. There were 3 speakers, one of whom was highly respected George Knapp, no problem with him or Dylan Borland, a whistleblower. But Corbell monopolized the conversation, overrode the other two constantly and it was painful to listen to. He spoke in circles, was repetitive, and gave us a steady barrage of acronyms, nothing at all noteworthy. A lot of bluster, F bombs and zero meaningful details about UAPs or ET. One hour in, bored people began to leave, after that a mass exodus. The director of the festival hopefully will take note of that.

The cooler Fall weather wasted no time arriving in the Willamette Valley. A little online search…read moreand I discovered what my weekend had in store for me. I love Corvallis, as it feels much like the College neighborhood I moved from in Indianapolis, and it feels much more progressive than its surrounding areas. My mini & I made the trip from Salem and found side street parking a few blocks from the free event. It was overcast with drizzle in the forecast but that didn't deter us. Having arrived around lunch time, we decided to do a quick loop and hit the food trucks. There were several nice options to choose from benefitting the community. We landed on splitting a chicken quesadilla and a cheesesteak and both got flavored lemonades care of Benton County Democrats for Constitutions in High Schools. The area was set up with a hand washing station and plenty of picnic tables and trash cans. Afterwards we hit the many rows of vendors and were blown away by the diversity of quality art and hand made jewelry, crafts and foods. We especially enjoyed the 6 pack of variety baklava from Damascus treats and must've sampled 50 flavored balsamic vinegars and dipping oils from Mama Celia's Gourmet Foods before narrowing down our selection and taking home five. I have very little wall space left in my home, so I gravitated to the artist greeting cards and ended up with quite the collection. The snarky magnets from Tongue and Beak has us crying and will make nice gifts. We were unable to see everything in one day, but its was nice to know its a two day festival. I'll definitely plan to make this an annual event and allow myself more time next year!

Amazing atmosphere! And it's free?!? What a great event to have in Corvallis. Artists from all over…read morethe Pacific Northwest are featured. There are food trucks, life music, and plenty to see and do.

As a native Portlander, it's incredibly insulting to have the prime 4th of July location for the…read moreCity of Portland taken over by this festival, which was free with donations for DECADES but now charges $55 and won't allow families to bring outside food. THIS WAS WHERE PORTLAND FAMILIES HAD THEIR PICNICS AND WATCHED FIREWORKS! This festival should be made free with donations again or move to a different weekend. The festival is nice, BUT Portlanders have a right to use their own huge, central park location for a 4th of July celebration EVERYONE can attend, like any other city. I have no idea why people have not stood up to this outrage the past several years.

I attended this on July 2nd, blues festival since Buddy Guy was playing. He's 86 and so this is…read morehis last tour. Prepaid tickets in June was $50. I also saw Cha Wa from New Orleans. They are a Mardi Gras Indian Band with feathered head dress. They were great performers doing Mardi Gras songs and R & B. Delgres, French Caribbean band performed on the Front Porch Stage. It's a smaller stage. Eric Gales did a great performance before Buddy Guy came on too. The festival got super crowded after 6 pm. One thing I didn't like was that there were only one area where the Sanican Restrooms were set up. So you had to walk to the center of the grounds and under the bridge. It got really dark at 5 pm when the lights were not turned on yet. Some of the grassy area had bird poop around, so you really have to sanitize your shoes and blanket afterwards.