This is a pretty decent-sized festival for the burbs. It has the typical carnival rides on the side…read moreand food tents setup that you usually see in suburban festival. I decided to check it out after a Northbrookian (or is it "Northbrook-ite"?) kept saying how awesome it was and that he so far went on the previous two days. Most be good, I though, eh? I have to agree that it was pretty good. The weather was perfect on Sunday and its right next to the Metra stop so there was parking that was really close by. So unlike other suburban festivals that are held in residential parks (think Arlington Heights Frontier Days) you don't have to take a tour of the neighborhood and drive around in circles looking for somewhere to park. The food there was decent and "festival priced" -- the currency there is tickets, tickets, tickets and they were selling 1-ticket for 50cents. I got the beef brisket sammich at some BBQ place called TK's which was awesome, and I shall "bookmark". This place showcased a lot of Northbrook restaurants that I shall try out in the near future. My forgetful memory entails that I'll need to lookup the names again :-/ Overall, a decent-sized festival that is worth checking out if you're in the burbs.

Rides, games, music, food, people That IS NB days fest. Located in downtown Northbrook, the village…read moregreen turns into a huge carnival area with food/game/ride vendors plus a large stage area with live music. The kids love it, big enough to have fun, small enough to still be some what contained. Rides can get expensive, they used to have a band deal but not sure what the current status of that is. This event fires up on a Wednesday in late July and soldiers on through until Sunday evening.

Another typical suburban festival -- carnival rides, mixed with music stages, and food tents, and…read moresometimes, business vendors. To be honest, I enjoy em, and this one, called Buffalo Grove Days, or what the cool kids call it -- "BG Days" is A-OK with me. I do like how this is well laid-out. There are shuttle buses to take/drop you to where you need to be. I didn't bother looking for parking and ended up parking at wherever the Buffalo Grove Days parking signs pointed to, which ended up being at the Buffalo Grove Metra station, which was free. I do have to say that the offering of carnival rides BG Days have, compared to the other copious amounts of suburban festivals, was less. It was actually hard to use up our 22-tickets (this year it was 22-tickets for $25) and I'm glad I didn't go with the unlimited rides for $25 each. The carnival games included pop-a-shot, lucky ducks, and other typical games. Food-wise, the food tent was actually pretty big. Lots to choose from, from pizza, to Mexican, to Dairy Queen. Food prices were A-OK and definitely not like the $40 for a piece of lettuce prices you'd find at the Taste of Chicago. BATHROOM REVIEW: The couple of port-a-potties we visited were actually pretty clean! Many to choose from and there was no line on the evening we went. Sit or squat? It's still a port-a-potty after all. Squat.

Free to enter. There are various shuttles (bona-fide school busses!) to bus you from parking lots…read moreto the fairgrounds and back. Tip: Make sure to note whether your bus says COOK CO or LAKE CO on the side window so you can get back on the right bus route. Bring chairs or blankets for the parade (starts at 1). The north side of Lake Cook has craft fairs and food, while the south has rides and games (and a few food options - mostly cotton candy, elephant ears, corndogs). Ride tickets amount to about $1.25, and kiddie rides are typically 2-3 tickets. There are two sections of rides: the kiddie ones and adult. Food vendors included a lot of pizza (Nancy's, Wapaghettis...), Jersey Mike's, JD's BBQ, Culvers..also mac and cheese, chicken tenders, burritos, pretzels, etc from various other vendors. There's a covered picnic area to chill and take a break from the sun and heat, as well as a misting tent. Prices weren't TERRIBLE. My steak burrito was $7 and my custard sundae was $3. Pop cans are $1.50 and water is about $2.50. You can bring your own beverages, water, coolers, whatever (non-alc), too. There's an abundance of portra johns, and we even saw some being cleaned! Clean sh!tters?! Score!

A great Fourth of July festival. Frontier Days is a must see. The most fun you will have in five…read moredays. The activities during the day are geared toward families and great entertainment at night. The best part is that admission is free. Food and beer are available to purchase and at reasonable prices. The "Red Shirt" volunteers put in a great deal of care and effort and it shows. On Independence Day, I attended the parade and it is THE BEST parade that I have ever seen. The focus is on fun with a capital F. Before the band on the first night I saw them present scholarships. What a great way to give back to the community! Beyond the regular carnival activities are some very special and unique activities that make Frontier Days special. Among them are bingo, pony rides, pie eating contest, rib eating contest, cake decorating, dog frisbee, corn hole, water fights, soccer tournament, volleyball tournament, spikeball tournament, etc. The family fun stage is filled with lots of amazing entertainment such as the pet parade, magicians, reptile show, dancers, clowns, police demonstrations, and music acts. The best part of the festival for me is the Citizens with Disabilities day. This is a day where citizens with disabilities and their families can ride in the carnival without the big crowds and with accessibility considerations. This is followed by a great lunch and entertainment for the families. Frontier days is definitely a magical way to spend the Fourth of July weekend!

One of the busier 4th of July Festivals in the area, Frontier Days also has some of the most…read moreoptions for things to do or see. Here are some thoughts on various aspects: Location: Located conveniently in Recreation Park, this is an easy walk from parking garages and street parking around Arlington Heights downtown. Layout: As others have noted, most food and events are located in half of the park while the other areas aren't utilized as much. Due to the layout of recreation park, this is probably unavoidable. But, there's typically not much of a traffic jam except in the rides area and when exiting a concert. Food: Reasonably priced for a festival. There's fortunately lots of different food, drink, alcohol, and dessert (ice cream) options here. Nothing too fancy (or healthy) -- but you'll find the standard options to feed your family like pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, italian beef, etc. Rides: Great selection for a festival. Not as huge as the biggest ones around Chicago, but for this area of the suburbs it's quite large. There's also discounts for bargain rides for only $20. Performers: There are evening concerts with a band on the main stage every evening. Free to attend and a great way to end the evening. Previous performers have included Plain White T's, American English, The Wallflowers, etc. Other activities: Include parade, arts & crafts, eating contests, miscellaneous performers, athletic activities, marketplace, animal petting, etc. Overall, great place to spend the 4th of July weekend with tons of fun activities and reasonable prices -- plus great music.

Beware it's cash only but there are plenty of ATMs to charge you service fees. You need six tickets…read morefor a beer, if you aren't a heavy drinker you will be left with extra tickets. Can you return unused tickets for cash back?

A great upscale arts festival (with wine!), that is set up near a quaint little historic downtown…read morearea. Open 8/24/13 and 8/25/13. Get your wine and then walk around the art booths! If you visit, you can get the best of the permanent downtown shops as well. The downtown stores and restaurants were bustling from the art festival crowds. Parking wasn't an issue, but you may have to park on the main street (just past downtown) and walk a block or two. This is a juried art festival, which means that a jury must review an artist's qualifications and portfolio before the artist can participate as a seller. This allows for much higher quality art and crafts than at a non-juried festival. The show was heavy on jewelry, photographs and paintings, but did have a good variety of other mediums (textiles, ceramics, leather). There were no handcrafted soaps or foods (but maybe those don't fit with "fine art"). I wished there were some paper crafts, like handmade cards, but I saw none. I purchased earrings and a necklace from two different vendors. I love them! There weren't too many people, and the booths were spaced well, so you could see everything. Food vendors and musicians were there, which made for a more enjoyable experience. 4.5 stars Visited 8/24/13

Fun summer event with lots of great Irish themed booths, music, activities, drinks, and food…read more Throughout the event, there's plenty of great dancing and bands that play starting from the afternoon that goes till the evening. Admission is very reasonable at only $5, with proceeds benefiting the Arlington Heights Historical Museum. There are some nice photo taking opportunities as well with several setups for leprechaun themed pictures. Nice place to spend an evening listening to some great music and celebrating Irish culture. Don't forget to try some of the special soda offered here as well.

From the owner: Irish Fest with beer, food and bands. $5 admission.read more

This festival is basically a summer street fair and it's quite nice for that. Despite the name of…read morethe event, just don't come expecting a lot of chocolate themed offerings. It's an oft mentioned comment in the reviews and it's true. With the kiddos in tow though, it's a nice summer outing for activities like their reptile show, some face painting, some kids' arts and crafts, browsing for kids' knick-knacks, and a bit of street food. They also had a separate setup of carnival rides for pay. There were only a couple of chocolate related offerings I saw - a chocolate martini drink, and a couple of chocolate snacks and such. They also had some small music stage acts that we did not try to see. Admission is $5 for adults (plus a $2.14 online purchase fee) and it's free for age 12 and under. There was limited free parking in their smallish public lots but there was a $5 donation lot a couple blocks away that would be your best bet. The fair is set up with only a modest amount of walking. The carnival rides involve purchasing separate ride tickets out of an unmanned dispenser which worked just fine. Rides are about $3-4 pp. This fest makes for a fine and delightful summer outing in quaint Long Grove if you just set your bar down appropriately.

I'm a chocolate beast so when my friends talked about going to Chocolate Fest, I was fully onboard…read more I wish I could say it was the best thing ever, but it was just an alright experience for me. It's hard to find parking here later in the day, but if you get here first thing you can find free parking on the street or in the school's parking lot. Chocolate Fest consists of mostly booths from various local & nonlocal places (I would say mostly non local), some with chocolate offerings but a lot just had merchandise they were selling. It's a fun event and you can find some cool things to buy, but overall it's not chocolate centric which is a bit sad. I was hoping to see some really inventive food options tat incorporate chocolate but it all seemed quite standard and I honestly was not blown away by anything I experienced. For $5 you can buy a tasting card and try 6 tasting portions at various locations. See my picture for the options this year. My friends and I got chocolate macaroons from Sweet Whimsy Bakery, a chocolate flavored cigar (real one, not candy!) from Neumann's, a Chocolate Mint Tea Bad from Potpourri (it was very tasty tea!), Chocolate Baklava from Long Grove Cafe, Chocolate Mousse also from Sweet Whimsy Bakery and something else which is escaping me right now. Chocolate Fest was fun but I can't say it's something I would go to again.

We love going to Art in the Park in Northbrook at the Village Green.  This year it happened during…read morethe Mother's Day weekend on May 9 and May 10.  There were over 80 artists covering many categories.  I have observed that there was more art in the homey and traditional style and less modern art, targeting a more mature and senior audience.  Of course, it was suitable for art-goers of all ages, even for kids.  There was even a Kids Art Zone that featured  bingo, spin art, and sand sculpture.  When we were there, there was live music by a 2-men band on stage belting out songs that were rhythmic and very pleasing to the ears.  For us, dog spotting is always fun!  Many dogs walked in the art fair with their humans.  We love getting to socialize with some outgoing ones.  There are many eateries and restaurants around the park, and it's not hard finding free parking nearby.  This year the weather was perfect, making it a very enjoyable walk in the park!

Too many dogs. Need more different medias. Much too much jewelry. More music venues. All in all s…read morenice day to be out.

What a fun festival! It is in the Ace parking lot in Northbrook, so easy to get to off 294. There…read moreis a huge set up with giant Big Green Eggs cooking all types of food. Awesome traditional BBQ, pizza, lobster and even cookies. You can taste it all for a $10 donation to the Lurie Children's hospital. There are a ton of knowledgeable grill masters to answer your questions. Also, 10% off all accessories so stop by and jazz up your Big Green Egg. It is a great day for a great cause!

I come here every year, including this year. GREAT time, and above all, AWESOME weather. At first…read morewe weren't going to go because the kids were sick, but after having a bit of cabin fever, and since it was sunny in the 60s, we had to venture out. The event was somewhat smallish... they had 3 or 4 food tents, a wine tent, and the rest of the tent was for sitting. The place wasn't too crowded and the music was awesome. It's a good ol' time in the burbs.