Love this festival…read more Pros: -Free to attend. -Lighted pumpkins wall for festive Autumn Instagram pics. -I live around the area, 10 mins away, know it well so it's easy for me to score street parking but they have free shuttles via Fort Sheridan reserve parking. -Great bands on at least a couple of different stages. -Lots of food trucks, lines run from no wait to 20 min wait. It's also located on the Highwood restaurant & bar strip. Plenty of food options & you could easily score a bar seat to take a break. -Safe crowd & police presence around. -It is right at the Metra stop should you decide to leave your car behind.

It's a must see event for fall! Endless pumpkins to…read morecelebrate the beginning of the season with many activities for families in the heart of Highwood! There's many restaurants near by to explore while enjoying the arrival of pumpkins.

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.

I have to write a shout out right away to Angela for the VIP tickets!! Thank you again, Angela!! We…read morehad a great time at the festival!!! It was a gorgeous day for drinking beer!!! Sun shining, not too hot and not a cloud in the sky!!! Everts park is also a TERRIFIC little park for hosting festivals, as I have now been to Inferno Fest in addition to the Craft Beer Fest. The circular layout is PERFECT for making sure you don't miss anything, and the little gazebo in the middle with an acoustic band jamming some classics...just blissful!! My friend and I arrived at 11:45AM b/c the VIP ticket entry was an hour earlier (12pm) than regular admission.....excellent, right? Well, one small issue is that when the gates opened and we walked around, about half the vendors were still setting up and told us the beer they had wasn't cold yet :-( bummer. So we walked around to the tents that were set up and ready and proceeded to drink!!! The quality of vendors at the event was AWESOME!! As mentioned by Michael and Ashley, Two Brothers was there as well as Bells, Oskar Blues, Rogue, Allagash, Lake Bluff Brewing Co., Lagunitas, Stone, Central Waters, Ale Syndicate,Goose Island and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting. As far as variety goes though, mostly ALL the beer that was served at the festival was common and widely available everywhere in the Chicagoland area. My oh my have the times changed!! I remember around 2003 when Fat Tire first came to Chicago in those big half liter bottles....it was the biggest and best thing around!!! Now, if you're not serving high quality craft beers at your restaurant/bar or selling it at your liquor store, you're WAY behind the times. So, take for instance Bells....I was so stoked to see what kind of new or rare beers they were going to bring to the fest...but I was a bit disappointed to see that they were only serving up the Two Hearted Ale and a heavier stout. I mean, nowadays you can get the Two Hearted Ale just about ANYWHERE. I want to say that the only beers I had not tried that were at the festival was the Oskar Blues Imperial Ale and the Allagash Curieux, an 11% Tripel Ale that was aged in Jim Beam barrels....Holy Cow this one really went straight to the dome and was more like a full beer's worth rather than a 3 oz sampler. Oh and there was a Root Beer, Beer that I found to be quite good considering I don't normally like to venture out of the norm. One last thing, and it's not a complaint. But, a couple times I forgot to put a ticket into the vendor box after receiving a sample. In fact, towards the end, I was making sure to put a ticket in for each sample in order to try and keep track of my drinks.....definitely not a bad thing, but from the vendor's perspective for next year, they should try and make sure people are honest by collecting a ticket each time. I gotta say that, even for a seasoned craft beer drinking pro like myself, using all 25 tickets was NOT an easy task. I just hope no one at the fest overdid it, because I know for a fact I went home and took a little cat nap on my porch swing and watched the sun go down :-) Can't wait to check out the Highwood Craft Beer Fest next year!!! What a great event!!!

My fiancé and I volunteered for the festival and couldn't be happier with our decision. We arrived…read moreat 10am and helped set up the festival: set up chairs, hung signs, stuffed VIP lanyards, etc. Around noon, when the gates were opened to the VIPs, we told the director we wanted to pour beer for any brewery who didn't have their own pourers. Well, the beer heavens smiled upon us, because we ended up pouring for Two Brothers Beer all day! The festival was so much fun, there was a great turn out, as well as some delicious beer and food (Bridie McKennas!). We made a new friend as well, Max from Finch's Brewery. It was a lot of fun pouring beer for all of the festival goers, but even more fun sampling all the beers for ourselves!

Nearly every Independence Day, my family and I gather in the ED Rudolph Velodrome of the Northbrook…read morePark District to watch the Northbrook fireworks. Decades ago, before I got married, I loved taking leisurely walks from our home to the velodrome with my parents. Sometimes my grandmother would join us when she was visiting. At that time, spectators were only allowed to sit on the bleachers behind the track. Before the fireworks show, the infield would host inter-school marching band competitions, which we always enjoyed watching. The fireworks were launched from inside the velodrome, bursting spectacularly overhead, sometimes raining sparks over the infield, where some bold attendees would rush to sit despite the warnings. Today, the setup has changed. The marching band performances are no longer part of the event, and the fireworks are now launched from outside the velodrome, making them visible across Meadowhill Park and Techny Prairie Park and Fields. Still, we prefer to watch from inside the velodrome, our favorite spot. While my family still lives in town, we no longer live within walking distance of the velodrome. But we've kept the tradition alive. Each year, we park around downtown Northbrook and enjoy the pleasant 15-minute walk to the velodrome. It adds to the festive spirit and brings back a bit of the feeling from those days long ago. Now, spectators are welcome on the grassy infield. When we arrived this year, a DJ was entertaining the crowd before the fireworks. Families and children were fully immersed in the festive atmosphere. We brought lawn chairs, settled in, and enjoyed the energy of the evening. The fireworks were spectacular as always, a dazzling end to a perfect night. My parents and grandmother have since passed on, but each year as the fireworks light up the sky, I like to think they're watching from above, smiling with us, still a part of this beloved family tradition. I also appreciate the chance to capture beautiful photos of the fireworks. It used to take professional equipment to photograph them vividly against the night sky. Now, I feel so fortunate to have unobstructed seats and the ability to shoot stunning fireworks photos right from my phone, and the pictures turn out wonderfully!

I had a ton of fun watching a cover band here. Don't expect a mosh pit, the crowd runs a bit…read moreolder - ha. But everyone was in to it and having fun. The staff there were nice and knew what they were doing. I heard there was a speakeasy there but I didn't go upstairs to see it

This is a pretty nice venue! They've put in lots of work to restore this old theater and it shows…read more Seats are comfortable, decent leg room. Plenty of food and beverages to choose from. The service is fast and friendly too. Prices are not too bad either. About on par with other similar venues. There's a speakeasy two floors up, but we didn't check it out yet. I feel the sound could be better, but I know that's subjective and could be due to many variables. Anyway, check this place out! I think you'll like it.

Wow, this was really terrible. It took 28 minutes to get from the entrance on Willow Road to the…read morebooth where you get your ticket scanned. Along that entire route are just lighted fake Christmas trees, and I was wondering if that was what we paid $40 for. You can tune your dial to 89.1 to hear some Christmas music as you drive through the place. Once you get path the ticket booth there are some more elaborate displays but they are gaudy as all get out. There was a whole weird "patriotic"-maybe MAGA-definitely weird section with a lighted Mt. Rushmore, tank shooting at a Christmas tree, Uncle Sam, Iwo Jima, a helicopter... the standard Christmas military presence I guess? Also odd is Dino World. You know how St. Nick spent Christmas with the dinosaurs and then during the ice age he just chilled (pun intended) with the elves and reindeer until modern day. And there's also the homage to winter construction with the construction cones, backhoes, and so on. The more typical winter and holiday scenes are there, but a very small fraction of the various scenes. Once we got past the ticket booth, it took us about 30 minutes to drive through. It went slow, and it was not an enjoyable ride for my 17 month old though she may have enjoyed it more if she was older. The only--and I mean ONLY--reason to subject yourself to this is if you need to visit a drive-through light display because one in the party is disabled or something. And even if that's the case, you could find some neighborhoods in the city and suburbs to drive through and probably see nicer displays and spend the $40 (plus tax) on dinner or something.

This was our first and last time going through the Willow Hill Light show. While there were some…read morenice spots along the drive, there were many lights burnt out and some of the displays were not appropriate for a holiday display.... dinosaurs, a very odd military display with a tank shooting at a Christmas tree, a theme of construction equipment? Why? No music. Long lines. They ran out of the items we had preordered. The doughnuts were exactly like the mini Hostess ones you get from a box. For $40 a car plus the snacks, the total was $80 and so absolutely not worth the cost. Would not go back and would not recommend.

I think the right word to describe Cinergy is "unique" . Came here on V-Day to see Crime 101. A…read moredifferent look and feel compared to theatres like AMC and Regal. It looks quite modern inside, and has more extras for guests including a bar, games etc. The biggest standout and the reason for that wording s the self serve popcorn. (Like, What??) It was an interesting experience to fill my own bucket but it was cool. The popcorn was nothing super special but it was good quality. The staff are friendly enough and I don't really have much negative to say. However, I will say that the process of getting in and having our tickets checked was a bit hectic as they have you go in the side door and wait in a single queue. We tried a pizza from their menu and it was pretty good. Would recommend. Slightly confusing for new comers but not really much to be concerned about. A nice addition to wheeling area and one I hope sticks around for awhile. [Date of Visit: 2/14/26]

We went and saw The Devil Wears Prada 2. I booked the tickets online. I got the best seats I could,…read morebut the best seats, the seats I really wanted we're blocked indicating the seats were taken. When I got to the theater, the seat that I really wanted were empty. In fact, over half the theater was empty. The tickets were $18. Snacks with a drink for 2 people for $23.40. And a small glass of wine cost $10.53. Over $50 for two people to watch a movie. The only reason I gave this review any stars at all was the fact that the theater was exceptionally clean.

I look forward to the Festival of Fine Craft every year. This year the weather was super funky so I…read moredidn't get the chance to enjoy it as much as I would have liked, but all in all it seemed well organized, the music was enjoyable, and there were lots of umbrella tables to sit at to enjoy the outside food vendors. The only thing I particularly noticed that kind of bummed me out a little was the fact that there was SO MUCH jewelry! This is great for those who wear a lot of it, and I'm certain the North Shore is a wonderful market for this, but I felt like it should have been advertised more as a show with a jewelry focus (honestly, I'm not sure how I would feel if I was a jewelry vendor...lots of competition). I missed the fun folksy painters this year (not that there weren't a few great ones), but it just seemed like the balance of artisans was a bit off (though Port Clinton Art Festival is right around the corner!). Overall the festival was very family-oriented, and they had a section of booths with kids painting projects...I believe hosted by Make-A-Messterpiece in Glenview. I have to say it was also surprisingly quiet when we went late Saturday afternoon, but it's possible the threat of rain kept people away. I still love this festival, as it reminds me that the summer is here, but I hope they consider a broad focus next year. Looking forward to 2014!