I'm so glad Tempe Blooms returned for another year. The people behind it have created such a…read moreunique, fun event to bring locals and tourists to downtown Tempe and blend them with beautiful floral art, music, and local businesses. There are a couple of parking garages/lots in DT that give you a discounted rate during the event- we paid $10 for the 201 Ash garage, off the light rail. How it works - you meander around DT and look at, experience all the beautiful floral artworks. Downtown Tempe has a couple of stations with staff peppered about DT that provide a map of where things are located. You can go about at your own pace or route. Be aware that people can be a little vicious with trying to get "the shot" #ForTheGram. There are a couple of specific areas with small businesses posted up. We were hoping to make a bouquet at the fresh flower market but by the time we arrived - the line was super long and looked like flowers were picked over. So if that's your priority, go early. We were there no more than 2 hours and had a great afternoon taking in all the sights and sounds (there's live music peppered around too) of Downtown Tempe.

This was a nice event and the weather was perfect! It was a…read morelittle too spread out, but I understand that they want to showcase different businesses. The vendors were well chosen and had some really cool stuff. We did not go to the food area, but nothing beats food trucks!

I love downtown Chandler. So a block party in downtown Chandler couldn't disappoint…read more After the hot air balloon festival I went to for Halloween, this is a much nicer event. The crowd is much thinner, maybe not ideal for vendors (I know), but for me, I liked having the elbow room. The kids area is setup really nice! There are a bunch of different things for kids to do! Zip line, obstacle course, rides, and much more. There are many different types of vendors. From candle makers to food trucks. 2 different stages on either end of Arizona. The south stage seems to be the main stage and is also the location for the beer tent. You must have your ID checked and get an armband before you can buy beers. Where this party went wrong was the music. The music didnt set the mood for a block party at all. I felt the music i heard was boring and the tone of the party was toned down. Bands with more exciting upbeat music would have been nicer. And I would suggest having a DJ to spin some tunes when bands aren't playing. All in all, a great people watching event. Not too crowded, not too hot, plenty of places to sit, next to a park... who could ask for anything better?

3rd Annual Rock the Block…read more A fun and free event in Downtown Chandler between Frye Road and Chandler Blvd (blocked off). The usual 3rd Friday arts and crafts vendors were there with the addition of food trucks and food concessions. Great evening to hang out, try out tons of different foods (like Maine lobster and shrimp ceviche!) offered and beer while listening to awesome live music! There's also a 12,000 sq. ft. of Kid Zone. I did not see the zipline...darn! We missed Chandler's Got Talent too...eh, that's okay. We'll just have to come early next year. It was a fun evening. If you live on this side of town, don't miss this next year!

Even after living here for years, I never seem to make it out for the Olive Mill's Garlic Festival…read more I finally went this year! After hearing so much hype about this, it was underwhelming. Maybe it was the nearly 100 degree weather in the direct sun? A few of the vendors gave samples, but most were merely selling their artisan fare. Only great thing was getting to buy some garlic cloves so I can plant garlic in my garden for this season. I missed the ordering window from my usual Arizona farm. The table to make yourself an olive branch crown was also a quaint but it was too hot to stand out in the sun longer than necessary. My advice is to attend this event early in the day! Expect a crowd if you are attending this. My honest opinion is check out the Olive Mill's any other day of the year. Lots of unique items and locally grown olive oils and vinegars are there to purchase all year long.

Went on a late saturday afternoon 9/23/23. This festival takes place at Queen Creek Olive Mill over…read morea couple of weekends. This is a decent family friendly event since there are plenty of activities to do. Things like classes on how to grow and cook garlic, garlic vendors, face painting, raffles, corn hole competitions, and live music. I came here mainly for the food. They have several food trucks and the olive mill building itself has several eating establishments inside of there. Got in line for Del Piero Kitchen and ordered a Drunken Garlic Pulled Pork Sandwich. For $15 it came with a side of Sicilian slaw and del piero olive mix. The sandwich itself had olive wood smoked pork shoulder, carmelized pineapple and prickly pear agrodolce made with prickly pear white balsamic reduction, house Sicilian slaw, on a Noble brioche bun. Was a bit disappointed. Seemed to lack flavor. I ended up pouring some drunken garlic bbq sauce from the $9 bottle that I just purchased in which it gave it somewhat flavor. I could only eat half of the sandwich and didnt want to force myself to finish it even though I was still hungry. Since I was not satisfied I wanted to go check out the two food trucks that were there which were It's Seoul Good and Chef on the Go. Both were closed up already and getting ready to leave which I found disappointing as well since the time was only 6:30 pm and the place closed at 9. Ended up going to McDonald's after to get a McDouble just to satisfy my hunger. Some useful info: Place is located on the corner of W Combs Rd and S Meridian Rd with the entrance on the west side of S Meridian Rd. Parking is free and is on a dirt lot so wear the appropriate footwear. Admission is free. This event is in it's 10th year so it's been going on since 2013. There are several port o potties if you need to go to the bathroom. Make sure to grab a free informational guide at the entrance which gives you an overall map of the place and schedules of events. They have misters where the outdoor dining tables are for your convenience. For the Garlic Fest there is a separate garlic menu just for this event. The olive mill itself has it's own normal daily operations in which you can check on their website at www.queencreekolivemill.com Overall, my visit was just ok. If you have been to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, this does not compare for that one was bigger and you had more food options. So if you come to this event, don't set your expectations too high. Yelp 2023 Review #29 922 overall

Such a beautiful and heartwarming Christmas festival! Mar…read moreYosip Khnanisho Parish truly knows how to bring the community together. From the moment we walked in, the atmosphere felt festive, welcoming, and full of Christmas spirit. The decorations were gorgeous, the music set the perfect mood, and every booth had something fun or unique to offer. The volunteers were incredibly kind and organized, and you could tell how much love and effort went into making this event special. The food was delicious, the activities were great for all ages, and there were so many thoughtful touches that made it feel magical. We had an amazing time and will definitely be coming back every year. Such a wonderful event for families and the community--highly recommend!

The event is so much fun and exciting,, the vendor are great for unique Christmas gifts and the…read morefood is amazing. This year can't wait to take a picture with the animals including a

We love to festival so we walked from the apartment down to the festival. It was dog friendly so…read morebrining Bella was a fun perk. It was great to see so many people walking around enjoying the food, music, and cooler weather. The booth vendors were all friendly and served is some really tasty Filipino food (Lechon Paksiw and pork skewers) and Mexican drinks (lemon lime & Strawberry). I am sure the music and dancers were voluntary but we were hoping to see a bit more diversity in the performers. All that did perform were fantastic and provided great energy to the festival.

I didn't expect too much from this little event but I was surprising entertained…read more The Multiculture Fest highlights our cultural diversity through music, dance, art, storytelling and more. This free event was held in the downtown Chandler Library Plaza. Parking was plentiful (library garage) and lots of room to roam. The 2011 event had 2 stages. They performances ranged from Flamenco dancing, American Indian hoop dancing, Japanese Aiko, Jaguar step team, Chinese dances, & African rooted music w/ Puerto Rican dance forms. The stage was a little small from some of the performers so they did their thing on concrete. The food vendors were as mixed as the performances from Indian fry breads, Navajo tacos, tamales, beef kabob, mini donuts, crepe lunch truck, dipping dots, Caribbean cuisine & Mexican paletas. There's the usually fare of shaved ice, kettle corn, & hot dogs. There were plenty of tables to eat & sit on. Food & drinks prices were very reasonable. The arts / craft vendors were very limited. For free kiddie fun, there was 1 jumpy and climbing ring which were too crowded from my small kids. Tips: use the library restrooms if you hate the potty johns.

I met up with some friends here and loved it! It's dog friendly, DJ played French music, and each…read moreslice of pie is $3. You buy the sample tickets at the ticket booth near the entrance, go to a pie booth, drop a ticket in their bucket and get your sample. Pretty simple. At the very end you vote for your favorite at the DJ booth! My favorite pie was Josephine's Sweet Potato Pie which had Ube, candied yams, brown butter caramel, condensed milk, buttermilk, vanilla extract, maple syrup, egg whites, sugar, butter and cinnamon. I was informed that Josephine is a new restaurant which will open downtown in January 2020 and I look forward to eating that Ube pie again, MMmm! Other pie contenders were familiar stars of Roosevelt Row and the surrounding downtown area like Welcome Diner, Cartel, Farish House, Breadfruit & Rum Bar and many many more! I'd like to also mention that I came at 3pm and two booths already sold out of their pies so go right at opening at 2pm! This year the Roosevelt Row Pie Social was on November 10th from 2 to 5pm at Hance Park. I found this info on their website at http://www.piesocialroro.com/ Since this festival is on the smaller side there was enough parking very close to Hance Park. I parked in the lot near the Historic Ellis-Shackelford House and that lot was only half full! Such a relief. There is also coffee at the festival and shaded seating. Today was very warm and hot so the shaded seating was a good call. I can't wait to go again next year! The only thing missing was some entertainment or bar games like corn hole, connect four, jenga, etc. Or maybe add pie related games?

Food festivals generally cost money and this festival is awesome because it's free. This would be…read morethe 4th time this is happening and it happens once a year. It was held this year in the Mesa Community College. I think the first bad part was that they needed more signs for where this was located since the campus was pretty big. My GPS made me come in from the opposite side and although I found signs, they led me to a parking lot that was nowhere close to the venue. I had to ask a staff member where it was located. They really need to do better on that. Two of the public parking spots are quite far from the venue when there's perfectly close parking right next to the venue which I found quite odd. Like most cultural festivals, there's a plethora of non-food vendors and food vendors. Not only that, but there's a stage that has consistent performances from dances, martial arts, singing, to instrument playing. The selection of food includes Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Filipino foods. I felt sorry for the food trucks which were far from all the other food vendors. One of the food trucks, Frios Pops, got so little foot traffic that they left before the event was halfway done. Overall, since it's free, it doesn't hurt to come check the place out if you're free for the weekend it happens.

This is one of those rare times when someone asks me if I'm Asian, I avoid confirmation like the…read moreplague! I was hoping for a good ol time, but what I got was a hungry tummy and a mouthful of drools. The food selection was sad, but even sadder were the lines u have to stand in just to get a few bites! Not sure if the planning for this event was subpar due to covid, but there were so few food selections, and the selections available were over priced. There were roughly 8 food selections. 3 of which piqued my interest (viet, thai, and filipino), but the lines were horrendous and we just couldn't justify waiting in such long lines to get a few bits & pieces of over priced left overs. They did have some performances with vocals & drums, which kept our interest for a few minutes, then our ADHD kicked in, and we had to bail. I don't regret checking out this fest, but it just didn't have enough pizazz to keep our interest. Here's to hoping for more variety as well as an increased number of food tents and more fun activities at this fest next year!

Vegan Street Fair is an organization all about setting up vegan food festivals in various parts of…read morethe US including Arizona, California, Georgia, New York, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Washington, Utah, Colorado, and Texas. What's awesome about this event is that it's free where most food festivals usually have an entrance fee. This event took place in Tempe at the Sonoran University and included a lot of free parking. What's nice is that this was sponsored by the restaurant Early Bird Vegan and their sister site Trash Panda Vegan. The former is a restaurant in Sonoran University and it was open for the entirety of the festival. The festival was fairly small but included companies that were outside of Arizona which was nice. I always feel bad for those people working in one of those home remodeling booths. I've been to many festivals and I find the workers always sitting by their lonesome; I have trouble believing that normal folk would purposefully go to a food festival specifically to find deals on windows, doors, or turfs. Alongside BBQ, Mexican, Japanese, and American cuisines, there were also a psychic reader, jewelry store, and a clothing shop.