This festival takes me back to my childhood. It brings me happiness to know that this festival…read morecontinues to strive and continue to grow every year. It's nice to see the Filipino youth & locals participate in this festivity, so they can learn and understand the Filipino culture/heritage. The cultural dances continue to stay the same and passed down from generations. I remember participating in the cultural dances and performing on stage. It definitely feels like yesterday. I'm happy to know that a little bit of my culture is being celebrated. This event happens every year on the last weekend of July. The festivities takes off with the adobo cook off on Friday evening while everyone else is setting up their booths. I'm guilty to have NEVER attended this part of the event. I hope one day I'll be able to check it out. The following day the festivities kick off with the parade downtown Delano usually at 10am and back to Cecil Park for the festivities. They usually have tents with Filipino food and halo-halo as well as other booths. I usually grab food from the Thai food tent. I know it's a Filipino festival then why buy Thai food haha. I eat Filipino food almost everyday and that Thai food stand has been part of Filipino weekend for as long as I can remember. They also have bounce houses for the kids, a train ride and even rock climbing. There's also a designated area for 21yr olds and over to grab a drink. End of July is always super hot and usually the weather is over 100°, so if you're not used to that temperature then I wish you the best of luck. Shade usually helps; however, if you're not from here then you should know that we have dry heat. Wind doesn't usually blow a whole lot, so you're literally sitting in the heat under the shade. Bring lots of water and possible a tent or umbrella to stay cool. Or be like me and come extra early or when it's almost over haha, but then you'll miss all the cool entertainment. I don't think you should miss it because the kids practiced all summer to get their dance down. The park is open to the public with no admission fee. They have a basketball tournament going down across the street at Delano HS and they have the Bingo going too. Those are two ways to stay cool. I recently found out they have a tennis tournament going also, so look out for that. Prior to the festival they usually post the pageants on their website for Tiny Tots, Miss Philippine Weekend, Mrs. & Mr. Philippine Weekend. You should check it out to support our local event.

This was a very good event. The vendors had a great variety of beers to drink and they were well…read morespread out. The lines were not too long at any vendor. Everyone was very friendly and the food and water for sale were very reasonably priced for a closed-in event (water was only $1 per 16 oz bottle). Free parking too! They could improve the event by providing some live music and adding more places to sit.

I won tickets for this event off of Instagram from @yelpbakersfield (McKenzie), a huge thank you to…read moreher. I have always wanted to attend such an event but either didn't have the time or didn't feel like spending on something I was unsure of liking. We parked on the east parking side which was one heck of a walk, we didn't know where the entrance was to be honest. Once we arrived, we were greeted by a few ladies to check IDs & get stamped and then entering the gates to present our tickets & get our glasses. I brought my wife with me, though she does not drink she likes trying stuff and the food vendors was also a plus! The tastings: I will admit, I know I didn't try every single offering but I have some new found loving for beer I never knew existed. I've been a fan of "805" since I first tried it so I knew what they were about. There were some that were not great and some that were very good. One so good to me, I asked where I could purchase their beer in Bakersfield since they are from San Diego. It was Karl Strauss' beers, just loved the Mosaic beer. All in all a great experience! The food: The vendors were Moo Creamery, Jake's Original Tex-Mex and Eureka, even though I am not sure Eureka served food because their stand was small, might have been their beer. All items for sale were $5-6 and went well with the beer and atmosphere. Whoever chose the food vendors, Thumbs Up! The atmosphere/environment: Everyone was having fun, friendly and it was a little warm but if you sat in the shade the breeze made it so relaxing. I just wish I knew to bring my own chairs to lounge on while hanging out. Great experience at an excellent event, I need to be a "Volunteer for Beer".

Lightning in a Bottle is like a 4 Michelin Star restaurant…read more It's probably on par with French Laundry and Alinea if they had a baby, but the restaurant only served House and Bass music, which we know the latter is an acquired taste (for me at least). I think the most important part of my year, is arguing about the Lake water. I tend to make sure it's brought up around the dinner table during Thanksgiving and Christmas, if I feel like we aren't debating the lake Buena Vista water quality enough, the lake water is always top of mind in my house hence why I married an ecologist. Also, I really enjoy totems. So much so, I've made an LED Parasol totem that gives off random light commands since I never took the time to learn how to truly code while working in Trad. Fi. All in, I rate Lightning in a Bottle 13/5. Lucky 13 for the amount of times me and my friends had to troubleshoot my RV or Trailer rental, and that has allowed me to successfully escape the dust and eventually drive home on the 5 (what up Moo Moos on the road, respect). My favorite stage remains Woogie, that's why I named my dog(s) Woo and Gie, with their powers combined they arf arf arf into the night as one dog, in unison like the biggest baddest dog named Al Capone. Last, it's imperative that we all spend ample time in a Porto by the end of the trip, for it was Seneca that said setting aside a few days to wear rough clothing, eat meager food, and ask oneself: "Is this the condition that I feared?"

Probably the absolute best music festival I've ever attended! Lots of fun stages and mini mobile…read moreDJs which were all playing excellent music. The crowd was chill and welcoming. Not like other music festivals where people are over the top and on their phones the whole time. I made so many friends and will definitely be returning next year! However, they need to do something about the holes in the ground. I tripped a few times and saw a girl break her ankle. Also the camping situation can be a little rough so prepare for that!

This was the 2nd Annual Tamale Fest and I was excited to check it out. When you enter at the gate…read morethey give you some tickets for your free tamales. When you go to get your tamales, you're given 4 1/4 pieces, so basically you're given 1 free tamale, but 4 different flavors. This event is brand new to Bakersfield and I do anticipate it to grow in the future. It wasn't a bad event at all, there were at least 10-15 vendors/trucks out there selling crafts or food. Music was provided by a live band and there was a little bit of stage entertainment. You're able to bring your own folding chairs from what I was able to see and there's lots of room for growth. One thing I'm hoping to see in the next years as this event grows is more restaurants showing off their tamales. Maybe even a tamale throw down. I only saw 2-3 different trucks, which I think is okay since it was their 2nd event. When we went there was supposed to be some kind of tamale eating contest, but I think something happened in the process. Hopefully we can check out that contest next year and see who can put it down. ;-)

It wasn't really a festival more like a street fair they had very little Apple focusesread more

This years apple festival has 80 vendors with everything you can imagine. Candles, essential oils,…read morepurses, jewelry, home decor, clothing and so much more. Don't forget to buy some apples while you are there. You won't go hungry, lots of delicious food and a carnival for the kids. My son is having a great time on the rides. Eating lots of junk food too. If you didn't make it out today, don't worry it will be open tomorrow too.

Bakersfield Village Fest is definitely the party of the year. I was fortunate to obtain VIP access…read moreto the venue. We were able to park at the VIP lot and avoid crowds, enter the VIP entrance, and access to the VIP lounge with snacks, drinks and most importantly, clean restrooms. The VIPs were also welcomed in an hour early for dinner. At the entrance there is a metal detector and bag check. The website said clear bags only, so I prepared accordingly but they weren't too strict with enforcing it. We were given a village fest cup and a stamp card. The event sponsors Big Wave Kona had a large booth with ample staff pouring our first drink to get us started. We definitely felt the aloha! We started off in the VIP area to eat dinner. Then it was party party for the rest of the night. There were 4 different stages of live music, 100+ brews, 70+ wines, and unlimited food and snack samples from the local businesses. I have been to many food and spirits type of festivals and this one is without a doubt the best one I've been to. Loving the VIP life. Can't wait to come back for next year's Village Fest!!

So great in so many ways. Fabulous food, great music, outstanding beers and wine, clean outhouses…read moreetc. One HUGE problem though. The massive amounts of second hand smoke. Especially cigar smoke. Folks can smoke ANYWHERE. In food lines, on the dance floors, in front of the high powered fans etc. And there is a LOT of it. Really quite unbelievable. And while someone might argue a good cigar is pleasant, this is definitely not true of second hand cigar smoke! It's stomach churning putrid nonsense. Why not have designated zones for this? I have no problem with designated zones. It is truly remarkable that this can occur.

Well another great time featuring good live Rockin' Blues Music!…read moreThe Kern River Rockin' Blues Festival is an annual event in September held at the Frandy Campground in scenic Kernville, Ca, A lovely mountain village. It is a four day event showcasing National and local musicians. You can purchase a camping package or stay in local hotels or Air B&B's. Thursday there are parties and music at different local venues in the Village of Kernville. Friday and Saturday the festivities are held at the Frandy Campgrounds. They have a main stage and an acoustic stage and vendors providing food and shopping. Sunday there is a band and vendors in the Kernville Square. It is family friendly and you can easily go up for just a day if you live in Bakersfield. You can follow the event of Facebook. I highly recommend this fun local music festival.

Such a beautiful place! The food smells amazing, and the coffee is good! Highly recommend.read more

Although it's cute, it's horrid. It was packed and the people that work there are so rude. It was…read morevery unorganized. They literally ran out of pumpkins. It said "$5 admission includes a small pumpkin" when you walk in. My kids walked out crying because they did not get a pumpkin at the supposed "pumpkin patch".

Don't waste your money! Not worth it. It's a waste of money. Not much to do except the haunted…read morehouse. The corn maze is literally a 2min walk. The carnival attractions suck but worst of all THEY RUN OUT OF PUMPKINS! We were left with no pumpkins which is the whole reason to go to a pumpkin patch would never go again!

Me and the my wife came to the Holiday lights at C.A.L.M. It was a Thursday evening, not packed at…read moreall. Tickets were 16.00 no discount. We rode the train, treated ourselves to some churros, and hot cocoa. They had wonderful Christmas music, meeting with Santa, Christmas trees for sale, and other goodies. If you're from Bakersfield this place is a must for the Christmas season.

Been coming to CALM Holiday Lights for well over a decade and always such a special visit to have…read morememories! Went yesterday evening and the lights were stunning and loved the Tree light show! All the employees and staff were incredibly kind and helpful! Lots of photo op's and a cute photo op with Santa and his sleigh! The Candy Cane Train is a must and I love the lights and decorations set up for this attraction! Great for families or a date night! Recommend the kettle popcorn and hot cocoa from Teen Challenge!

This was the 4th annual Bakersfield Wing Festival and our first time going. The event was worth it,…read morethe downside is the long lines, but they have plenty of wing stands, so choose your line wisely. This year there was approximately 15-16 wing vendors and I didn't get to try them all, but of all the wing vendors my favorite was Bucky's. Bucky's chicken wing was crunchy, moist, and had good flavor. They had their levels of heat in "Mild-Smooth Smiling", "Medium-Heating Up", "Hot-Loco Loco" & "X-Hot-Get Buck". A lot of the other vendors had 1 or 2 flavors, and even Costco made it out there to give wings out. Winner of this years best wings went to Hooters. I think they were 2nd place in my books, but there was more votes for Hooters. I honestly feel that Bucky's was the best, but people didn't vote (Rolling my eyes). I don't want to say which vendor, but I waited in line for chicken which is fine, but when I got the wings they were chewy and then when we reached the center it was bloody, hope that was just because they were under pressure because the line was long at the time. I would definitely like to try it again next time. The atmosphere is pretty casual and we brought our folding chairs, I also saw some people bring their canopies and tents. What started off at 91 degrees changed in a matter of 2hrs. It got really cloudy, windy and even sprinkled a little down to high 70s, but it's Bakersfield so you never know what kind of weather it's gonna be like. They played good music on stage with live singers and live bands. They even had contests so you can win tickets to go to Vegas and they had that wing contest so you can get your Wingfest entry free next year. I happened to be in line during the contest, so I missed out on that cool contest. I would definitely like to come again, I think if I went alone then it wouldn't be worth it for me because I don't drink beer, but going with my husband he gets to get two beers at a time, so it evens out for us. The downside for the beers is that they fill it up half way. I'm not a beer drinker so I don't care, but the lines are already long, so drinking your beer then having to refill it takes some time. Waters are free so that's cool and I liked that. I brought my water bottle with ice in it and my ice lasted the whole day with the free waters because they were cold.

It's hot dog!!!!! Alright, Buffalo Wild Wings bomb!! I had…read morethe blazing and it's delicious and definitely not for the fate of heart. Next was Denweed's Heart and Soul had amazing real fresh meat the wing full of buffalo sauce. Then came KVS southern style was so worth the long line. I had a BBQ that was absolutely amazing their meat was grilled and tender and so juicy. At BLVD we had garlic wings absolutely delectable a must try. Next stop I had Dickey's BBQ , I had two BBQ wings that were pretty good. Lastly, we had the Barrington's Jamaican Kitchen had mild and spicy very juicy wings with lots of flavor. All the drinks were standard and hit the spot in the heat, I recommend the experience!!