Although this is a bacon and beer festival, I don't think I was truly prepared for the volume of…read morebacon and beer at this event. There's a big variety of beer and food vendors that incorporate bacon in their dishes. There were even vendors who would pile straight bacon up for you. Eating beforehand was a mistake because there was so much food to try! While this was a beer event, Hochstadter's Slow & Low whiskey was there giving out generous (strong) cocktail samples, which was probably my favorite. Lines: I heard from someone who had attended last year that there's tons of lines. While this was true, the lines moved relatively quickly. Walking up to Safeco Field, the line was massive and intimidating! While it was very long with people excited to pig out and drink on, it only took about 15 minutes to get through. Once you're in, there's lines at almost every table (though the longest line we were in only took about 5 minutes to get through). There's certainly an advantage to upgrading your ticket to get in the doors before everyone and bypass the line at the gate. Overall, I had a good experience and enjoyed the event! I do recommend the VIP or power hour passes more to bypass the lines and get access to the field in the future if you have the extra spending money.

We spent most of our afternoon at this today and it sucked. I had paid extra for "VIP" tickets that…read morewere supposed to come with a whole bunch of perks, none of which we received except for t-shirts that won't fit either one of us (because the t-shirt booth was near the end of the course and most sizes were gone by the time we got there) and some coupons for some sort of freezer section thing at the grocery store. If you enjoy standing in line in the sun all day long with hardly any shade or seating, and literally not a single water station to be found at an event dedicated to sampling alcohol and salty foods, then this is the event for you. Also, some of the food vendors didn't have enough food prepared - there were 2 that had wait times of about 45 mins while they made more food and huge bottleneck situations were created that ultimately caused longer wait times at every booth after them. You only have but so long to make your way through the course, so this definitely creates a barrier to receiving the full value of your ticket, and the tickets aren't cheap. Full disclosure: I had bought the tickets pre-pandemic and we were supposed to go for my birthday in April 2020. Obviously, it got canceled, but they wouldn't issue a refund because they said they were going to be rescheduling. A year and a half later here we are, and I had a feeling it was going to suck now due to changes they had to make in both venue and various logistics, but since they wouldn't give me my money back we felt kind of obligated to go. Sometimes it sucks to be right. This was an expensive mistake we won't be repeating.

Fantastic time of year! Are you a dark beer fan? This is the event for you! Great breweries and…read moreawesome beer choices. Icicle Creek knocks it out of the park usually.

To end the year of beer festivals, Winter Beer Festival is a great event put on by Washington Beer…read moreCommission hosted by Hale's Ale in Fremont. This year was a showcase of winter seasonals from 32 Washington breweries. This year's lineup include dark malty stouts, robust winter warmers, barrel-aged gems and many more. In addition, there will be chocolate pairings courtesy of Theo Chocolate, fine pub cuisine by Hales Brewpub, fresh oysters from Taylor Shellfish Farms. It is a great event with some phenomenal beer. My only complaint is that the Palladium is to small for the size event that Winter Beer Festival has become. At the peak of the day you can barely move to even get your next beer. This is the only reason not to give this event five stars.

Wow did we had fun!! Really recommendable attending to it. Lots of breweries with their most tasty…read moreand potent beer :D It is a big location with many booths around the event. There's another section for restrooms and another with various food trucks. Good selection and variety. There is one place also for buying more chips for more beer. It doesn't get crowded as some of the food trucks :) They give you your tasting glass at the entrance and booth staff can clean it every time you taste a new beer. You can also find water stations around. Good music and atmosphere :) Great event for summer!

BEER HEAVEN. I love coming to this festival every year. Where else can you try hundreds of craft…read morebeer from all over Washington in one place? You definitely get your monies worth here with the glass souvenir you're given at the door, your tokens, always free food or water being advertised, live music... There is also a nice variety of food trucks that come to the event -- dessert and meal trucks. The event is family friendly; there's a corner of the festival near the music stage full of bouncy houses and booths selling toys. The weather was not so good this year, but typically the weather is perfect so bring your lawn blankets and chairs and enjoy the day!

Super friendly people! Everybody with the best attitude to meet others and have a good time…read more I know these events are very joyful and I always like them! Maybe after going to Santacon it wasn't that big as I was expecting :( We weren't that many this year and we were all over the place. It was until 3pm that we fill one place.

I think this year has been one of the largest groups for BunnyCon and as you know, it will only get…read moremore word of mouth and popularity. There are already people signing up for next years event. BunnyCon is the Bunny Bar Hop that you've seen in previous years hosted by David LeClair. I have attended many of his meet up events in the past and he shows that he has years of event experience by the amount of people he can manage and yield as well as communicate and coordinate with the local bars in the area. Because there was such a great turnout of over 1,500 people for this years event, many bars that were on the listed hop areas were overwhelmed with bunnies. I felt it was a successful event and because it is Seattle; many bars were available to take the overflow of bunnies from neighboring restaurants that were on the list. Entertainment was fun and tastefully presented as well as the control of crowd. Even though Sakura-con was going on, parking was still to be had and there were no messy situations (that I know of). Everyone seemed to be respectful and wanting to just have clean fun. I attended from 3pm to midnight and followed the rules to stay fed, hydrated, and well full of energetic fun. Because this is a large festival, the experience is what you make of it. There are all possible options and venues available to choose from as well the whole geographic area of downtown Seattle at your fingertips. it could be as exciting or as boring as you wanted since it was up to you to go further from or closer to the action of BunnyCon as your legs could take you (in case you needed a break from the crowd). Good times. I am a fan! Thanks for the event and memories through the Seattle rain.

Cramped, gross, stinky and no sitting room anywhere! Only free space was outside of the honey…read morebuckets! Yummo guys, eating next to 30 toilets! Its clear elysian needed a bigger piece of the pie, sacrificing a lot of comforts and beauty the seattle center has that capital hill does not. Will not attend again if the venue is like this year.

I really liked it. Wow if there was a wide variety of seasonal beer. Loved the creative Halloween…read morenames :D partying feeling was there. Great vibe. There were also brew employees that explained some of their beer variety. Super fun. Specially when the fireworks and the band came out :) Get your orange costume ready! Liked the way they organized it in different booths. It was also very fun the face painting and the slushies booths!! Very yummy! There was pumpkin spice and rosè besides the regular beer fro.different breweries :D I just wished there would be more food truck options and tables. I am super glad we got food and table early on :)

My first wine walk ever and it was so much fun! Old Bellevue is south of the Bellevue Downtown…read morePark. Fifteen businesses running along Main Street hosted twenty wineries. It is a great event that supports the local merchants and community. The walk ran from 5 PM to 8 PM. VIP tickets were $45 and granted an hour of early access starting at 4 PM plus small bites at four of the host venues. General admission tickets were $30 if purchased in advance and $40 at the door, although tickets were already sold out on the day of. Admission included twelve wine tasting tickets. Extra tickets could be purchased at $5 for an additional three. Registration was located at two places: 520 Bar & Grill and Zenrock Fitness. A plastic souvenir GoVino wine glass was given to use for the tasting. I had a VIP ticket and also received a wine carrier tote bag. Purchases could be dropped off at the Bottle Valet at 520 Bar & Grill. Wine bottles were sold tax free and had a $5 discount if two or more bottles were bought from the same winery. Bottles ranged from $10 to $60. Since snacks catered for VIP ticket holders only lasted the first hour, we tackled those places first. Even if not a VIP, a good number of the vendors provided offerings, such as charcuterie boards or chocolate, to pair with the wine. A few handed coupons or swag as well to promote their business. The VIP hosts were Zenrock Fitness, Bar Moore & Realogics Sotheby's, Whisk, and 520 Bar & Grill. Whisk was by far the best as it is a venue for cooking classes, followed by Bar Moore. As for the meet and greet with winemakers, it was quite the experience to learn and taste all sorts of wines I had never heard of before. We ended up visiting every place and trying all of the wineries. I am no wine connoisseur, but I could still distinguish the quality and taste of the wine. Structure Winery won as both of our favorites. Twelve tasting tickets for each of us was ample and we were there for three hours. Downtown Bellevue has street parking along with nearby public parking lots by the park. The area surrounding Main Street offers many various restaurants and retailers. The city has free Wi-Fi.

Great weather... a chance to try multiple new wines.. VIP tickets courtesy of the Old Bellevue…read moreMerchants Association and Yelp... how could you not go?!? Add in, getting to explore the many merchants in beautiful Old downtown Bellevue, it was a perfect opportunity and very much appreciated! Huge thank you to the Old Bellevue Merchants Association and Jennifer J. and Yelp for the great opportunity! Check in was quick, friendly, and easy, everyone was great at explaining the process and suggested routes to take. With over 600 people at this sol d out event, I would definitely say VIP tickets were great! You start an hour before regular ticket holders , and although some station had light snacks, such charcuterie boards, that were set out for the first hour, many continuously replenished the boards throughout the event. I can honestly say that I didn't have one tasting that didn't at least have me intrigued enough to want to try more from each winery or purchase bottle(s) from. Being from Nor-Cali can sometimes be a detriment to experiencing wines from other regions, but I've been mildly surprised at the Wonderful Washington wines I've experienced. I've also found it interesting that most of the wine grapes are grown in eastern Washington, but the tasting rooms are more local... gotta go where the people are sometimes, which is a bonus for us in western Washington. I tried to show as many of wines tasted in the multiple pictures taken and info about each tasting station. It would difficult to just pick one for sure, but I have to say a shout out to Browne Family Vineyards, for being on task on a very busy evening and also being the 'bonus' No ticket needed stop. Loved the 'Do Epic Shit' red blend... a great red blend with a epic title. It was a pleasure to see Washingtonians out and enjoying the sunshine, with great weather wines, and Bellevue's beautiful old downtown area. Lots of great restaurants, clothes shopping venues were highlighted as stations for this event, so you really could explore all the downtown area. One I noted for myself, since I love to cook was Whisk, a great stop for the Patterson Sangiovese, checking out all the cooking gear, and the delicious snacks being prepared in the teaching kitchen area, definitely looking into their events schedule. I highly recommend attending this event as well as other Wine walks that are hosted throughout the greater Seattle area during spring through fall. Great ways to try multiple wineries and explore places you may not regularly visit and be surprised at what you find. Fun times! Happiest Yelping, God bless and Cheers!

This particular Chinatown International District event - which usually occurs around the time of…read morethe Moon Festival - has been around since 2006 though I've gone here starting back in 2011. Past night markets have spanned throughout King St starting from - but not including - 7th Ave all the way down to 5th Ave, spanning outwards on 5th, 6th and Maynard to the blocks touching both Weller and Jackson Streets. This year (and several other years before that) there were no fair contents on the stretch of Maynard touching Weller. Basically, there's 6 blocks of food and merchandise vendors for night market goers to enjoy, and there's less content year after year. Logistics wise, people come and go throughout the fair, though this day was particularly crowded because of two home games in both T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field occurring within the time frame of the night market. It gets very, very crowded the closer you get to the end as certain performances are scheduled within that time. I don't mind this though, since crowds where you're shoulder to shoulder with others is what night markets in this continent are all about. As with previous years after 2018 or so, the main stage is at Hing Hay Park instead of the parking lot at 6th and King close to Jolidaze and Oasis. I actually miss having the stage at its former location, but Hing Hay Park is definitely more aesthetically calming for big performances. If you want to watch performances, you should come here early to snag a spot, or hope people leave so you can get a spot where you can see better. Food wise, there's more local Seattle (or at least WA-state native) eateries than what was in this year's nonlocally diluted Bite of Seattle: - I started off getting spicy mango takoyaki from a stand very close to Bao Box (based in Covington, WA), though both stands share the same POS system to order from. Takoyaki is standard, and the spice hits hard but much later than you think. I wish I could have tasted more mango in the mango sauce, though. - The mango coconut smoothie from Mangosteen (which used to be in Chinatown) is pure heaven! It was relatively warm this year so this drink especially hit the spot. - I also got some pandan waffles from a Seattle-based stand called Dragonfly. They sell Vietnamese waffle mixes along with the waffles of those flavors themselves. I love pandan flavor on waffles, so this was a big hitter for me as well. Entertainment wise, I'm divided on this since I'm considering years of attending this event. The lion dances from Mak Fai are always fun to see year after year, and though I missed this year's Apex Diabolo performance in person I'm sure they were really mesmerizing to watch as they always are. Honestly, I would much prefer watching the dancing competitions from The Beacon back then instead of the K-pop random dance play event this year, both of which occur as the last performance of this event. I did, however, have some fun at the variety show and got to listen to some awesome local API artists sing their hearts out; it makes me miss more of the singing that used to take up slightly more time slots on entertainment in past years. Unlike the Bite of Seattle, I'm down to come back here year after year regardless of the lack of changes with the vendors. There's a ton of local eats, merch booths are very interesting, and we still have an eclectic set of performances to boot. This event isn't something worth staying the whole duration for, but you can enjoy yourself and the crowds very easily here.

Looking for summer fun, entertainment, eats, and getting smoked out by all the grilled eats?!…read more.. come to the ID during this festival! My friend and I were eager to try all the sweet and savory eats while being entertained by the on stage pop locking / breakdancing. Be prepared for the crowds! The space is limited to a few blocks leaving little room to move about and few places to find refuge. Wonderful smells from all the eats offers temptations, whilst the smoke from the grilled eats literally 'crowds' you :0/ thankfully industrial fans were about Overall a great experience! Hopefully next festival will offer more areas to escape

We recently visited Paramount Theatre to watch Phantom of the Opera, and the theater itself was…read morehonestly part of the experience. The venue is stunning -- full of majestic arches, ornate architectural details, elegant balconies, and a grand old-theater atmosphere that immediately makes the evening feel special. Even before the performance starts, you already feel like you're having a real night out rather than just attending a show. The massive multi-tiered seating area is very impressive, yet the acoustics still felt excellent and immersive throughout the performance. One thing we especially enjoyed was spending time outside beforehand looking through the illuminated displays and posters for upcoming productions. It really builds anticipation and adds to the magical atmosphere of the evening. Whether you are seeing Phantom of the Opera or another performance, the Paramount feels like one of those classic theaters that turns an event into a memorable experience.

The touring production of The Phantom of the Opera at Paramount Theatre was absolutely fantastic…read more The cast was incredible, and the production itself deserved a much better audience environment than what the theater allowed. Unfortunately, this was one of the worst theater etiquette experiences I've ever had. During the first act, a man seated behind us repeatedly sang along during the performance. When I politely asked him to stop, the person next to him sarcastically pointed at the stage and said, "The show is over there," while the behavior continued. Around us, multiple people talked throughout songs and scenes, and later in the evening I even saw someone openly filming the show on an iPhone. I eventually had to leave my seats (Main Floor 2, Row G) and speak to management because the disruptions were so bad I couldn't focus on the performance. The only solution offered was seats in the very back of the orchestra. By that point, the experience was already frustrating enough that it took a while to calm down and enjoy the show again. What's most disappointing is that this is the SECOND time I've experienced terrible audience behavior at this theater. I previously saw Back to the Future here and dealt with nonstop talking during that performance too. I attend theater regularly in Southern California at Segerstrom Center for the Arts and also frequently see shows in New York City. Ushers there actively monitor audience behavior and quickly shut down disruptions. At the Paramount, it felt completely unmanaged. For the prices being charged -- around $350 for my tickets through Ticketmaster -- audience members should not have to deal with talking, singing, and filming throughout a Broadway performance. Amazing production. Extremely disappointing theater management and audience control.