Really enjoyed the festival. Had been to Amelia Island at least 5 times and finally made it to the…read morefestival. There are very good vendors at this one. Truly a focus on art. A large quantity of non profit food booths that raise money for great causes. Located in a beautiful community with extremely friendly people. Plenty of restrooms and also portapots. Entertainment at the waterfront. Boat cruises. Florida's oldest bar. Mostly paid parking during the 3 day festival. Many nice restaurants located throughout. No charge to go to the festival if you don't need to park.

Oh MY!!! Seriously, I have lived in Jacksonville almost 8 years now and I didn't know about this…read moreevent! Crazy. First- it is chaos, they estimated this year to have 150k visitors for the festival- that's right one hundred, fifty THOUSAND people descending on this little coastal town. They had so many vendors, mostly arts and plenty of food and drinks, not to mention all the great businesses in historic downtown! I went with my mom, we arrived around 10am and it took 30 minutes to find parking. Plenty of local business offered parking for a fee- but it was $10 (a church), $20- most perimeter businesses) & $30 for prime parking right off the main drag. Somehow my refusal to park in a paid lot worked out and we found a vacant street parking spot a few blocks away. AKA- be prepared to walk a lot and also prepared to pay for parking. The the festival- the entire main drag is shut down and every side street for a block both north and south filled to the brim with arts, antiques, garden art and more! They have two festival booths for shopping tshirts and other shrimp inspired merch. Mom ended up buying a pink shrimp festival t-shirt. I LOVED all the various art! Metal, glass, photography, painting, pottery, jewelry- you name it! Mom scored various items from $3 to $50 and I bought copper jewelry from 2 different artists. One from Key Largo- Metal and Fire Designs, I found a gorgeous torch patina cuff bracelet and big, gorgeous earrings. Another woman who lives in Clearwater (originally from Maui) does enamel coated metal jewelry- Uli Kai Designs- she was marvelous! I had a difficult time picking out one pair and ended up buying two! Crabby Patty Pottery was there too, a Fernandina local Potter & so many more. People come from all over too- Georgia, the Carolina's, all over Florida- it's really incredible. Years ago I went to a food festival in Jax and was very disappointed, this event was insanely better and I am adding this to my calendar for next year! Now that I have been, I will be more prepared! Oh & the food!!! Most of the food was on the waterfront, at the end of the main drag- plenty of food tents set up and mom and I had garlic parmesan shrimp from the Shrimp Pie boat. Long line, but moved quickly! I am grateful it was overcast most of the day- it was warm, but tolerable. A Gorgeous day for a festival! I'll have to check the brochure to see if they said how many vendors were there, because it was crazy! Highly recommend, wear comfy shoes, bring a hat, sunscreen and a bag for purchases!

This was the first time I went to the event and our first trip to Jekyll Island. Less than 1.5 hr…read moredrive from JAX, this was an easy day trip. Festival admission is free, but there is a daily parking fee for the island, which was $15 on the day of the festival, $5 more than on a non-event day. The festival is held in their historic district. The roads are blocked off. I love that it's set up this way. It's way less chaotic, and visitors don't have to deal with trying to avoid both vehicles and crowds. Vistors staying off-island can park at designated spots at the airport and take the shuttle to the festival. We brought our bikes and parked our vehicle at Great Dunes Beach, which was less than a two miles bike ride to the festival. The festival was incredibly well organized and clean. There was a hand washing station and both porta potties and restrooms are located throughout the festival. There were ample tables and chairs set up. Lots of shaded areas. If you wanted to eat picnic style, bring a blanket. There was plenty of lawn space. Lots of food vendors and other options even if you're not a shrimp and grits fan. We were there on a Sat between 11 am - 3 pm. It's less busy in the morning, but the vendors we visited were very efficient, so even if the lines were long, they moved quickly. We thought the food prices were reasonable for the portions. For beverages, you should walk around first since a can of pop/water can range from $2-$5. Same with the beer. There were two main places selling beer for $7/ticket. But if you want a Budlight, you can get one at the Snack Shop of $4. There are live music, tons of festival merchandise, and local crafts & food for purchase from the Artist Market vendors. There are also permanent shops such as Cotton & Copper & Doc's Snack Shop located on the festival grounds. If you've never been, it's definitely worth checking out and not too bad of a drive from JAX.

Once a year for 3 days Jekyll Island has their Shrimp and Grits Festival! Artist, food/alcohol…read morevendors, non-profit and tourism information set up along the inter-coastal. There are bands set up in 3 locations and they estimate 45,000 people come. It cost $12 to drive on the island and then parking is just a school bus ride away from a parking lot. We brought our bikes so we found parking and biked in; our preferred mode. We bought shrimp/grits from Jekyll Island Club resort, said to be best of show for $12 but they had all kinds of food-pizza, burgers, hotdogs, Latin Fusion, ice cream, cookies, funnel cakes etc. we then biked down to beach and saw some cool kites.. Something good they have done here is build a large walking/biking path at the ocean to get people out and about!

This music park is my favorite festival venue I have ever been to. The place is beautiful and…read moreclean. I love the Spanish moss and the sun shining through the trees. The lake is scenic and there are many things to do and see around the park. One of the best features is the ability to camp wherever you want, unlike most festivals where you have to camp in line with everyone where they tell you to. Camping under the trees feels like a true camping experience and you can even have fires here. Water spigots are plentiful so getting water is a breeze. In the venue there's even a regular bathroom with flush toilets which is a really nice touch. I've been here for two events: tipper and friends as well as Hulaween. I love this place so much I can't wait to come back again

A most magical place! The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park & Campground is an insanely unique…read moremusic venue that hosts 4 or 5 large-scale fests a year, as well as a beautiful and idyllic North Florida campground on regular, non-festival days. Located in Live Oak, way down upon the Suwannee river, the crown gem of this park has to be their natural amphitheater stage built right into the woods. It's a sight you have to see to truly believe, but since I'm writing a review, I'll try to paint you a picture. Imagine you're standing in a forest that starts to dip low, like shallow bowl. Follow wooden steps down to the center, through the trees, to a clearing where hundreds of people are gathered, waiting. Suddenly.. LIGHTS! MUSIC! Yellow, purple, blue and red shoot out and spread wide, illuminating the dark woods and filling the crowd with excitement as the music starts bouncing off the trees, reverberating back to the crowd and out to the furthest corner of the park. It's a concert like no other, and all who have experienced it become united by the memory. Festivals here go all night as attendees run around like kids on the loose until 5 am and later. Hop from stage to stage and see who's making sweet music, or romp around the campsites to see friends old and new. It's an adult playground made of nature; a blessing to enjoy. During the day, you can hang on the beach and swim in the river. If you're feeling brave go for the rope swing; just hold on to your tops ladies! :) I've never had the pleasure of camping at SOS on a non-festival weekend, but I can't imagine a place more peaceful. After attending six festivals here, I have to say I'm a lifelong fan. This is a must-see in the wild and wonderful state of Florida.

We are local and go to this market almost every week to stock up on fresh items including locally…read morecaught shrimp, fruits and vegetables and prepared foods. The market is not too large and has a wonderful variety of fresh food from local businesses. As a bonus, you are in the downtown area and can shop in the local stores while there, or visit a few arts vendors. There is typically live music at the market. Great way to spend a Saturday morning!

This outdoor market is conveniently located in the historic district. And east to get to. Parking…read morecan be challenging, but we lucked out finding a spot less than a block away. It was busy. There were a lot of folks walking up and down -- it's up a hill and down a hill checking out all the booths. They have food, produce, art, plants, jewelry, clothing, honey, spices, flowers, micro greens, oyster mushrooms, mosquito repellant, candles, etc etc. So there's a lot to look at. As we were visiting and staying in a hotel, we didn't buy any of the produce (from local farms), but we did get some locally produced honey. It was fun to browse and talk to the people. Everyone was very friendly and helpful.

So fun!!!! They had a scavenger hunt for the kids collecting a sticker from each country (they had…read moreto collect 30 stickers)! What a great way for the kids to learn about each country. The food was mediocre. I was disappointed there were only 3 countries from Asia (Philippines, Cambodia, and India).

Must visit for For the doubles ! If you haven't tried them yet, you should!…read moreWe got in using the online tickets and came early so there was no line. There are other countries represented, of course but I had to get my doubles fix!

In a unique way you can step into another time. But see some of the most talented musicians & story…read moreteller's & crafter's. In one of the most tranquil settings w/ Dog woods in bloom and azalea's flowering. Steven Foster has lots of unique architectural structure's the tower is my favorite!! Variety of food and activity's. All day into the night!

So many stages, so much variety for three days over Memorial Day Weekend. Not just folk music but…read morestorytelling, demonstrations, dancing, crafts, and jamming. It is unique the way the organizers make such an effort to foster a sense of tradition and not just focus on making a commercial music festival. The definition of folk music is fairly broad here - bluegrass, blues, Celtic, etc. It is mostly acoustic and a lot of emphasis on original songwriting (perhaps a homage to Stephen Foster). All the most beautiful sounds creative, acoustic songwriters can make inspired by a breathtaking natural setting. Just go to the river stage and you will understand. I will give you the negatives, but it gets 5-stars anyway EASILY. As with most festivals, the food vendors don't have a good selection, value, or quality. There is the occasional attempt at some different foods (hand churned ice cream) and regional (collard greens), so that is appreciated. Since it is May it is often hot and parking is a long walk but the stages are shaded and there are golf carts always offering you a ride to your next spot. Last year we stayed at Kelly's RV park down the highway and loved it. White Springs is a small town with places to camp all around. There is something magical about this festival whether you are from Florida, love Florida, or want to learn about Florida nature, history, and culture, just show up and it will happen. I am dumbfounded every time I meet someone who is from Florida and doesn't know about this festival.

This was my third time attending the Jacksonville Caribbean Festival hosted at Metropolitan Park…read more This year was extremely hot, so my friend and I didn't arrive until about 5 PM. The music has always been fabulous, and this year did not disappoint. We watched several musicians (and met one) while dancing the night away. I was pleasantly surprised to see the band shell moved to a shady area in the park this year. In prior years, it was on the other side where there was no escaping the sun. You can bring your own chair or blanket. After a little dancing, I relaxed in the grass on a beach towel. We purchased a few alcoholic beverages and drank lots of water to stay hydrated. If you like island music, I highly recommend you check out next year's festival. There is a parade earlier in the day and food vendors.

Congaree and Penn is a special place, with a welcome vibe and incredibly nice staff. It feels like…read morea retreat tucked away somewhere in the California wine country, even though it's just 30 minutes outside Jacksonville. We've made several trips here, and we were finally able to stay in one of the bungalows in the newly opened area called The Hammock. The tiny houses are quaint and comfy, but have everything you need for a relaxing weekend away. We had breakfast both mornings in our bungalow with the farm fresh eggs they left in our kitchen's mini fridge, along with fresh sourdough and muffins from the kitchens pastry chef. We had lunch and dinner at the restaurant, as well as a less formal fish fry on Friday night at The Roost. Everything was incredible--I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Come visit as soon as you can!

Location North Jacksonville-northwest of airport…read moreParking Large open lot Atmosphere Farm-beautiful rural area-open-vineyard, animals, ducks, fruit trees, horses, cows, emus Seating Low tables, rockers, sofa chairs by fore pit tables, hi tops, bar Note Wedding and party venue opportunities. Separate buildings and areas for private parties. Farm store sells items/food/ drinks Get a farm pass to walk the farm after eating. Service Brandon rocked it!! The best! Menu Seasonal-varies, we had the corn bread with pesto and broccoli and fresh butter. The shrimp and grits was yummy-a bit smoky spicy-great. The grilled trout was juicy and cooked perfectly-atop a bed of buttery rice and the best cooked asparagus ever! Tender all the way to the end. The kale salad was huge, fresh, loaded with toasted almonds, shredded cabbage, and quartered beets. Enough for 3-4. Okay, yes do get dessert. We saw someone else get the strawberry n had to have it-a white chocolate strawberry filled with strawberry mousse and an apricot jam middle. It came with a side of brownie covered with a chocolate creme and cookie sprinkle. Wow!! Well worth it!! The death by chocolate was served with pistachio crumbles. Strawberry was better. Summary A rural special occasion special place farm to table food venue. Love it-outstanding service, the best fresh food menu, beautiful setting.

We had a great time the best farm in MILES ! Seriously they have really gone all out with the…read moreappearance and fun ! You can pet animals play many games food there is amazing !

It's tradition at this point. My family and I do our annual visit for their fall festivities and…read moreit's always a great time.