This is my favorite festival, as a vendor I do a lot of festivals and arts and crafts shows all…read moreover west Michigan. It has everything for everyone from carnival rides to pancake breakfast accompanied by local talent, home made apple yummiest of all sorts to a huge craft show that donates it's booth rental to a list of charities. Carnival food galore to a car show and plane rides even a costume contest. First weekend in October

Oh... my... god. We're driving across Michigan, I'm thinking about my new wine obsession, and…read moresuddenly the wine gods smile on us and I spot a sign for this festival that was going to be riiight on the way. YES We actually only made it the free wine tastings at the two wineries in town--St Julian's and Warner's. HIGHLY recommend St. Julian's. Yes, it's totally held in big stuffy tent in the gravel lot behind their building. Enter the tent, however, and you are basically in wine tasting heaven. They pretty much brought out every single one of their wines for the occasion. There were at least nine different stations, each featuring 4-8 wines, with laminated sheets displaying the tasting notes. There were also tasting sheets and pencils for writing notes. For a wine beginner like me, this was an amazing way to learn about a whole lot of different varietals all at once, and I loved a lot of what I tasted. The place was set up in such a way that there was absolutely no pressure to buy--in fact, sales were handled in a separate tent. Also, they were doing a 20% off sale on all bottles, rendering them cheaper than Binny's! Crazy deal on their already affordably-priced wine. After all this, Warner's was kind of a let down. The place was near empty when we arrived and it was a bit awkward with the wine attendants waiting as we tasted maybe three samples. We weren't too impressed by our selections, so we left pretty soon afterwards. The grounds were very nice though, with the river running through it. Bottom line, just go to Julian's. You will get sticky drinking many sips of wine out of tiny plastic cups and you will be happy.

Let's just start with the greatest part of the festival, the Spasmastics (sp?) playing at St…read moreJulians. They did an amazing show. They kept the crowd dancing and laughing, it was amazing. The four gents from Chicago were so incredible to do a meet and greet after the show. It was truly the best part of the event. I enjoyed the car show very much. There were some very beautiful cars on display up and down the main street. With the two good things listed Iust say that I have gone to this festival in Paw Paw a few times now and the trend is not promising. Due to new rules by the government they must use tickets to monitor the consumption of alcohol at the tastings. Understandable, but what did this mean for 2017? Five tickets for 1 ounce samples given out for a $5 cover charge. Most wine bottles are 750mL or 25.4 ounces... No wonder the wineries are excited for the festival, to sell 1 ounce samples to the public for twice the cost per ounce over them buying the bottle from a store. The cider tasting at St Julians was the best racketeering scheme of them all, same 1 ounce sample for a $1 ticket of a $3.99 bottle of cider... I would love a festival that got people to play 450% over shelf price of my product. Got to try 5 flavors out of the greater than 40 options they had on site. The carnival quality was just kind of sad. The only thing that looked halfway kept up was the food booths, which is likely only a byproduct of health code requirements. We attempted to enjoy a carnival ride twice and both times the worker was going on break. I understand work breaks, especially for someone working the Gravitron, but his attitude was completely uncalled for when we asked the simple question of how long would he be on break. It is a straight forward question that should have been answered without needing to be asked by the people standing in line to get on. Jobs have schedules, letting people know what the break schedule is would help them not waste 5 minutes in line when a "15 minute" (20 actual minute) break is coming. To wrap it all up, the police presence at the festival was just staggering. Hundreds of officers from departments all over were swarming around the festival. You could not go 20 feet without seeing another Law Enforcement Officer. The barcode scanners at the event that gather name and address of all attendees... If crime was not zero then I am concerned as to why not. In the course of walking from the carnival the sugar bear downtown, I personally counted 6 marked LEO cars and 23 officers on foot. That was even using the back trail by the river to get away from the crowds and having to walk on the roads.

This festival is always a lot of fun. The pancake breakfast at the pavilion is always good. They…read morehave some farmers market booths selling blueberries and other goodies. Cool town on the water.

The nachos are very good. If you correct the old man's math you can pay fewer money for them cakes…read more Ask for extra sausage if you need extra saisage! We think Margot killed a moth and Jho cried until I gave him syrup.

So after living here for three years I finally just found out about this massive event in Battle…read moreCreek Michigan. Advertises carnival rides/food, air shows, local shopping tents, live music, beer garden, events, fire works and hot air balloons. Of course it's hard to pass something that hosts that many things in one afternoon. The parking lot is massive, and plenty of room for everyone. The parking line was pretty long to get in, and it cost 5 bucks, but it was better than walking in my opinion. Sadly, as we were parking we were informed that a few minutes before we arrived that the jet truck had exploded during the air show, and the air show had been canceled. We decided to go anyway because there was still hot air balloons. The line to get in was very efficient and we walked right in. Ticket cost was 10 dollars per person to get into the festival. We wandered around and did some shopping. They have some pretty amazing local talent there making some some impressive things. After that, we got some food. I got a pizza from a local pizza tent which was amazing. We then got some funnel cake. Was everything I remembered from childhood. Haven't had funnel cake since I was a teenager. Food was a little pricey but anyone who has been to an event/festival in the last 5 years knows that food and drink prices are inflated to make a profit. After food we wandered through the carnival rides and decided to do the Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel brought an amazing view of the grounds and showed that the event truly is a popular event in Michigan. After the wheel we decided to go get beer, find shade, and wait for the hot air balloons. The beer garden has some pretty amazing options. Aside from commercial beer they had many options of Michigan made beers. I enjoyed blood orange beer from Cheboygan. Was delicious. After a couple hours of waiting we were informed that the hot air balloons were not gonna make it for the day. We found out that the hot air balloons come flying in on one day and fly out on another and they were delayed due to weather flying in. If you can find out which is happening I recommend going on a day that they fly out and not in. Watching them fly off would be so much more exciting, and there is a higher chance of not getting to see them on a day they are flying in. The slightest winds can delay them. Overall, we were disappointed because we got no air show, and no hot air balloons. However, we did get to see a massive explosion go off. The entire air strip was covered in jet fuel from the truck earlier so they had to ignite it. The explosion felt like a meteor hit the earth. Was so loud, shook the ground, and it was instantly dark outside from the smoke. Was exciting to say the least. A definite must do event for 4th of July even without the jets and balloons. If you're going for balloons find out what day they fly out. We went because it was the 4th, but the festival is 5 days. *Note* you can bring in your own chairs, tents, coolers. We didn't know being our first year. Go prepared for an all day event and zero shade on the grounds.

After a one year hiatus the long-running Island Fest was back for 2016. I haven't been before so…read morewasn't really sure what to expect and can't compare to previous years. I went on Saturday night, around 7-10pm PARKING - There are a couple of paid parking lots around the area, but a baseball game was also going on the same night so lots were pretty full. Most cars parked on nearby streets and I did see police patrolling when we walked back out to our car ENTRY FEE - When we arrived it was $10, however looks like it's less if you arrive before 7pm FOOD/DRINK TICKETS - The tickets are 50¢ per ticket...beer was 8 tickets, mixed island drinks were 12. I didn't buy food so can't speak to price/quality VENDORS - Maybe 15 shopping vendors; items ranged from dresses, t-shirts, jewelry, incense, smoking accessories CHAIRS - If you have your own lawn chair (or blanket), bring it. Most people sat in their chairs and listened to the music MUSIC - They had one stage, I'm not into Reggae music and didn't know the bands but there were quite a few people starting to dance and the music was good. Overall it was ok...if you like live music / Reggae. The overall atmosphere was a little depressing, you can make a loop around the shopping vendors pretty quickly, so it's basically just the music. There were a lot of people there and into the music though. Nothing really for little kids to do

fun fun fun ,until you look around and find your self looking at nude women with a bunch and i mean…read morea bunch of sweaty truckers and soup kitchen regulars all cramped up eating hot dogs and popcorn yelling

Fun in the sun and nothing on. Can't go wrong. The yearly hoe down is the reason to go visit in…read moreJuly. Fun fun

The Olde World Village is located half way between Galesburg and Augusta and is host to many events…read morethroughout the entire year! Featured events are: an annual Easter Egg Hunt complete with the Easter Bunny, Buccaneer Bash, SteamDream Expo, BlackRock Medieval Fest, Frontier Days, Music Festivals and the ever popular Haunted Hallows! We had the pleasure to attend the 2018 BlackRock Medieval Fest for the first time this summer! On a secluded 35 acres - you begin your adventure by turning onto a long winding drive (seems kind of sketchy at first) that takes you deep in the woods and opens back up to a huge field that is used for parking. As you walk up to the gate at BlackRock Medieval Fest you are greeted with smiles and the "no outside food or drink allowed inside" sign. Once inside you can enjoy live entertainment: live jousting, live action steel combat, 6 stages of entertainment, and live music. You can also enjoy fresh food and cold beverages (Including BEER!) that will quench your thirst and fill your belly. If it's shopping you like - lots of vendors are available with a wide variety of items for purchase from clothing to goblets. So many things to do and see but never enough time! General admission is only $10 at the gate, and children 12 & under are free! Overall: A solid 5 stars - the perfect destination to go and get a glimpse of a time gone bye.

To use a much over used term, this place is AWESOME. This was my second time here, both time during…read morethe Blackrock Medieval Fest. Tucked back in the woods just outside of Augusta, my first impression (3 years ago) upon turning onto the long winding entrance drive , was that this would be the perfect start to a cheesy slasher flick. Directional signs that appeared to be handwritten added to the effect. So to say I had low expectations for the experience would be spot on. Happy to say I was totally wrong! Fast forward to the present. I was excited to return to the Blackrock fest after my previous visit. And I wasn't disappointed. The way that Olde World Village is setup makes the entire Blackrock experience so much better. Everything just flows together and is easily accessible. I love how each show has it's own stage or area so that multiple acts can be simultaneously run without interrupting each other. Gives the visitor more bang for their buck. Plenty of easy parking. Easily accessible porta-johns. It is dirt/gravel parking so don't wear your best shoes. This location is perfect for historical simulations. I believe they also have a pioneer festival, and a pirate fest or steampunk fest at various times also. You should check out at least one of them!

Always a great time, 2017 was no different! Rev Run & Fool House were awesome! Probably the best…read morelaid out of all the Arcadia based festivals. Food is great! It would be nice to see some different vendors though instead of the same lineup year to year. But the ribs were delicious regardless. Food is pricey but comparable to other festivals. Also maybe a tad bit of order for the BBQ lines.. maybe lanes dividers or something to make it easier to navigate. Overall AWESOME. See you in 2018! PRO TIP: BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair) - They provide some seating but it usually fills up early as people "steal" the chairs to eat at tables and such. :)