Overall a decent fest. I recommend parking near the train station. (Or if you live near a BNSF…read morestop, convenient to take train to). Free admission. I have come multiple times to see a cover band. If you want to try some of the local restaurants, they have booths. It is a decent amount of walking. You can bring in your own chair to watch the bands or stand. They accept both cash and card at the beer tent. However, if you pay with card there is a fee. Vendors and crafts are same junk you see everywhere. Every year there is someone trying to sell me home improvements.

Taste of Westmont is an annual event located in the Downtown area on N Cass Ave. It offers a mix of…read morecarnival rides & games, (2) stages for live music, vendor tents, a beer tent, and food vendor area. There is no admission charge and street parking isn't too difficult to find. This is my second time attending the event and loved the atmosphere in the mid afternoon. There were about 8-10 food tents or trucks offering samples of their best items. All food venders were local to the Westmont area which I love. Most of the vendor tents this year were home remodeling companies or community organizations. While this is nice, I missed some of the mom & pop vendors offering decor, candies, artisan goods, etc. Overall, this is a great family-friendly event. It may not be the biggest festival but it's enough. It's never been too crowded when I've come and I always enjoy the sense of community!

I have to say, I still enjoyed the show, but it has gotten a whole lot smaller. There is one less…read moreroom of vendors on the second floor and the whole room in the middle on the first floor is no longer. Some of the long time vendors are not there and there are a couple of new ones. Also, down to just 2 choices for food vendors. Dave's Coffee Cakes is still up on the second floor and still offering samples ~YUM. Parking is still free but people park so haphazardly that it can be almost impossible to get into your car and out of your space when you are finished and want to leave.

From the owner: Promoters of award-winning arts & crafts shows. Each show is brimming with row after row of…read morehandcrafted, one-of-a-kind home decor & gifts. Entertainment, food & drink & lots of family fun.

I have been going to the fest for a long time, mostly to see cover bands. They usually get a good…read moreoffering of bands. You do pay a cover to see the bands. Parking can be tight. Check the deck first. Local businesses sponsor the event and money raised goes towards scholarships.

We usually have a good time out here. There's a stage area for the bands to play, and they put out…read morea ton of chairs. Good news is, there's no line at the beer tents and plenty of food. Unfortunately, I had gotten rear ended in the parking garage downtown and they didn't leave a note.

Very nice art fair with lots of unique jewelry, paintings, pottery, woodwork, stained glass and…read moremore. On a hot June day it was blessedly shady in Burlington Park, and still pleasurable to roam and browse despite the weather. But damn, this fair makes Naperville and Geneva's art fairs look cheap! So budget accordingly... I still managed to find a cool porcelain vase for my tiny ceramics collection for $20. Worth checking out next year if you are near Hinsdale!

What is going on with Oakbrook Center?…read more They used to have a wonderful craft show every July followed by an invitational fine art show in September . Then they combined both shows for a wonderful experience and it has been held over Labor Day weekend. This year, I called to verify the situation. Since Labor Day fell on Monday, September 1st, I was told this would be the show normally held. WRONG. We arrived and had to look for the exhibitors. I thought we were on the wrong weekend. There were a couple of exhibitors, no one manning the information booth, so we walked around the entire mall. I finally found a small pamphlet that listed a handful of exhibitors. More seemed to be listed than were actually present. A lot of what had been exhibiting space in the past is now just places to sit, different fountains, and new planting areas. It took us 20 minutes to walk the entire mall without finding one booth that caught our interest. This is certainly NO festival of any kind. Bummers :(

Free party? I'm…read morethere. Okay, this isn't your traditional party. In fact, it's more like free, live, outdoor entertainment in coordination with many of the area's independent businesses, but it's a nice way to spend an evening while roaming through Elmhurst's bustling City Centre. Here's the deal: From Memorial Day to Labor Day, every Wednesday and Saturday evening from 6-9pm, downtown Elmhurst's City Centre hosts a variety of talented musician under tented pop-ups throughout the city. Most are in areas that overlook outdoor patios or have plenty of public seating to enjoy. The acts, as far as I witnessed, were pretty outstanding, although the temporary tents make for a very casual, almost easy to miss, setting. We kept walking through downtown Elmhurst and thinking we were just hearing some loud speakers from a nearby bar that was playing Kings of Leon, Darius Rucker, LIVE, Bob Dylan and other well-known artists on a jukebox or something, but it wasn't. It was the sounds from the four different tents set up through downtown Elmhurst carrying over. The whole thing was really cool and very unexpected as we'd just kept kind of wandering into these neat pop-up live shows on different corners. Each band, singer, duo, etc really shocked us with their level of talent and performances. For me, being hard of hearing, it was better than going to a concert because here I could actually hear every note and word clear s day. Some of the tents were busier than others, but I think that was due to some areas being better for seating and such, but in any case, mild crowds formed, families danced, young girls swooned, it turned our leisurely stroll around the town into a really romantic night. In addition to the musical acts, area businesses offer super drink food and drink specials and I believe, if you stop by the City Centre office during daytime hours, and ask nicely, they have little postcard type gift certificates for $5 good at almost all the downtown Elmhurst businesses and a great excuse to stop for a beer or wine. On Wednesday I believe there's also a classic car show, so it probably gets pretty crowded, but on our Saturday stroll, the conditions were perfect, it wasn't at crazy. Again, the set up is really casual and you could walk by and just catch a few musical moments, but it's worth it to grab a coffee or grub at a nearby biz and set up shop near one of the pitch-perfect tents for a relaxing and budget-friendly evening.

Our company was a sponsor for this years brewfest so I grabbed my babe and headed there. The line…read morewasn't bad at all, we bought his ticket and went straight to the first booth. There was 80 different beers and we tried them all! Some of my favorite breweries, including Church Street, Lunar and More, were there. I'm pretty sure we tried all of the beers. One of my favorites (not a beer) was the Peach Country Ciderboy! I'm so digging ciders right now. Villa Park did a great job for their first brew fest. The vendors and the volunteers were super nice and we never had to stand in a long line. They had a few food trucks too, I had two tacos from Dori's Tacos, not bad! I can't wait for next year!