This place is absolutely beautiful. Huge with so many stunning areas from a greenhouse with glass…read morewalls and greenery to pagodas! I didn't know it's also a popular event venue! We saw a few weddings here last weekend. Plenty trails and photo ops! Looks like a lot of people come here for maternity shoots and engagement shoots- the photographers have a special entrance ticket and rules to abide by. Not free entry but very well maintained and a beautiful experience for families or couples.

Meadowlark is the best spot to view cherry blossoms in the DMV, hands down. Visit on a weekday…read moreduring peak bloom if you can, but even on a busy day you can get better views of the blossoms than at the Tidal Basin. Don't sleep on this hidden gem during cherry blossom season! The rest of the botanical garden is well worth a visit, with a greenhouse, polished garden favorites, and wild woodland scenery. There are also children's gardens and a small playground, as well as many benches with different views to enjoy. One of my favorite spots is the fairy garden right outside the entrance, with all kinds of small-scale flowers. Admittedly, I've only been to Meadowlark during two seasons and have yet to witness fall and winter. I'm eager to go for the holiday lights, which I've heard great things about.

Came to visit Asian festival on Main for the second time! Honestly, it was a bit too crowded. The…read morelines for almost every stand is so incredibly long and takes awhile because people don't decide what they want until they get to the front (a bit annoying). In case, the Filipino food was what I was aiming for because I came hungry! They have a ton of vendors but honestly I was only interested in the food. They also have a good amount of performers that were pretty average. Again, I totally get the celebration of Asian culture (especially during AAPI month) but nothing impressive to me. Definitely came to see Chiboo and my favorite thing there was the pandan beverage!

My hope is the city will add even more streets. Each year this gets more popular. Thank goodness as…read moreit's a lot of fun. Asian cultural attractions, food, history, and genuine opportunities to learn. What started out small is quite a decent size. I've always loved the city's and area's diversity, and thank goodness our nation brings people from all over the world. This year chicken teriyaki was so delicious. Also loved the dragon parade! So neat to see. My apologies for not having pics of that. These cars are wrapped with Asian anime pictures, and I must say they are quite cool. So much to see and do, although dear Fairfax City, please reserve more space for next years one.

I love the haunted forest. It's fun every year. Recently, they've added a couple lights on nights…read more These are great for families. My 12 year old isn't quite ready for the real fun, but lights on gives her a chance to get used it. My favorite Markoff's event, though, is their new Christmas trail and village. If you have the chance to go, you must! It's a wonderful representation of various Christmas traditions. I can't recommend it enough!

Markoff's was a big disappointment. It had been about 20 years since I last went to a haunted…read morehouse/forest and I had heard good things about Markoff's, so I was excited to visit. I found the Midway boring, the Town small, the Trail extensive but not very scary/surprising, and the prices outrageous. Markoff's charged $70 for a Town + Trail combo ticket. Ok, fine, for a unique experience I paid it. I don't think it's terrible compared to concerts, Renn Fest, and other experiences. But I thought the overall quality would be higher. At the Midway, I expected more entertainment and activities. Compared to a Renn Fest, which has tons of shows and activities going on, there is almost nothing at the Markoff's Midway. There were a few food stands (tacos, nachos, and pupusas; cotton candy; donuts; waffles; cotton candy; smores), one bar, a merch store, a small art store, face painting, a zip line, and a log rolling activity. The only entertainment I saw was a pretty tame fire dancer at one point. They played DJ music but song choices were often odd, like Elton John (doesn't say "Haunted Forest" to me). Everything cost more money to do. Beer was an outrageous $15. Tacos $8 for one (but did get good reviews from my friends). Lines were long because they only had one person checking IDs and one cashier, and no one had any hustle. Overall, it was boring. I did the Town first. You wait in a line to be driven in a group to the town. The ride there didn't have any decorations or scares which was a missed opportunity. The Town itself was a fairly basic path in and out of some rooms. Some of the decorations were neat. There were some attempted scares and surprises, but this heavily depends on where you are in your group and if you are close to the group ahead of you -- either people in your own group or the next group can spoil the scare/surprise. There were some actors and some dummies and animatronics. Actors were okay but some were overacting high schoolers. It was pretty short. My immediate reaction was, "That's it?" The Trail was much longer and more substantial than the Town. It is clear this is the main event. It was very long and winding, had lots of different themed areas, and lots of props, decor, animatronics, and actors. But everything felt a little low quality. Many of the themes were old timey, like a crypt; I would have liked a few more modern horror settings like a morgue or hospital. Some of my favorite decor was some old cars near the end because they felt more real than other area. I also would have liked some longer, more involved themed areas; instead, the themes felt short and shallow. Like, give me a whole haunted church to explore instead of just one room. They could also have more creative scares/surprises, like with people above you or below you. Scares/surprises could have been good if not often ruined by people ahead. I'm glad I gave it a shot but I don't recommend it. I would read reviews carefully before doing another haunted house/forest.

I'm going to say it.......I think my kiddos had more fun here than at Cox Farms, which is…read moreconsistently held to as the premiere Fall event in NOVA. Rather than focus on slides (of which there are two) Pumpkin Village has moon bounces. We first went to the giant pumpkin inflatable, followed by the corn bin and the zip line. My son loved the castle inflatable and the train inflatable. Several also were more obstacle course with corn and animal themes. We had lots of fun on the pedal cars and the giant pumpkin pillow too.We spent time indoors as well doing arts and crafts and playing in the indoor playground. That was nice to have given how windy it was. While you don't get a pumpkin like Cox Farms, it's still fun and worth the trip.

Best fall place for kids. with an animal farm tied to it and indoor space for kids, what else could…read moreyou want? The slides (tons of independent playground equipment structures and 3 slides built into the hill), inflatables (6 or 7, i think) , mazes, tractor ride, zip line, sandbox, feeding pond, snack truck (free with cider and apples), indoor area - giant play area with trampoline and slides and climbing/netting, play floor area, there is just so much to do, it is crazy. the open/interactive area with the goats, pigs, alpacas, and donkeys was great, too. The animals are gentle and my son didn't get his fingers chomped from feeding them incorrectly. It was a great, great place. definitely a late sept-oct staple for us now.

Love this local fall festival. Jammed pack full of rides and games for the little kiddies. Lots…read moreof little stands for local businesses. You have an option for a super pass which includes unlimited rides on mostly all the rides. There are a few things you have to pay extra for, like the bungee jumping and the pony rides. They also have a large area jam packed with food trucks and food stalls. There is always a huge turnout for this event. My LO has a blast coming here, although there are a lot of rides she can't get on. If your child is 42 inches are taller most of the rides will work for them. I recommend you buying a super pass online to save some money and also if you plan to go on at least 7-10 rides. It's money well spent!

Too expensive rides unless you purchase a super pass. Rides were old and the staff could have been…read morea lot friendlier. Most of them were cranky. Not appropriate for a kids fair. Very disappointed.

What a great event for sampling beers and ciders from breweries from all over Virginia. There were…read moreplenty of food booths to compliment the beer tastings. Tickets were $25 for early birds, $35 at the gate. Price of admission included a 2 oz. glass and 6 tickets for tastings. Additional tickets could be purchased for $2 each. The mashed potato cheese balls were $6 for 4, but totally worth it. I was full after 2 and glad to split it with my husband. It went great with beer. Saw people walking around with necklaces strung with pretzels, which I thought was clever. Didn't see anyone selling them, so I assume those folks brought their own to snack on while sampling beers. Think candy necklace, only with pretzels instead of candy. Brilliant!

This annual two day event is held at the Bull Run Regional Park Event Center. It is an outdoor…read moreevent where participating vendors have booths. This year over 50 breweries and half a dozen cideries participated. The breweries included international and Virginia ones. Many of the Virginia breweries were local to Northern Virginia. Adult and Designated Driver tickets were available. Adult tickets include a 4 ounce glass and 6 tickets to obtain beer samples. Additional tickets are available for $1; I needed a few more. Most breweries offered at least 2 selections. The most prevalent selections had fall themes such as Octoberfest and Pumpkin. In addition to the brewery booths, there were booths for food, arts and crafts, political candidates, cigars, and sales of various products. There also was live entertainment. The beerfest was well attended and crowded. Some of the breweries had long lines but they moved reasonably fast. I'd recommend the beerfest to beer lovers and advise you to arrive early because some of the selections do run out later.

This is a very creative, well thought-out haunted attraction with a lot of eerie sets and actors…read morewho will jump out and grab you. However, the extremely loud music at the entrance and in several sets almost ruins it. Take ear plugs with you. The high volume of the music shouldn't be allowed for any age group unless you want to lose your hearing. Also, it is very dark in the woods and on the sets. So if you're afraid of the dark or walking in pitch black, don't go. This could be so much better.

I'm not really sure how some can say that this is the BEST trail in the DMV area, since there are…read moresome majorly scary trails in Maryland, but.... to each their own. I think that our crummy experience was mostly due to the group of children we were with. There had to be at least 20 (maybe 25-30) total in our trail group, including myself & 2 friends. Enough people that we couldn't all fit on the hay seats on our ride to the woods - we (the adults of the group) had to sit on the muddy floor. Too large for my taste, especially since everyone in this large group was about 12-13 years of age. Myself and the 2 friends who joined me... try about 20 years older than that! The kids were obnoxious, yelled at the leader (who does not speak to the group, merely takes you through the trail from one fright experience to the next) things like "Are they going to TOUCH ME?!"; "You're cute"; "How much longer?!"; "I have to pee!!"; ect ect. I even had a child latch onto my hoodie and almost choked me through many of the experiences as I was trying to walk ahead & she was shitting her pants. After one area, there was a character pretending to chase after some people. This caused a stampede with the youngsters. Mind you, we're in the woods... I got shoved around & almost tripped over branches. I had to use my "Teacher Voice" & tell them to chill out. That worked as well as can be expected. If it were possible, I would definitely want to try it again with a more adult group. I think then I'd have a real opportunity to actually get scared then! I encourage any of you adults out there to get a big group together & make sure you all go at one time. Otherwise, as soon as you pull in and see the large crowd... you will be able to pretty much sum it up yourself. This is an excellent kid drop-off place for parents. For $20, you can leave your kid there for like 4 hours. There's the trail, a DJ, dancing, a bonfire, paintball.... essentially, kid heaven. And I did NOT see parents accompanying them. I will give these guys (and gals) credit, although they are a church group, they certainly do a good job of making you forget that on your journey through the woods. Although the church doesn't look like it needs any more funding (HUGE & NEW!!), the organizations they support make me feel better about spending the $20 on a not-so-terrifying experience.

Over the years, Viva Vienna has become a beloved family tradition! I'm not much of a carnival goer,…read morebut the fact that there is plenty of parking and a hop, skip, and a jump away from home makes it a winner in my book (perfect for those late afternoon toddler meltdowns!). My favorite place to park is near the Vienna Community Center and taking a short walk on the W&OD Trail. I've been doing this for years and it has worked out almost 95% of the time. Other must dos: - Watch the Vienna Singing Princess show (it truly is an hour of campy Disney-esque bliss) - Spinning teacups, carousel, and the spinning dragon ride - Grabbing all the fun free schwag in the vendor area - Moose Juice and funnel cake for the kiddos, chicken on the stick for the boy - Allllll the carnival games This year they switched out paper tickets to a card system. I still had some leftover tickets from last year and they were able to exchange without an issue. We have gone in the rain and on sunny days and it's always a blast. You will always run into a neighbor and it makes me feel like I'm on the set of some small town television show.

Don't put your name in the beginning of the entrance (bunch of computers) for the raffle. Not sure…read morehow they allow this to go on as a "raffle", it is just a information gathering tool so that people from "VVR rewards" can sell you on a timeshare You get a call that says you are eligible to win a gift card up to $200. Also, that you have won a trip to Williamsburg Virginia. The fair overall was OK but them allowing these type of vendors and not disclosing. The purpose is not a good look.