2025 event is wonderful as usual. Lots of variety in terms of music, food, drinks and vendors…read more Parking is easy at BART and the weather this year is perfect. Sun screen and water is important regardless. A very worthy event to check out.

Review #800 This…read moreFestival was packed!! The Lafayette Art & Wine Festival definitely delivers the goods!! The best way to attend this festival is by taking BART, because the festival is just a few blocks down the hill. You can walk or take the free shuttle. If you do drive, you can also park at the BART parking lot for free!! But once in the festival, lots to see, eat, and do!! I counted at least 4 stages with live music, one even had a stage for dancing. It was super crowded, so it took a while to get around. The weather was perfect, lots of booths everywhere. I'm not a wine drinker, but there was plenty of wine to drink and art to ponder. Just a real good time!! This was my first time attending this Festival, definitely glad that I went, good times!!

My family and I enjoyed a concert at The Grove during our recent trip to the Bay Area, and we were…read morestruck by just how lovely this park is. My husband's grandparents live in Clayton and regularly attend the concerts; we can see why. The Grove has lots of shade and is in the middle of downtown Clayton, surrounded by some restaurants and stores. There's a large convenience store nearby, in case you need a few items or drinks to round out your picnic. The grass was well maintained. There's a path around the space, so that you don't have to worry about walking through people, like if a concert is happening. The bathrooms were reasonably clean with baby changing tables. And there wasn't a bad seat for the concert. Still, though, my husband's grandfather did head over to the park early to set up chairs and save our space. That didn't appear to follow the rules on the signs, but he was far from alone in doing this. All in all, this park and its musical programming were great for enjoying a beautiful summer evening.

The Grove hosts a weekly music venue on saturdays in the summer. it's part of The Eucalyptus Grove…read morewhich was acquired by the city of Clayton on 10/7/1999. it's always been used as a community recreational facility. there's a children's playground, a small park, a picnic area. and a walkway to leisurely wander about. last but not least, there's a bathroom.

Went for my son's birthday with the entire family, they had a blast …read more My husband and I also found other things to do other than throwing axes.. the food is order good too

Came on a Wednesday night and it was pretty quiet, which worked out great for us. I brought my…read moreteenage boys and their friends, and we had an excellent time throwing axes. We paid for 45 minutes and managed to get in three games. They also have some arcade games and a nice lounge area with Jenga and Connect 4--great for relaxing between rounds. Service was excellent--friendly and attentive. The food was average, but it didn't take away from the overall experience. Would definitely come back again!

First time at the Peddlers Fair. The event stretched from W J Street to E B Street. Vendors of food…read moreand crafts. Great sight of all the local businesses and organization. Parking can be scarce but managed to find a spot near Military. Just a note that dogs aren't allowed within the barricades. Looking forward in attending annually.

They did not allow dogs, even the small ones, so I was not able to purchase anything. The same…read morepeople, who stood with "No King" signs habitually, now were kicking people with the small dogs and you were not even allowed to cross from one side of the street to another one.

This was my second time attending Oakland Veg Fest and I think I got the right formula to have a…read moregood time. While this is a vegan festival, the number of people to vendors will put a bit of a damper on your getting to try different foods. The lines for each vendor are easily 30-40 minutes long, not all the vendors have viewable menus without waiting in line, and the portions are very small for the wait and price. It's really cool to see the variety of places that come out but it's an extremely popular fest and incredible opportunity to get to try so many vegan vendors all in one place, so lines are just maybe the price you pay. I didn't even try to get food this year. Everything I saw looked good but I know my mood waiting in line to have food would not have been better than my mood not waiting in line 40 minutes and having no food would be better. What I came for this year, was the cutest dog contest. I don't even really consider myself much of a dog person... well, up until this week, I guess, when I fell in love with about 100 different sweet as pie dogs. They were running about 30 minutes behind on the amphitheater stage but I didn't have any plans and was on my own so I snagged a front row spot and chilled on my blanket to watch all the doggies line up. It was obviously adorable and p uplifting to see just how many very good doges there are in the world. I didn't get to pet any of them because I was in ultra chill mode but still left happy as a clam and honestly can't remember the last time I got that excited to the point of yell-cheering. Sophie, the big Tijuana rescue was my fave, followed by Dante the German Shepherd in a Carhartt vest who just loved to be held like a big baby. The host this year was excellent and did a great job narrating not the cutest dog contest but the entire fest, which features one stage with different types of speakers and entertainment all day long- which for me was the real draw. I'm glad this fest is in Oakland and held at such a great public and free venue and I look forward to future years of cutest dog/pet contests but I just know I'll probably need to eat before I go because I don't have the patience or temperament to wait in the food lines.

I arrived at the Oakland VegFest early on Sunday morning for the outdoor venue right by beautiful…read moreLake Merritt. The weather was Oregonian overcast looking to rain which would have been a shame for the vendors selling books outside yet the sun came out turning into a pleasant day. There was many different vendors there selling vegan food, vegan products, organizations, & even CSA organic farms that delivered produce. Lots of good resources for people to get more information on a vegan lifestyle for the animals, the environment, & one's health. I especially liked the Green Monday group working toward adding more plant based options in schools which is wonderful. I loved Miyoko's Kitchen vegan cheezes which were some of the best I ever tried. I think it is companies like these that will really help those vegetarians who have a hard time giving up dairy to make the switch to becoming vegan. I became vegan nearly 20 years ago & vegan cheezes have come a long way since I got into this. There was a lot of different speakers at the event yet felt this could have had better organization by having a sign of the speaker's background or when the various speaker goes on as this was a bit confusing. Three speakers that stood out for me were- Kristie Middleton the founder of Oakland VegFest spoke first & told her story how she got into the vegan lifestyle. Latter that day the Mayor of Oakland Libby Schaaf spoke giving kudos to how Oakland is a greener city than most & she said she is again going to take a pledge to go vegan for a week which I thought was admirable. One of my favorite talks was the final one of the event by former NFL player David Carter aka the 300lb vegan. He told his story of how he became vegan & how it is for him being vegan relating it to athletics so was cool to see veganism from a very different paradigm as NFL football players aren't thought of in the context of being vegan yet Carter is changing that. Close to the end of the event a volunteer told me there were some food trucks offering vegan food such as No Worries Filipino Vegan Cuisine. I had already eaten my lunch & would have checked them out or another food truck yet didn't even know they were there until the event was almost over. The food trucks were on the street quite a bit away from the main event area so another improvement would be to have a sign letting people know that vegan food trucks were there or even announce this before the speakers went on. All in all in Oakland VegFest was a great event that a few hundred people I'm guessing attended & gratitude for all the volunteers who helped make this event a success. Looking forward to next year!

I had never heard of this festival before in Castro Valley!!…read more This was a pretty good sized festival. It had 2 music stages, one at each end, a petting zoo, a pony ride area along with plenty of booths selling all sorts of stuff. There are also lots of food options here, and an area to get beer or wine at also. It was a rather hot Saturday when I was here, and it was fairly crowded. This festival occurs every year, the weekend after Labor Day on Castro Valley Boulevard!!

We came by this past Saturday, and enjoyed our time here. Parking and traffic were what you'd…read moreexpect at this type of the event (closed streets, etc.) but the Safeway plaza didn't seem to monitor parking this past weekend, so we simply parked in the lot for a couple hours without any issues while attending the fall fest. There was a nice variety of food/drink vendors on site including garlic butter artichokes, smoked sausages, southern soul food, and of course funnel cakes. We had a hard time choosing what to get for lunch, but Coastal Paella did not disappoint. We came early, there were hardly any lines, and we enjoyed the seafood paella and a trio of flavorful skewers along with a couple alcoholic beverages from the drink tent, a Kitson Wines red blend and beer from Drake's Brewing Co. We ate our meals while vibing to some great live music. Two stages were advertised on the event website (performances of rock, pop, and jazz tunes), but we only saw one stage while we were there in the early hours. There were rows of seating for viewing and standing tables in the back, but no seats and tables together. They offered pony rides for kids, and an awesome petting zoo with waterbirds, farm animals, a giant tortoise, and LOTS of bunnies running around in their pen, in which visitors could come inside and play with them for a small fee. There was also plenty of interesting merchandise for sale including totes, plants, and groot shaped freeze dried candy from Freezy Frosty. We got ourselves some harissa infused olive oil from the Amphora Lafayette vendor tent to take home. It was a fairly small festival, only a couple blocks long, but they used the space nicely and packed a lot of unique offerings for guests without it feeling too crowded. The atmosphere was lovely and the people there were friendly. We had a good time.

The food is so delicious. They have a dunk tank and tons of games for kids. Live music is great…read moretoo. Definitely worth stopping by if you have some free time this weekend. I suggest the Gyros and the Baklava for dessert.

A lot of fun! My family and I go every year... Very nice people and fun games and bounce houses for…read morethe kids. AND they donate some of the proceeds to a different disease research fund every year. We get to have fun and support a great cause at the same time!

A celebration of everything cycling is Pedalfest, an annual free event held at Jack London Square…read more There were booths from many organizations, such as Bike East Bay, Bay Area Air Quality District, BART, GoBike, Gig Bike, Trek and health and service organizations and businesses selling cycling clothing, gear and accessories. Event highlights were the Amphibious Bike Race, where participants rode their amphibious bikes from the Square into the Bay and Pedal Powered Live Music, where people hop on stationary bikes and pedal to provide the power for the bands that performed and Stunt riders riding their bikes over obstacles. For those needing food and drinks, there were food trucks and beer from Drake's at the event. It was a fun event and great for families.

We've gone two years in a row. We love this event. Now that my son is old enough to enjoy bikes…read morehe had an awesome time too. Its very family friendly and dog friendly. There are also some food vendors. We brought our own snacks and beer. The Whiskeydrome is a fun sight to see. Its a big circular wooden ramp like thing that the performers ride bicycles around and around in a circle. The ramp sways and moves with the movements of the riders. Its a sight to behold. They also have demonstrations at different times throughout the day. Clayton Bikes puts on a great show. If you like photography like I do, this is a fun demo to shoot. My husband is a big trials bike rider and he likes to watch the trials demonstration. It was fun. I don't think the average everyday person knows what trials bike riding is so to see it live in front of you is an awesome sight. The dates have changed year to year so I cant tell you when the next one will be held. We will more than likely be there.