I found out about this last minute, and could not believe I was so close to missing out on this…read more If you've ever met me, you would know that I am one of the biggest sweet tooths on the planet and the concept of having a bunch of the best bakeries in town in one place for the sampling...well you might as well have let me die and go to heaven. The price to get in is a bit steep ($30), but worth it for someone new in town like me so I can get to know some of my future favorites to visit. The event was well organized and though a lot of the vendors were generic with cupcakes and cookies, there were a few that stood out including the flavored ice cones and the artisan chocolates. I would definitely go again, but next time I would smarten up and take more home rather than trying to eat all that sugar in one night!

This was a very well organized event and the addition of swag bags with a to go box to take home…read morewhat you could no longer manage to eat. Sweets were great. Some better than others of course. It would have been nice to have more variety. Many of the vendors had the same flavors of cupcakes. There were a couple of twists. Like the mancake, with bacon and beer. Overall it was s successful event that just needed more variety and imagination. And of course they need more chocolate candy vendors.

This festival just continues to grow each year! I genuinely love checking out Festival in the Park…read moreevery single year, because there's always something new to see. There's probably hundreds of vendors at this point, from food, drinks, desserts, artists, charities, jewelry. I mean there's SO much to see at this festival! My favorite part about it is the live music. My friends and I always bring a blanket and just come lay out there and enjoy the live band. This year it was actually the same singer as last year and she was great!!! Love her voice and she always sings upbeat songs everyone knows. It's always a whole vibe. We grab food and bring our own cooler and just pick a spot up on the hill and enjoy. That's exactly what we did this year too. For food I couldn't decide what I wanted so I kinda settled for a gyro and it was pretty good, all things considered. The fries we great though! Nice to have so many food options available though. I'll continue to come to this festival year after year!! Definitely a lifetime fan.

I enjoy FITP every year. The variety of vendors lets me purchase items I can't find in my weekly…read morejourneys. It's great to find something I've never seen before. I stopped by a cookie vendor, deliciousness! However, the food lines are typically ridiculously long. Not my speed. There should be a vendor who sells water only for one price. Parking is a task and requires a lot of patience. It may help to catch a ride and skip parking altogether.

The Charlotte Fair at ZMAX (on Bruton Smith Blvd) across the street from the Speedway was fantastic…read morethis year! I decided to get another notch on my champion's belt for auntie-of-the-year. After picking up my nephew's friends, we all headed to the fair. We went on a Saturday afternoon around 3pm. Parking wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. After I unloaded my car filled with 13-year-olds, we walked a very short distance to the front gate. I ordered everyone's ticket in advance online, so after their wristbands were put on, we breezed right in. The rides were super fun and appeared to be similar to Carowinds rides...meaning they were more sturdy than the average small-fair ride. There were lots of games, prizes, eating options, and a performance area. This fair left nothing on the table. It was worth the price. We will surely return next year!

I went to the Charlotte Fair with my mom, sister, and my friends in March 2026, and I got to say,…read moreit was great! We started out at easy parking, we checked in, then we went on some rides, like the zero gravity rides, the one that go upside down, and a lot more! Until we rode this ride that was themed to a taxi, as soon as the ride started, it was fast, it was so fast that I felt NAUSEOUS, I ran to find a hidden trash can so I could empty out my guts, then I felt nauseated for like 45 minutes until I felt fine again, then I went in a couple fun houses before we rode more rides, I rode the roller coaster at the park and it was FUN! After we rode the roller coaster, we got some hot dogs, and I prayed that I wouldn't get sick again, they me and my friend rode some more rides, and then it started to get dark so we head out and it was fun, I loved it and I hope I can go back soon

I love love love this place! I wish I had known more about it before, but now I do! I went here for…read morethe Second Chance design sample event and had such an amazing time! One, I got so many sample items to make as many crafts as my heart desires, but two, I was actually surprised that everyone there had a similar act of mind. Like, when I was looking for some cute pattern fabrics, one lady was like "oh, this looks cute, do you want it?" and just dropped it in my bag. So nice! It was a time of saving things from the junkyard, whilst I wanted them for my own crafts, whilst everyone else was being a decent and kind human being. I'm super excited to come back here again, plus their "fix it" workshops sound super awesome. Ps. the Change Please coffee shop is awesome with great service and delicious drinks. I got an iced chai tea latte and it was amazing!! And so refreshing after a day of lugging heavy things haha. I'm def coming back :)

Oh what memories! Back in the 1980's and early 1990's, this festival was called Stumptown Festival…read more Just before I was born (in the 1970's), my parents, older sister and brother lived mere blocks from here and would walk to the parade then the festival and walk through the booths. Eventually, they moved a few miles away, then my younger sister, and all 6 of us would come to the parade, then walk through the area with booths carefully avoiding the ride area as my parents could not afford to let us ride any of them, or buy the food. Fast forward to my teenage years in late 1980's, early 1990's, where we would come with friends, ride the rides, go through the booth area, buy all we wanted. My last actual time I was able to walk through the entire festival was back in 2003, when I came down to help my mother after a surgery. My last trip to Charlotte (Labor Day weekend 2018), I dragged my parents here on the Sunday. We were early-ish. We walked through some of it, but were unable to enjoy the full affect as they were still opening. This is a small town festival that is fairly inexpensive to do. Homemade items for sale. Some of the booths with items for sale are in the elementary school, which has been updated since the last time I was here. There are stages with live music, and other entertainment. A great time to be had by all. I did not get many pictures of my own as I was busy chatting with my parents, but check out the links below. Parking can be difficult at best. Crowds can be thick in places. For more information: https://www.matthewsalive.org/ https://www.facebook.com/MatthewsAlive

It was 7PM. I'd just gotten my car back (I have it on Turo, which is basically Airbnb, but with…read morecars). Having been in the house all day, I hadn't been able to keep my streak going on Pokémon Go! This being an inscrutable state of affairs, I decided that, instead of driving home, I'd head to one of my main Pokémoning sites: downtown Matthews. I arrived, parking as I do most often in the library/town hall parking lot (small town = multi-use public buildings. The court house in chapel hill is also the post office for example). I takedown all of the gyms in the area, set my guys in them, and then go Pokémon walking. To my pleasant surprise, the legendary gym I was walking to happened to fall smack-dab in the middle of a whole festival! I'm never one to turn down the opportunity at giant smoked turkey legs and deep fried Oreos - both of which are available at multiple vendors along the main walk - so I decide to stop Pokémoning for the moment and take in the event. Live music is a wonderful thing, and they have an entire soundstage set up just for it. The genre of choice seems to be bad country, which ain't my bag, baby, so I keep it moving. I recommend going at night. There are few things in life as immediately disarming as neon lights against an ebony sky, especially when those lights signal funnel cake and rides. Oh yeah, there are carnival rides in full effect. All the good hurlers, too. The ones that make your kids sick. The ones from which memories are built. Anywho, so there I am, hunting for the best giant smoked turkey leg, when I catch the Devine odor of cured pork fat. I know this can only mean one thing: bacon. There's a vendor that wraps everything in bacon. EVERYTHING. IN. BACON. I had bacon wrapped BBQ. That's right, I was in pigception. And it was glorious. I also had a pretty decent crabcake sammich (bun as set dressing only, I swear) and I cheated a bit, and got a refreshing frozen blueberry lemonade. I didn't stay long, but what I saw left a good taste in my mouth (literally and figuratively). Then I went back to catching all the Pokémon, so, you know, I was productive.

We love going to the Greek festival and enjoying the food and dancing. The food is delicious and…read moremade fresh!!

After hearing about the Yiasou Greek Fedtival for years, my husband and I finally decided to…read moreventure to South End to see what it was all about. I can tell you that parking was one of my biggest deterrents in going. But I found three parking garages just a little over a half mile from the festival, making parking a non-issue with just a short walk - * Design Center garage - 240 Doggett St, $8 all day Sat & Sun * 100 West Worthington garage - $10 all day Sat & Sun * 110 East Blvd garage - $5 all day Sat & Sun We went early on Saturday, just after they opened. There are festival rides for the little ones, vendors/crafts, dancers and musical performers, tours, and of course, food. I was a little disappointed with the crafts. Other than the couple of vendors selling sterling silver items, most of the jewelry seemed of the quick-to-tarnish variety. I wasn't interested in purchasing any clothing, but they also had olive oil, Greek knick-knacks and home goods, and honey vendors. We decided against getting lunch there and headed straight for dessert, with the baklava sundae. This desert is HUGE, and my husband and I easily shared one. The topping was plentiful, and the ice cream was of high quality. Most of the "staff" working there are volunteers. I know this event takes a village to pull off, and we were impressed overall with the efficiency of the entire operation. While we didn't stay long, the baklava sundae alone will probably bring us back every year!

This is the place my husband asks to go for his birthday every year. Something has changed…read morethough... better quality ingredients ? Better Chef ? because the night we came on a Thursday the place was packed and the food was fantastic ! I love their wheat beer. The beef stew we started off with was phenomenal ! Very rich with deep flavor. Highly recommend. Our waiter was very good and checked on us often. The veal schnitzel was excellent ! The spaetzle was excellent too ! Our meal was absolutely delicious !

Great food, wide choice of German food, beer & wines, pure real German gasthaus design, as Germans…read morewould say "echt". Owners freely roam the central room often, the serving staff are friendly,warm, and everywhere. Excellent time had by all. Our visits have been so good I had to join their beer club. Additionally, this is the first time in my 84 years seeking real German taste in a German styled American restaurant that I found it. This is the real deal!

This little Yelp profile deserves an upgraded, & a recent review. This is one of the best beer…read morefestivals that Charlotte has to offer. The weather this year was perfect. Not terribly hot, but blue skies and plenty of beer. No, I don't think that beer is usually included in a weather forecast - but maybe it should be! Blue skies and 100% chance of local beer and swag. This festival seems to be very well organized and attended. You're able to camp, if that's your preference, all weekend! I did not, as I am very spoiled and like camping at home, in my house, with the A/C on - but I know that some people like it. TONS of local breweries come out for this festival and offer unlimited samples on Saturday, and you can vote for your favorite brewery! Food trucks were just up the hill, I don't know if this is the norm as this was my first time attending. A little out of the way, but not a pain. There are booths with local crafts and goodies too, if that's more your pace. Bring lots of sunscreen, as the festival takes place in an open field on Rural Hill grounds, and there's some (but not much shade). Or you can hide from the sun under one of the beer tents. Rural Hill is gorgeous, I'm glad this festival went so well this year as I know that they've been struggling with keeping events on track in the last year. This is definitely something to put on your calendar - local beers, friendly beer reps, food trucks, live music, local crafts and beautiful scenery! Win win win win win win.

Myself, some friends and several other thousands of people stopped by the 2nd annual North Carolina…read moreBrewers and Music Festival and it was a very well attended event for certain. The location of Rural Hill was a great selection for them because of all the open space it provided for people to move around. It's remote location and many acres let people pretty much have the run of the property and you didn't get that somewhat kettle'd in feeling that the Octoberfest can bring on. The food vendors they had were pretty limited with there only being a hot dog stand, hamburger stand and I believe a BBQ stand but amazingly enough they didn't seem to run out of food (while we were there) so if you wanted to grab a bite to eat there was at least food to be had. There was also the music/bands on the main stage but I'd say about 80% of the attendees were only there for the beer tasting. They seemed to do a very good job of representing a lot of North Carolina Brewers and there were probably about 12-14 tents up handing out the samples of sweet hoppy deliciousness. I gotta get on to the reason I only gave this event 3 stars though and that is because of the poor event planning that seemed to go into this with regards to being able to accommodate the large crowd they had. My friends had prepaid tickets and I decided I would just eat the additional 5$ charge and get my ticket at the gate for the beer tasting. We probably showed up at around 130 and the line for tickets was at least 150 people deep. They seemed to do a pretty good job of moving the line along but mid way through a woman came out and announced that they were no longer selling tickets for the beer sampling because they were afraid the beer vendors would run out of beer. Right then and there many people just peeled out of the line and went on their merry way to other probably anywhere else the could get a cold draft. With my friends already inside I was pretty much committed to the event or else I would have up and left myself but I figured what the hell. I'll just pay the 20$ and claim designated driver rights so my friends can have a good time. Once inside it was amazing to see the lines at the beer tents. They were probably at least 100 people in each line and moving rather slowly. I tagged along with my friends as they hit each of the tents in succession. The vendors would give you a small plastic cup and for your sample you'd have probably 4 ounces. Nothing unreasonable there or anything you wouldn't expect for a beer sampling but after you had hit one vendor you would have to immediately go to the next line and begin your wait all over again. From what I could tell they probably needed at least double the number of beer tents to support the number of people they had in attendance. We ended up leaving after the last of the free tastings came and went and by that time most of the beer vendors had packed up and left because they ran out of product to hand out. Oh yeah, and the first keg was kicked probably around 3pm and that just added to the other lines becoming longer. Overall, it is a great idea for a event (weather permitting as always) for people who like to get out for a beer tasting. I'm sure the promoters will rave about it being a roaring success but when you have people being turned away at the gate or having to spend 30$-35$ just to stand in line all day it comes off as kind of "ehh". Until they get a better handle on how many people will be in attendance and scale the event to suit everyone I'd say it's a flip of the coin on whether or not you should check it out. Lastly, mad props to the Lonerider folks. They seemed to have a endless supply of beer and their staff was keeping the cups topped off and line moving as fast as they possibly could.