This is one of those events that we never miss. It's different every year and thoroughly enjoyable…read more To get the best experience, we come before dusk to fully see everything in the daylight hours while enjoying the flowers and landscape. Then, we walk around a second time when it's dark to fully enjoy the beautiful lit up structures. We also watch the stage shows and enjoy drinks and snacks from the vendors near the stage. They've improved some of the paths making it wider and easier to navigate with the large crowds, strollers, wheelchairs, etc.

I've been to China Lights on a couple of occasions and have always found it delightful…read more China Lights tansforms Boerner Botanical Gardens to a glittering display. You can wander at look at the lights and there's also occasional classic Chinese arts performances to enjoy. We didn't try any of the food but near the performance area there were several vendors offering a variety of food to purchase and dining tables where you can sit and enjoy (very much food court style vibe). One thing I will note: where we were directed to part required traversing very uneven ground. Not a problem for my husband and I but was glad my parents opted to stay home as I think they would have found it difficult. If that's the case for you as well, my suggestion would be to inquire about any sort of accessible parking. Beyond that, a wonderful time. We don't go every single year but when we do go, we so enjoy! Get to it!

For many years, the Holiday Craft Fair from was held at the State Fairgrounds on 84th St. the…read moreweekend of Thanksgiving from Friday through Sunday. For the past 2 years, the show has moved to the Milwaukee County Sports Complex in Franklin. It is probably close in size to the previous venue, but with free parking and easier getting in and out compared to the fairgrounds. Year to year, the shows can vary - some craftier than others. While it is targeted for the middle-aged types who like to decorate their homes with handmade crafty items, it is pretty diverse. Among the vendors you'll find gutter guards, insurance, basement waterproofing and windows. Then there are vendors offering non-crafty items like candy, nuts, even a homemade ice cream stand. For the record, 2013 was not one of the craftier years. We managed to cover the floor pretty quickly. Some of the vendors we always love to see, like "The Nut Man" who sells bulk nuts and chocolates, were there. Other vendors we liked sold hand-crafted ornaments, pillowcases or decorative magnets made from vintage-looking bottle caps. It's interesting to see, even if you're not in the market for something decorative for the home. Still, we always leave with something, a gift, even if it is small. For us Thanksgiving weekend is craft fair weekend and this is usually one of the better ones out there.

I like to review churches based on the strength of their festivals and St Rita's is a pretty good…read moreone. It's big - big enough for 2 separate music tents, both of which hosted cover bands. They were pretty good too - one did Classic rock and one did hair metal (because it isn't a church fest in Stallis until you've heard a Stryper song). Beer ran about $1 less than other fests ($3 for a tall boy) which earns St Rita's an extra star and a special place in my heart. The people working were nice, the crowd was having fun and there's plenty of food on offer. (Of course Friday Fish, Saturday pasta and Sunday Chicken). Cheap beer and Def Leppard covers aside, St Rita's also excels in the games of chance department. There's liquor raffles, that game where you bet on the color a ball lands on, some goofy President game (IDK), pull tabs and a 50/50. The Mister won the last one and netted $77 so he was certainly happy. St Rita's is definitely doing the Lord's work with this fine Fest.

We had a great experience at Greek Fest this year…read more We didn't know what to expect as this was our first time but they did a great job with posting offerings, prices and locations of each beforehand on their site. The portions were generous. The lamb dinner came with delicious rice, salad and plenty of lamb. The gyros were also stacked and the souvlaki was perfect. We also started with the saganaki- perfectly crispy and salty cheese. The drinks were offered by the same company that handles State Fair so you can get cans of beer for $8-9, glasses of wine or they had some frozen cocktails. My only gripe was that they didn't post which gate to enter from. There are so many and when we walked to the pedestrian gate from 2024, we were told we couldn't walk through the grounds to greek fest. The staff helping with food and drinks were great - cooking and bringing up food as quick as they could. Friendly, too! Wish the music would've started sooner but we opted to head out since it was mostly food, games/rides for kids or a small area for greek shopping. However, food was worth it! Definitely check it out!

Ok,this is the 2nd year the chicken was so tough like rub and way over seasoned!…read moreA waste of $15 for one whole chicken. The salad not very good, only 2 olives and 1 piece of cheese 2 cherrie tomatoes, one small dressing,piece of bread,such tint olives for $10 was definitely not worth it. I though I could get filled up on the rice but it was literally crunchy and hard! No easy access for people with disabilities. Had to have my mom walk in for the food to take home because drive through was already closed. Such a waste of money for 3 bites of rubbery smokey over seasoned chicken,lame salad and crunch rice made me decide to not go back for a 3rd time. They are rushing the cooking and not tasting b4 selling to make huge profits. That's stealing people's money. Wauwatosa Greek Fest chicken was horrible last year however, nice and tender this year,great salad,olives,cheese,rice,bread,gyro and portions were worth the price! Please stop rushing the cooking time and taste test b4 selling...I mean how can you mess up rice!?

This is our second year with my sweet daughter, grandtwins, SIL and hubby. They treat us , so it's…read morereally meant to be a lovely Christmas time together time. They purchased VIP parking to help with the twins- cart and bags and not having to truck everything as far. But, the parking lot was not at all full. It's one of those situations where you have to do it just in case. The characters were so friendly and smiling and sweet. They offered to take pictures of our group so we could all be in it. We saw Santa and he was the same as last year and very pleasant. Though I would say Santa's "set" staging area for the picture was prettier last year. It was sooooo very slippery there. The twins slipped and fell multiple times and adults caught themselves from falling multiple times. If we had anyone elderly with us - this would not have been safe. We wore winter boots with good soles. I can't imagine anyone who came with just some sort of regular shoe. The lights are beautiful!!! And there were some different ones from last year- a teddy bear, airplane, rubber duck, and some others. All very pretty. Last year there were live reindeer- not this year. We bought a small bag of plain popcorn for the twins which was $4. Only credit card payments were accepted by the vender FYI. Overall we had a really nice time because of family, but the slipperiness is a definitely safety issue to keep in mind.

Do not waste your time or your money. What a miserable cluster f_ck of an event. An unmitigated,…read moredisgusting mess that should be completely canceled immediately if not sooner. We sat in our car for 40 minutes in the parking lot entrance jammed between three other endless rows of cars, while the employees did God knows what at the front. It made no sense at all with a massive empty parking lot plainly in view. This was just trying to park and get into the event. Once we entered, it was very apparent that the event had been oversold by at least 5,000+ people. Never in my life have I seen such chaos and overcrowding. Kids running everywhere bumping into you, people trampling you to get past you and everyone yelling at full volume in your ear to talk to their friends, and pretty much every single person on their phones not paying attention to anything except themselves. Which is standard in LA, but not in the middle of a 10,000 person crowd. The crowd was so bad that we were not even able to walk forward. You are just stopped in the middle of a proposed walkway while people are wall-to-wall, just standing around and taking photos of themselves and talking to their friends, completely unconscious of the fact that there are other people there besides themselves. Not even Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm is this level of hell on their busiest day. There is no enjoyment, there is no Christmas vibe or atmosphere at all. Just a death trap of endless, obnoxious, inconsiderate people that you can not escape. You can't even see any of the light installments because people are just swarming them and you are unable to get close to anything that you want to see. Just thousands upon thousands of people consumed with themselves or allowing their children to run into you or under your feet. We stood in line for 2 hours behind 300 other people to go on a tiny, ancient, rickety Ferris Wheel that was only half full because most of the seats were broken. I should have trusted my instincts and walked straight out of this 1-star sh_t show. It's absolutely incredulous that anyone is still buying tickets or attending this after the first round of people experienced this horrendous disaster. You are better off doing anything other than this. The event should be canceled or at least at a minimum investigated by the Fire Marshal.

Five stars all the way for yet another addition to the Milwaukee festival arena. The Walkers Point…read more5th Street Festival is literally an extravaganza of phenomenal proportions. Taking place on the economic mecca known as Fifth Street this event is seeing its second season in production. It is also experiencing the revitalization of an area that was once a desolate section of Milwaukee with next to not much in it as many neighborhoods once were. The whole street is shut down and blocked off to traffic, for just this one special day. The North stage and South stage server as the pillars between everything that lie within. From Nomad, Hamburger Mary's, Mob Craft Beer and Fuel Café, to name a few, along with Milwauke staples like Too Much Rock for One Hand or the Var Gallery, this is another stellar representation of all things Milwaukee. For this particular day one couldn't ask for much more than what it was, crisp, sunny and cool. The street was alive and there was plenty of people soaking up the first official day of fall. Walkers Fifth Street Festival is morphing into holding its own down in the slightly hipster-ish and oh so trendy scene of Walker's Point. Keep this going! It's a good thing indeed!

Fun family Southside tradition! If it is nice outside, park the car a few blocks away and walk…read morearound the neighborhood. Much more interactive and enjoyable experience! Make sure to donate to the MACC fund! Thank you to the neighborhood for participating in this longstanding event. :)

A great holiday tradition in Milwaukee. It awesome to see all the houses decorated in such a…read morefestive and fun way. I applaud all the great effort put into it. Highlights of the tour: Snoopy decorations, the NASCAR yard, and the yard that "tryed".

Love the large display of great cars and trucks. Only wish is to have more Food vendors (trucks)read more

This was the 27th annually classic car show held in downtown West Allis where they block off…read moreGreenfield Ave for about six blocks and the side streets that are off of Greenfield Ave. The area was full of various cars and trucks is from origin barn find looking to car show quality vehicles with a Dj rocking the misic and a few food trucks. The area had a nice crowd and it was hard to move around at times and forget about taking any pictures with out people in them. Parking was a little tough because the area was packed with all the people attending but I found a spot a block away after circling the whole area. Overall the show was pretty cool if you like cars that were all across the board, if you get it there you can show it. The crowd was a nice mix of people from the youngest to the oldest with people walking dogs around the show.

We love coming here so much we bought a membership. You can come every 2 to 3 weeks and there are…read moredifferent plants blooming. A nice variety of garden concepts and water features to enjoy. Also, plenty of benches scattered throughout the garden so if you need to take a rest, you can. We love coming here so much we bought a membership. You can come every 2 to 3 weeks and there are different plants blooming. A nice variety of garden concepts and water features to enjoy. Also, plenty of benches scattered throughout the garden so if you need to take a rest, you can.

Boerner is a wonderful garden with beautiful flowers in the spring and summer and gorgeous fall…read morecolors in autumn. I love Boerner so much that I had my engagement photoshoot here. It was so special and the photos turned out beautifully! I recently signed up for the 2-year membership, which was only $90 for two adults and gives me access to over 300 gardens, including Chicago Botanic! Also, easy parking in the lot and never too crowded!