Such a fun little town. Hung out on the square at the local fair. Live music. Great food. A bit of…read morerich history. Fun rides. We ranged from 2-62 and everyone of us had a fun time!

Nice hometown festival. Food, drinks, live music, rides. Good times, of course it can't have 5…read morestars b/c our Chi neighborhood festivals are on a different level...sorry Liberty-thrill! But at least I started this post so you can flourish :)

Beware it's cash only but there are plenty of ATMs to charge you service fees. You need six tickets…read morefor a beer, if you aren't a heavy drinker you will be left with extra tickets. Can you return unused tickets for cash back?

A great upscale arts festival (with wine!), that is set up near a quaint little historic downtown…read morearea. Open 8/24/13 and 8/25/13. Get your wine and then walk around the art booths! If you visit, you can get the best of the permanent downtown shops as well. The downtown stores and restaurants were bustling from the art festival crowds. Parking wasn't an issue, but you may have to park on the main street (just past downtown) and walk a block or two. This is a juried art festival, which means that a jury must review an artist's qualifications and portfolio before the artist can participate as a seller. This allows for much higher quality art and crafts than at a non-juried festival. The show was heavy on jewelry, photographs and paintings, but did have a good variety of other mediums (textiles, ceramics, leather). There were no handcrafted soaps or foods (but maybe those don't fit with "fine art"). I wished there were some paper crafts, like handmade cards, but I saw none. I purchased earrings and a necklace from two different vendors. I love them! There weren't too many people, and the booths were spaced well, so you could see everything. Food vendors and musicians were there, which made for a more enjoyable experience. 4.5 stars Visited 8/24/13

While I feel like the Long Grove Chocolate Festival seems to have a little less great vendors as…read morethey have in past years, we still like to go here every year. Highlights, for me, include the parking for donations at the friendly Church of Long Grove lot on Robert Parker Coffin Road, chocolate martinis at Enzo & Lucia's, chocolate covered strawberries and cider donuts, drinks on the patio at Buffalo Creek Brewing and of course, we love that this fest is dog-friendly. While I feel there are too many vendors offering home improvements, like new windows or bathtubs, I get that the fest needs vendors to support their efforts. The businesses of Long Grove are always lovely to visit with employees and staff who appreciate their customers. An annual tradition we proudly support.

This festival is basically a summer street fair and it's quite nice for that. Despite the name of…read morethe event, just don't come expecting a lot of chocolate themed offerings. It's an oft mentioned comment in the reviews and it's true. With the kiddos in tow though, it's a nice summer outing for activities like their reptile show, some face painting, some kids' arts and crafts, browsing for kids' knick-knacks, and a bit of street food. They also had a separate setup of carnival rides for pay. There were only a couple of chocolate related offerings I saw - a chocolate martini drink, and a couple of chocolate snacks and such. They also had some small music stage acts that we did not try to see. Admission is $5 for adults (plus a $2.14 online purchase fee) and it's free for age 12 and under. There was limited free parking in their smallish public lots but there was a $5 donation lot a couple blocks away that would be your best bet. The fair is set up with only a modest amount of walking. The carnival rides involve purchasing separate ride tickets out of an unmanned dispenser which worked just fine. Rides are about $3-4 pp. This fest makes for a fine and delightful summer outing in quaint Long Grove if you just set your bar down appropriately.

Since 2015 I've attended yearly. With family living close-by and whom share a love of BBQ too, it's…read morea no brainer. If you have lived in or visited the city during festival season, you know that summers go hand-in-hand with visiting festivals. With that said, most ask for some sort of donation. The donation helps them with festival arranging and the casting of musical talent. Bands aren't free. Knowing a little bit about hiring bands for shows, $5 isn't a bank breaker. I like all kinds of live music and LBR doesn't disappoint with arranging decent Blues bands. The festival will typically offer a handful of local BBQ operators. What is unique is that there is a good mix of different purveyors. (Unlike many in Chicago that tend to hire some of the same old tired BBQ vendors.) Those with restaurants that are open to the public and others that are caterers or BBQ festival operators. This last option means they travel the country for BBQ fests hoping to drum support for their brand. Uncle Bub's is a good example. The last couple years there was a caterer I loved, called The Full Slab. At one time they had a counterspace but ended up closing. Maybe due to a bad location choice. After having their tips, I and family were SOLD. I tried my model best trying to convince family to hire them for a catering party.. Those tips were glorious.. So this year.. The mosquitoes were biting! What is the deal with this park.. They need to do a mosquito treatment in the future. The park is next to a small lake / pond. There is lots of water and after rains the grass can be muddy and wet. As was the case last night. I bathed in repellent and still have got a connect-the-dots of bites from ankles to knees. Food. A handful of vendors this year. I did not see Full slab or Bub's even though they were mentioned on the marketing. That isn't to say they won't be there this evening. Smokin T's. RUB - Real Urban Barbecue, Big Ed's BBQ, BBQ'd productions bar and grill and BoBo's which is a local fast food type joint. There was also a grilled corn and funnel cake vendors on hand as well. The setup was as previous years. Even when lines got long it didn't inundate the rest of the scene. Sometimes at suburban fests, the layout is all wrong. Not the case at all. There were lines but still ample space to maneuver. And with the lighting, passers-by could see which vendors had what available. But, some vendors could have done a better job with menu marketing. Having a whiteboard with markers positioned at ground level is newbie stuff. Gotta bring your A-game for a festival and market clearly for those waiting in long lines. Best values: Rub's BBQ nachos & Lienenkugel fried cheese curds. $9 or $6 dollars for ample quantity. Nachos were covered in cheese, jalapenos, your choice of burnt ends or pulled pork and BBQ sauce. A notable second for nachos, was from BBQ'ed productions, offering a varying kind of cheese, diced veggies and tasty sauces. With your choice of brisket. Of similar cost but smaller portion. A smaller BBQ company operating right of Smokin' T's was the only provider of rib tips. Talk about a BUMMER. I get that businesses want to make money off selling ribs. But as the other reviewer stated, $25 for a full slab without any free sides is too costly. This is a festival, a marketing ploy, there should be better sampler platters or pricing that is key to meat only. Most restaurants offer full slabs with sides and salad for around $25 dollars. Beer representation was better this year. Lienenkugels Summer shandy, Miller Lite, Fat tire and Revolutions Anti-hero. $5 a beer in 16 or 12 oz cans. Otherwise, they also have wine. I don't recall seeing boozy cocktails unfortunately. Did I mention to bathe in mosquito repellent before heading out? You'll thank me. #Trust. Moving on. Music was solid though I left early due to the biting pests! Opt to grab a seat nearer the stage. We often choose to eat near the rear of the fest where family seating is found. WE always get eaten alive by mosquitoes there. You'll often see people swatting and scratching over here. But, the most comfortable benches that aid large groups are there. Bring cash or card, it doesn't matter much. Feel free to bring lawn chairs to soak in the weather or pick your own lawn space for the Blues. For the most part, dogs are not allowed unless they are service animals. Bring fam or friends, you're bound to have a good time. If you're single.. no better place to find someone. There are lots of ages and most folks are pretty friendly. So, go early. (Single folks in a 30 - 50s range can be found.) Many of the parking lots in the area become free parking lots for festival goers. If unsure, ask a crossing guard or law enforcement working with the fest. Gripes: The fest marketing and communications department could have done a better PR job. I had found postings with incorrect vendor info and dates, times for the event.

Good selection of ribs, beer and bourbon. A strong focus on excellent blues bands each night…read more Well worth the money, especially if you like live blues.

We went to catch the Elvis Musical at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre. I didn't know what to…read moreexpect but was excited to go as I grew up listening to Elvis and watching his movies with my grandmother. I thought parking would be difficult but I was able to find parking easily. Getting to the main theatre is easy and finding our seats. The staff were friendly. The stage was pretty small cause I pictured a huge stage. But it was nice and the actor and actresses entered the stage from all corners and sides of the theatre. The musicians were great and the sounds and songs were clear. I definitely sang along. Intermission arrived and we were given 15 minutes. It was enough time to get water and use the bathroom. Lines were not long for either. When the show ended, people filed out pretty quickly. There was a little of a bottleneck getting to the road that leads out but I noticed that the other side of the parking lot was empty and had no line hitting the main road and I was out in 2 minutes. I had a great time and will be looking out for future musicals to attend.

I was here with Yelp Chicago for Heartbreak Hotel. We saw the first act of the show, then after an…read moreextended intermission, they announced that due to inclement weather and flooding in the area, they were calling our show and the subsequent ones for that weekend. They made an announcement to please call the theater the following Tuesday and they would give us tickets to ANY of the remaining dates to see the conclusion of the show. I called Tuesday and they did just that! The process was very easy and a week later, I was able to the second act of Heartbreak Hotel. The theater in the round insures there are not really bad seats in the house! I have been here for everything from You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown [Theater for Young Audiences] to Big Fish to Damn Yankees to Something Rotten over the years. I am grateful to my grandparents who instilled the theater into me by bringing my young self here! I also appreciate that the Marriott Theatre works with the Chicago League of Theaters to offer accessibly priced tickets. And after viewing Catch Me If You Can, they allowed the next generation of theater viewers to have a meet and greet with JJ Neimann, who a lot of kids connected with via TikTok. Parking is free and close to the doors, the seats are comfortable, the bathrooms are clean, the box office is competent, and the productions are top notch! Not much else you can ask for!

Free parking is always nice. The designated driver ticket was a bit steep. I paid $15 to meet up…read morewith a friend. I didn't want to drink because apparently all the cider places they said were co I feel either didn't show or ran out. The live music was cool and it seemed pretty well organized. I liked that you didn't have to use tickets like at the Schaumburg Craft Beer Fest. But, I won't be back.

An OK first time effort. We arrived at 1:00pm and stayed till 4:00pm. The event was well…read moreorganized...there were a sufficient number of portable bathrooms, the beer was kept cold throughout, the live music good, and the food vendors well represented at reasonable prices. About 15-20 brew pubs and breweries were represented..mostly Chicago area brew pubs like Emmits, Revolution, and Haymarket.. The weather was very warm..would like to see a "covered" seating area for eating and band listening next year. Also, I would like to see more representation by craft breweries.