Love this annual festival! Definitely go as early as possible. Usually, I'm inside the festival by…read more8AM because most years it's already hot and humid. I head straight to Miller's Blueberry tent for fresh blueberries. This year, a full 5 lbs. box was $40 so I decided to wait on those... This year, the homemade Blueberry Pies were sold out by 8AM, I was told and they were $20 each. There were 600 blueberry pies made, but I was there specifically for the pancake breakfast. The blueberry pancake breakfast was $10 per person this year and definitely the best value of the entire festival, IMHO. We had a choice of 2 or 3 large pancakes filled with tons of fresh blueberries and a delicious side of home-made blueberry compote. The pancakes came with a generous portion of smoked sausage along with unlimited fresh orange juice, coffee and milk. Plenty of indoor seating! They had a ton of interesting local vendors and food truck options available. I picked up some Datil Blueberry Honey and Saw Palmetto Honey after trying many free samples. Overall, it's absolutely worth the time and effort to make it to the BBF. They are well established, extremely organized and have plenty of volunteers for this family fun event. Free parking with a little shuttle service for those who need.

So much traffic I never got to the event. Traffic was lined…read moreup for at least one mile from one direction and almost as long from the other direction. Perhaps some traffic assistance would help?

We had plans to be at a concert at the St. Augustine Ampitheater and my husband found out about the…read moreSt. Aug Greek Festival and wanted to drop by. For a $3 entry fee, you could just drop by for a couple hours and feel like you got your money's worth. The festival took place at Francis Field on Castillo Drive and it was a beautiful weekend. Upon entering it was quite obvious this wasn't their first time at this rodeo. I'll definitely have to keep my eyes open for next years festivities. Multiple food & beverage tents. A HUGE kids area. Covered seating with stage. And lots of vendors. We made a beeline for the Kouzina and I opted for a scoop of pastitsio (Greek Lasagna) and mousaka. Both baked dishes were delicious and I could eaten another plate. In the adult beverage tent, they offered Metaxa (Greek brandy) & Ouzo. I opted for the lemonada with Metaxa, while my husband got the ouzo. We sucked those babies down so fast and quickly realized it was a good thing we WEREN'T there all day. The Loukoumades (Greek donut holes) were a nice end to our quick sojourn. Parking is available in the garage ($12) next door, or you can find parking on the streets. If you're going to spend all day around 'old city' St. Aug, $12 isn't a bad deal, but we opted to find a free spot in the surrounding neighborhood.

the reason the parking is free is so you can come in and spend an arm and a leg on the nasty food…read more I ate at "gyros" and 2 crab cakes with a salad was $25 i asked if i could just have one crab cake and of course they did but did not want to adjust the price at all. We also got some shrimp mac and cheese ($20) that was cold and at the end of the day just kept me in the bathroom. Stay FAR AWAY from this event and spend your money literally anywhere else to eat and get a 10x better deal and won't get sick. There was even a vendor the got featured on food network in 2007 (almost 20 years ago) and wants $45-$50 for everything like if your not standing in dirt eating on a paper plate. Big scam festival and hope they don't come back.

4 of us friends took a bus trip (Lamers) to this festival…read more There were many food tents that had quite long lines. Prices were reasonable to somewhat high. Tents for shopping were plentiful with a huge variety of items to choose from. There were tents with items to buy in a large field as well as many along the streets in the main area of town. The old wooden schoolhouse is still an interesting attraction. Pirates were everywhere which were fun to see...the most handsome pirate looked a lot like Jack Sparrow. He was very handsome, polite and kind enough to let me take a few photos of him.

This is a great place for kids and adults.. the small hayride was fun and going through the corn…read moremaze was a blast, although there were a lot of dead ends, and wondered at times if I was going to find my way out. . Great day trip

This farm was amazing! Me and my daughter did the haunted house tour. We sat on the tree branches…read morethat almost touch the ground. Did the corn maze. I got great bbq from a food truck called smoke rings. It was a great day .

We just moved to the area a year ago, so this was a first. Deland has lots of events every month…read moredowntown. This event was well organized and had about 100 musicians at 22 stages. The flyer was very helpful and included who/type music/where and a map. We got there shortly after it started and managed to hear blues, punk, reggae, hip hop, techno, rock, heavy metal, psychedelic funk and alternative in the 5 hours we were there. They only had a couple of food trucks, but there are tons of restaurants ranging from $$ to $$$$

Now this was fun. A true street festival that really does embrace the local community, supports…read morelocal businesses, and brings some very cool music to the area. There were countless stages and all kinds of music. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time--performers and spectators alike. My only criticism is to the folks running the soundboards: Please do not drown out the stage around the corner from you.

They start putting up lights in September and turn them on after Thanksgiving. Over the years I…read morehave only driven through the center area. I have been missing so much. This year we accidentally pulled in after the entrance and parked. Walking through you will see so much more. There are areas between buildings that you never see. You can walk up to the next block where more homes are decorated as well. Donations taken but otherwise it is free to visit. A must see especially when family members visit.

It's a yearly outing for me. It's totally worth the time. It's amazing how much work has gone…read moreinto this walk or drive thru experience. I must say it puts one in the holiday spirit!

The beautiful wife and I had made plans to go down to Daytona Beach months ago, but through some…read morerandom act of wonderfulness, we discovered that the 2nd Annual Halifax Oyster Festival would be happening while we were there. Bingo! Let's get the "feel good" stuff out of the way -- the festival is the product of the Oyster Reef Restoration Society, with the funds going toward the restoration of oyster beds in the Halifax River. Great cause. Now, let's focus on why everybody showed up -- the oysters. The Festival featured both Apalachicola and Oak Hill oysters, $3 for a half dozen, $5 for a dozen, $20 for a bucket (shuck it yourself, they give you a knife and everything). They also offer them raw or steamed. A majority of the population seemed to want steamed, which caused huge backlogs (I heard about people waiting an hour for a dozen). Because you have these slips that show what you order, when the people ask the crowd "who has raw" you end up waving it around and scream "I need two!" like you were trying to put Valentine and Winthorpe out of business. So, in short, buck up and eat 'em raw. So what goes great with oysters? Beer. And yes, there was beer, including $5 commemorative (plastic) 22 oz. mugs that were $5 with $3 refills. Now admittedly, your options were Bud, Bud Light, Landshark, and Woodchuck, but at other festivals, it would have been $8 with $5 refills or something stupid. The official hours were 10am-6pm. We got there at around 11 and it was already pretty crowded, but things moved along pretty quickly. We took off for a bit, then returned around 3:00-3:30 and it was insane. The lines were pretty long and moving really slow (due to the majority wanting steamed). Per comments I saw on Facebook, they apparently ran out of oysters around 4:00 (they went through 20,000!). It's hard to be bitter about the logistics -- it's all volunteers, it's cheap, and it's for a great cause. That said, I hope they iron out some of the problems for next year. Regardless, it will be really tempting to come back.

This was my second annual trip to the Oysterfest and it just seems that it's getting better every…read moreyear. If you are a fan of oysters you will find them here in great abundance in Raw, Roasted, Steamed or Oyster Rockefeller versions. If you are not an oyster aficionado, there are plenty of other food options provided by several local restaurants and vendors scattered throughout the landscape of Manatee Island Park in Daytona. Incidentally, your $6 admission fee comes with a $5 discount card which is good at any of the off-island sponsor restaurants listed on the back of the card. Starting at 11:00 AM you will be treated to continuous music from several live bands all day until the event closes late in the afternoon and there is no shortage of affordable beer (22 0z. mugs for $5 with refills for $3) and other beverages offered up by several tap stations scattered throughout the park. This year there were oysters supplied from both Apalachicola and local sources and yes, there is a discernible difference between the two. The Apalachicola oysters are mild and have great flavor but I prefer the local Mosquito Lagoon oysters which are also very good but have a noticeably higher salt content. The festival is put on by the Oyster Reef Restoration Society, with the funds going toward the restoration of oyster beds in the Halifax River. It's an outstanding cause and I applaud their effort towards more local oysters. Parking can be a bit of a hassle unless you arrive early in the day but another option is to take your boat and pull up to the dock on the East side of the Island. Smaller boats can also moor up in the shallows North of the dock. Hope to see Y'all there next year.