So this is a pretty small event to be considered a festival but hey it was fun…read more Tickets were $10 pp and allowed you to peruse the displays and vendors. We parked next door in a church parking lot accepting donations fir parking so that made it easy to lug our 10lb bags of mandarins lol. My favorite display was a guy carving wood sculptures with a chain saw. Also had a Reeses's peanut butter mocha and cobbler which were yummy. Unfortunately the mandarins were more tart than sweet so ideally this should have been delayed to prolong the growing season. Overall this was still a nice little event and i would come back next year.

The festival moved to a new location in 2024. The whole thing felt like a money grab. Pay to park,…read morepay to enter (per person), and pay hefty prices once you enter. I'm sure each booth had to pay a fee just to setup. There was no additional value for paying an entrance fee except for the opportunity to buy stuff. I was hoping there would be a craft for kids or something interesting to participate in. I recommend passing on this festival in the future, it was a waste of time and money for me. Instead, find a local fruit stand and buy oranges locally. For a mandarin milkshake, I'd go to a local diner in the area.

I went with my 2 kids this year (2010) and had a great time. The music was fun, the vendors were…read moregreat. Unfortunately the motorcycle display was underrepresented (next time go ask the A&S BMW folks to bring their collection and friends also) The only downside was the ribs. A half rack of 6 ribs cost $12 which would be o-kay if they were beef ribs but these are tiny pork ribs. Its a bit pricey but then, I don't eat ribs out much so I treated the kids and we enjoyed it anyway. Also LOVED the kids play area.

My company chose to have a booth at the Lincoln All-American City Rib Festival this year. I was…read moreglad we decided to, because it was a wonderful time. I got an opportunity to wander around the rib-fest, and despite the grey skies people were having a wonderful time. There were 5 rib vendors and wish there were more, for a rib festival I expected a few more vendors, but Lincoln is not a big metropolis and the ribs that were coming out of the smokers were tasty. Unfortunately, the most popular one (or at least the one with the biggest line and hype), seemed to have misjudged the crowd and there no racks comin' off the smoke and a 20-30 minute back log so we moved on. We went to another green-tented place and got an order of spare ribs and a side of beans for $7...an extreme value considering the heft of these spare ribs and the amount of fatty (in a good way) meat. These ribs had a wonderful smoke ring, as well as a nice char from finishing on the grill. The beans were run-of-the mill Sysco-style. They could have used more of everything, but weren't bad as a palatte clenser between mouthfuls of meat. In addition to the rib joints, were hot dog vendors, beer tents, animal shelters, solar companies, electric car dealerships, and a myriad of other crafts and booths hawking their wares. They also had the "classic" classic car show and great line up of local bands... Awesome. I have been spending more time in Lincoln recently and the town likes to show off their classic cars and music. Considering this festival is put on in a smaller town (approximately 40K people), and the junky weather, there was a terrific turn out. If you are in (or near) Lincoln next year and feel like escaping to a time where everyone in town knows each other, pack the wetnaps, grab the wife, kids, dogs, and anyone/thing else you think might like this event and hit up Lincoln for some truly, "All-American" fun at the Rib Festival.

I've been to this location a few times. I do like how they offer parking, with a fee of course…read more Fast Fridays are fun here. I like when they hold events such as the aloha festival too. The staff who are at these events are friendly and kind. It's nice how they treat customers with respect and they are good at communicating. I would come back again for how they keep these grounds well maintained and the events held at this place.

Great place to go if you want your four year old to have heat stroke. We went to a monster truck…read moreevent in March. They only have covered seating on half the stadium. The show was scheduled to start at 2, but by 2:30 we had only seen one event and were severely overheated. I took my child to stand in line for water, only to learn they were out, but not from the person selling it because I never got to talk to them. We stood in line for 25 minutes and didn't even get to order- there were still 10 people in front of me! Not sure what the wait staff was doing- they only had like 5 drinks to serve and pizza, but somehow they made each order take a really long time. Just ended up leaving, but the walkways were so crowded with families trying to watch the show in just a tiny bit of shade, that we could barely get out. It was a super crowded event at $33/person, they beed to invest in better infrastructure and management. It was an all around awful experience.

Looks like it would be a nice place for a picnic and a short hike. Nice open space. The quarry…read moreitself isn't much to see. 105 degrees Fahrenheit late June 2020.

I'm sure the park is probably closed after sunset, but I've come out here a few times to watch…read moremeteor showers and/or just to have some mischievousness fun after dark! There's quite a few walking trails, some granite ruins/walls, and a pretty big open grass area for picnics and what not! I think they do some sort of free tours on the weekends, but I'm not sure what really goes on for those. If you have offspring, this is probably a pretty cool spot to take the kids out and wear them down! If you decide to come out after dark, don't forget your flashlight, at night the walking trails seem to send you in circles, which is always fun if your with someone who scares easily!

Vampires, Steampunkers & Pirates, OH MY!…read more SITREP What a BLOODY good time at the 2013 Vampire-Pirate-Steampunker-(name your favorite costume category) BALL! Hosted at the Placer County Fairgrounds in Roseville, CA, it was an eclectic & eccentric event of magnificent proportions! Even though it IS a "Vampire Ball" ("per se", as kids in SouthPark chirp it), there was plenty of action for many different themes, and it all started on the Red Carpet experience complete with paparazzi photographers (including me!) THE SETUP Indeed - theme was "Dark Shadows" parody, starring Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfieffer, et al, as well as an homage to the 60's TV show inspiring it. And this production featured promoter-hostess Shannon McCabe's uber-creative "Visionary Living Theme Sets", where guests at the event could interact with live actors playing the characters from the movie Dark Shadows who were in full costume. In some of the sets, you experienced the Collinswood Manor, the docks of Collinsport and the family's fish cannery. We even had PIRATE SHIPS cause there is that tie in with the Dark Shadows movie with one of the female vampire characters. VAMPIRE BALL TRADITION IN ROSEVILLE-SACRAMENTO AREA This has now become a great tradition in the Sacramento Valley, bringing both participants and guests from the Bay Area, L.A., Seattle and the East Coast. * Last year's 2012 Vampire Ball's theme was "Interview With A Vampire", complete with the Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt cast of characters, and which was also held at the Placer County Fairgrounds. * And the year before's 2011 Vampire Ball's theme was "Bram Stoker's DRACULA", complete with the Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves cast of characters, though this event was actually held at THE NECROPOLIS (the dungeon space that was below Cafe Americain) in Old Sacramento. [The Vampire Ball was moved to Roseville because too many people was causing the venue space to burst at the seams.] * I can't wait to see what next year's theme will be! [*crosses his fingers* Please let it be Buffy. Please NOT Twilight. Please let it be Buffy. Please NOT Twilight.] ;) COLLABORATION OF VILLAINS PROMOTING VILLAINY *& WENCHING) As alluded to above, the Vampire Ball joined forces with the dynamic teams of creative groups of people: * STEAMPUNKS! Such as: (1) the League of Proper Villains; and, (2) The Sacramento Steampunks Society. To that end, the Steampunks had a "WARNING: Point of No Return Area" - the danger being that you were welcomed into a visual vortex of all things Steampunk, but many festival goers found it addictive and were transformed into their new reality. * PIRATES! Did I mention there were PIRATES? Hell Yeah! The harbor of "Collinsport" played host to Pirates, the esteemed groups "The Rogues of the Golden Coast" and the "Pirates of Sacramento". Complete with live mini-cannons! [Look at those cute little buggers in my pictures!] It was a *BLAST!* MUSIC & DANCING Inside the large building playing host to our Vampire shenanigans, the MUSIC NEVER STOPPED! My DJ buddies DJs Bryan Hawk, David Vandyke and Duc get the beats pounding and the dance area filled with lights, lasers, and wall screens of color that melted reality into a fantasy of dance, sight and sound. THOR'S HORSE...ER UNICORN! Vlad the Giant Rocking Unicorn was again a special guest at the Vampire Ball, and boy did he get his back broken in by all sorts of Vampire & Pirate patrons wanting to ride that bucking equine! ME! A JUDGE! OH MY! This year, the ball put the "VAMP" back into "Vampire Pin Up". For some reason, the promoters thought I was qualified to be a JUDGE for the VAMP Pageant. I was all too happy to accept that responsibility (AND it meant a FRONT ROW SEAT which I made good use of to take LOTS of pictures. And I mean, LOTS - dam well uploaded 360!) In addition, it was awesome to see the return of the 2013 VAMP Pin Up Queen, JEZEBEL (aka Jennifer Mathews)! She was there to crown the new 2014 VAMP Pin Up Queen winner and it was an awesome time. LADY LUCK CAR CLUB Celebrity pin up model and founder of the Lady Luck Car Club, BETTY ANN, also returned as one of the pageant judges, along with her posse of beautiful women and their cars! SUCH FUN! OUTSIDE BAND STAND It was a treat to see friends Adam Jones & Ashley of the band Savi0r play the bandstand along with the featured headlining band Sacramento's own, New Pioneers with lead singer Bruce Kubel. FOOD & VENDORS There was a plethora of vendors sharing their wares. I must give a shout-out to my stalwart friend & compadre Nick Roberts for sharing his artistic talents and art pieces for people to enjoy. KUDOS Props to Shannon McCabe, Wendy Williams and staff & volunteers for their energetic hard work in putting on such an AMAZEBALLS event! THE LOWDOWN The 2013 Vampire Ball "Dark Shadows" by Shannon McCabe was indeed a Festival of Fun for Vampires, Pirates, Steampunkers & Devils like me!

The Vampire Ball is now at the California Automobile Museum and here is a clip of the event…read more Gregory James of James Media Presents Shannon McCabe's Vampire Ball 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2DrZGNyJNk&feature=youtu.be Loved the 2017 Vampire Ball!

Best local car show around hands down we all look forward to the start of the car season. My only…read morewish is that I wish it would start earlier in the year and end later in the year,the car season is too short for sure. Great job putting the show together every year. We will all see you in 2026

Held every year on the second Friday from May to September. I wrote a review last year but not sure…read morewhat happened to it? During Cruise Night, all of Lincoln Way is closed off to thru traffic. With tons of cars and vendors, you won't be bored. Plus there are lots of shops and restaurants too. Hubs usually comes with a group of pals to show off their cars. Stop by if you get a chance, next year though, since I'm writing on the last night!

The event took place at the Artisan Building and outside The Greens Hotel/ The Greens Cafe. I'm…read moreglad it took place during the daytime because I would not want to walk those two blocks between them at night. There were a lot of vendors selling products. Luckily, I didn't bring a lot of cash with me or I would've bought too much. I did come away with a container of cashew cheese from The Cultured Kitchen though. I tasted a variety of samples, which were mostly good. Other than that there wasn't much to do or see.

Great location! The Red Lion hotel had ample parking and room for all of the vendors and guests…read more The stage was excellent for watching and hearing the presentations as the audio was clear and they had large screens on either side that showed close ups of what was happening on stage for those in the back of the audience to see. There was a good amount of food and snacks available across the 7 or so setups from different restaurants and they were still serving by the time we left at around 2:30. I hadn't noticed any to have run out of food. I decided it was a good day to be a cow and ended up with a big kale salad, freshly whacked open coconut as a beverage which I took home so I could put the meat to use later, a bowl of amazing chili, a sampler dish of some Indian food (chickpeas and lentils), sampled some Nacheez and chocolate and got some kombucha from the tap. I did a silent cheer to myself for preparing this morning by not having breakfast. I guess I was sorta hoping for a little bit more to look through and learn about or at least to find a vendor with good cookbooks or something. Aside from some teas, jams and a couple other vendors, there wasn't a whole lot else to see or be involved with. As the veggie lifestyle continues to gain more interest, I hope this gathering continues to grow and have more to offer in the future. I certainly had a pretty GOOD experience and I will return next year!

This show takes place at the Roseville @theGrounds for two weekend days in March…read more They call it the "big show" because it's bigger than the Gem Faire that takes place at the same location for 3 days. Yes, while it's bigger than that show, it's definitely not half as big as the International Gem and Jewelry Show that takes place in San Mateo. I guess I was expecting it to be something like that. Instead, this show seems to be more based on rocks. There was a handful of vendors selling some jewelry and some beads but it seemed like the vast majority was polished rocks. Definitely pretty and interesting to look at, but I've probably been too spoiled with the International Gem and Jewelry Show and all they have there. They have an hourly drawing but make sure you're present to win. They also have raffle prizes but nothing really stood out to me. (Though I saw a lot of people buying strips of raffle tickets!). There is a sitting area with food available for purchase. In the back building, there seemed to be lots of activities geared for kids. It's basically two buildings and a bunch of outdoor vendors. Parking is $5 and tickets are about $6 for adults and $5 for seniors. They usually have a postcard or online coupon that you can show them for $1 off admission. So we ended up paying $9 for admission and $5 for parking. We were able to go out and come back again (in and out privileges) by showing them our parking receipt and stamp on our hand. We didn't really find anything to buy until we went to this one vendor outside named Stephanie. She makes these adorable pendant and earring sets for only $11 each! They were very pretty so my mom bought 8 boxed sets. Stephanie was so wonderful and super friendly. We then headed home and as we were driving, we talked about how cute these pendants were and what a great price they were. So believe it or not, we U-turned and went BACK to Stephanie and bought another 10 boxes. So this particular vendor made our visit to the show worth it. Otherwise, it would probably not have been worth the $14 to get in, IMO. But if you're into rocks and minerals, this is the show for you!