This is a great annual festival with lots of activities, music, and food for all ages. Like most…read morestreet festivals, there are many different types of vendors: some selling products or services and others giving out info about non-profit initiatives and community resources. Kids can enjoy the large inflatables for free and participate in interesting crafts and games. There is usually a beach ball pit which my daughter loves. Adults appreciate the draft Dogfish Head beer on tap and the quality musical acts. Some unique additions include a Green Zone with live animals, Taste of Gaithersburg, and a MakerSpace, where art and innovation are on display. This event used to be called Olde Towne Day but the City changed the event from September to June and also changed the name a couple of years ago. It is a great day to be outdoors and enjoy some awesome food and live music.

If you enjoy anything about Finnish or Scandinavian culture, come to this event! Traditional…read moreFinnish music. Lots of easy shopping for cute, unique holiday gifts and you get to experience Finnish food made by Finns. I go every year and it does not disappoint. I have some Finnish background and I enjoy experiencing a taste of the culture locally.

This event is of high demand and apparently a long and well known tradition! It was my first time…read morethis year and immediately figured out that early arrival is key. We started of at the cafetaria. You first pay to get tickets (cash recommended). They have a selection of sandwiches (eggs, herring, salami, ham and cheese, salmon) and cakes and tarts. The cafetaria inside the church is quite spacious. The bazaar area is divided into the silent auction, kids crafts and face paint, food and Christmas decor as well as some clothing. There seemed to be an issue of having the decor in the most crammed section in stairs, where you had to line up and didn't have much room to maneuveur. They do run out of a lot of baked goods, so that should have been our first step. They also had booths for the Finnish Embassy and learning Finnish. Overall, fun and family friendly event. Beware that you cannot take strollers inside.

Annual Hungarian Bazaar kept the quality with the food quality, food choices, cultural program and…read moreabove all amazing work of all volunteers. The volunteers are highly motivated, having a hawk's eye for any possible assistance. I was given a napkin (that I forgot) and had plates taken (as soon as I finished) and when I tried, in the second round, to trash more plates, I was "denied" by a volunteer who assisted me and did it himself for me. Food came to me with a speed of fast food restaurants - if not faster. My pasta with pork and been soup were delicious as expected. Definitely smooth and fatty in a good way. It is sad that I have to wait a year to repeat my good experience. Dobos torte was just like it should be (elaborate and fancy) (all tortes are cakes but not all cakes are tortes). The crowd was actually diverse, married-in or just visiting (like me). Once again, extending my wishes for a successful fundraiser and congratulations for a job done well!

Such a fun way to spend an afternoon...you can't find so many different types of art from jewelry…read moreto stained glass ornaments to paintings to photography. So many amazing things to look at and purchase...wish it happened more than just annually. Also wish there some more food options and a beer or wine garden so you could make an entire afternoon out of the event other than just walking through....

A-RTS is a world class art and crafts fair held in Rockville Town Square. You can't ask for a…read morebetter location outdoors because it's adjacent to metro, lots of free parking, and the atmosphere is low-key. The calibre of artists and craftspeople who are presenting their creations is truly top notch. You can acquire some incredible large-format sculpture and art (or just oggle at the inventiveness and craft of the artists). However, if you are simply dabbling in token gifts and small home decorations, this fair won't fail you either. With a broad variety of styles and of price points, everyone can score something unique and fanciful. By discussing the craft and choices with the artist, you can feel truly good about supporting local artists. This arts fair evokes the best of people-to-people markets which is frankly a dying experience given the prevalence of the mall retail world. If this festival was held in downtown DC it would be chockablock full of people and the atmosphere would feel a lot more pressured and crowded. I know that is good for the sellers, but as a buyer I couldn't have been happier with the mellow, small-town feel of Rockville Town Center. Nearby you have a plethora of restaurants in which to dine/relax after taking a turn through the stalls. See my review of Rockville Town Square for selections. While attending I learned about arts communities nearby, including a pottery crawl in Richmond VA which I will surely try to attend. This is a wonderful experience and I would recommend all to savor the riches of arts in our local community through this fair.

It seems like there's one review a year for this festival and 2024 is my year!…read more This festival celebrates Cambodian New Year which is done by date and not lunar cycle like some of its neighbors (China, Vietnam, etc.). There is everything you could possibly want at a festival like this but most importantly, the food. There will be stuff that you'll recognize and stuff that you won't but I encourage you to try more of the latter than the former. Just look at what other people are eating and go and find that. One thing that everyone can seem to agree on is the sugar cane juice. It's fresh - it's delicious - and it may be good for you...who knows? There are musical and dancing performances and everyone walking around seemed to be in a great mood. Go early...go often...go hungry.

Upon arrival at 12pm most vendors had started to pack up, many booths were sold out of food and if…read moreyou were in line for the sugar cane drink it didn't move for the 10minutes we stood there. I have some Cambodia friends who have told me lots of good things about the one in Philadelphia so I had high hopes for here but maybe better luck next timem

This is my first time visiting the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and I understand that it has been…read morepared down considerably from years past and future. However I like the feature on one country as it made it more focused and showcased a variety of projects and groups that represent distinct cultures from around Peru. It's a very child friendly event as many villages had places where you can sit down and interact with the artisans. One downside is watching all the beautiful things being made and displayed (many with "do not touch" signs) but not being able to purchase items at the actual stands. To make purchases, go to the Festival Marketplace located in the Potomac Atrium at the National Museum of the American Indian. I'll try to remember to do that next weekend. Music, animals, and food flank both sides of the festivals but I think one side is more for eating with the other side more for learning. Not too crowded before noon but starting to get that way as the weather gets nicer. Also it was random but cool that Peruvian Brothers, one of the food vendors, was walking around with a box of avocados and asked if we wanted one. Now I've got three and will put one in each day's lunch salad.

Made in Colombia annual fest has a tremendous potential considering a wonderful and warm Colombian…read morediaspora but the event never got to the high level. It started with a high entrance fee ($20) with no clarity where the funds go. Great tasting and refreshing small Colombian beer (Aquila) is $6. The food line is long. It is not a particularly children friendly and there were not many kids there. Food was good. The highlight was OBLEA, a Colombian wafer desert stuffed with the fruits and tasty cream (and Nutella makes everything better). That was the first time I found it and tried it in DMV region. True enough, there were a lot of Colombian flags and people wearing the jerseys but the event space itself with UDC brutalist architecture is a terrible background for a warm Colombian culture/music venue. The better venue would be at the grounds of the House of the Americas at OAS in DC. The bouncers nicely tell you when you are about to approach the VIP area so you can click your heels and go back, but the rules did not apply to everybody and I am not sure if I was just caught in some kind of macho game. (Why VIP area?) I am sure the fest gets better later as more people join the party but I was not able to feel as a "Colombian" and I did not learn anything new about the culture itself. I hope that this annual festival will reach its potential very soon and I will come back to check it out. You get the atmosphere and not-so-attractive architectural background from this short video. https://vimeo.com/224855231

This review is for the Around the World Cultural Food Festival that was held in Alexandria, VA…read more(2025). Upon hearing about this event from a friend, I was super excited because 1. I like eating (maybe too much); 2. I like trying different cuisines; and 3. I like the ease of having multiple cuisines in one place. The 9th annual festival was held in Oronoco Bay Park in Old Town Alexandria. Overall, I thought the event was successful in educating folks about different cultures through food (yum) and performances (yay). There were about 30 or so vendors (mostly Asian and Latin American with a sprinkling of African) giving us the best they had. I appreciated that all of the food vendors were located more or less in one area. There were also vendors selling various non-food products, but they were located on the other side of the park. I thought this set up did not make the event feel too congested with folks trying to buy food and non food items. Overall, the vendors prices were decently priced for the event. While the park is normally pretty clean, I though there was a lot of washed up debris on Potomac River side of the park. Also, I thought the organizers could have placed more trash cans through the park/event. Fortunately, many of the attendees did not toss their trash on the ground and held on to their trash until they found a proper place to dispose of it. Although there were a few tents with tables, if you are a local, it might be best to bring your own lawn/folding chairs. While there were a limited number of tables, many folks were more than willing to share. The park has plenty of surrounding parking garages with various prices; however, I saw plenty of free street parking a few blocks away from the event. I'll admit that I was a bit disappointed with accessing the website through my phone. While it might be better if the organizers could make the website more mobile-friendly, I guess this will not be too big of a deal for me in the future since I know the ins and outs of the festival.

2022 location for the Around the World Cultural Food Festival was Oronoco Bay Park in Old Town…read moreAlexandria. The goal of the event was to educate the community about different cultures through food. And we loved it! There were so many options, it was hard for us to choose. In addition to the vendors at the park, there were food trucks lined up at the entrance of the festival. Some countries represented included Peru, Ecuador, Caribbean, Japan, Laos, Indonesia, and India...to name a few. My son chose Chicken Gyros for lunch and Ube Halaya Cinnamon Rolls for dessert. YUM. We just wish we hadn't gotten full so fast, because we wanted to try more! The Around the World Cultural Food Festival also offered cultural performances, arts and crafts, and a kids play area. (The festival was huge, taking up the entire park. There were even sections we didn't go to.) And the beautiful weather and waterfront view made this an ideal summer event. One of the best festivals in the area IMO.