Wow! What an impressive sight! I was in the area to see the next door Millennium Gardens, but…read moredecided to extend my visit by walking down the trails. I ended up at the Hilde Amphitheater. There wasn't an event going on at the time, but the facility still really impressed me! Gorgeous piece of architecture, but also a really well maintained lawn and surrounding grounds that looked like it could accommodate a considerable gathering of people. There's a fountain near the memorial plaque, along with some statuary and some cute music makers for people to play with. I was quite enamored by the multicolored mosaic animal statues (I had to snap a photo with each!) near one of the entrances. I noticed a couple of port-a-potties and many trash cans. Also the geese waddling about the grounds were kinda cute. I'll probably look online to see if they're having any upcoming events that interest me, because it'd be cool to show up for a performance!

Have been to a few events here and they have always been great! Recently attended an outdoor…read moreconcert and it was so much fun! The space is smaller so it felt more intimate than a traditional outdoor venue. The sound and lights were great! We were able to bring in our own lawn chairs and the drink options were very decently priced for a concert venue. They had a handful of food trucks on site. We were able to find free street parking nearby. All of the workers were very friendly and it was a great way to spend a summer evening in Minnesota!

My 1st time at the Cedar Cultural Center, and I was blown away with a magically beautiful evening…read moreof music with voulouse + bad posture's farewell show. The volunteers were all so kind and friendly. There were snacks, alcohol drinks, and THC drinks available during the show. Seats were unassigned with no bad spot in the entire place. I can't wait to go back for another experience!

My sister and I saw Brent Cobb here after beer hopping on the green line earlier. We were the first…read moreones in and were next to the stage all night. I drank some beers and chai tea. They served the chai tea in regular breakable coffee mugs. Probably had lots of mugs to wash at the end of the night. They could have used more staff or volunteers as the beer lines were long. The place seemed like an alright venue for a concert.

There now is a fee for General Admission and the cost is $20 ...but it's so worth since the MUSIC…read moreand IRISH DANCING are the bomb! Awesome crowds, music, Irish dancers, band and bagpipes...! Vendors sell kilts and shirt and Irish hats and there lot kinds and lot good food and Irish Beer and whiskey wine. The music and dancing are plentiful and varied. The food is very tasty, and there is a variety of food vendors which make it easy to find something delicious at all prices. Now they accept cash and credit cards, no more tokens...hoorah! .

You don't have to be Irish to visit Irish Fair...but now you do have to pay the price of admission…read more The admission fees vary from a VIP experience to a daily general admission. The stages have been reoriented, which I'm sorry to say leaves most of the day performances on the main Dublin Stage in the full sun for the audience. I appreciate that they wanted to try something new, but full August sun & heat were oppressive for me. Close parking is a premium, so bike or ride share or bus in from the St. Paul Depot to save your cash for the more important things at IFM: Guinness beers, Celtic artwork and kilts, Anchor fish & chips. Don't forget to bring your lawn chair & SUNSCREEN if you do not buy the VIP passes. One very last and important thing: The MUSIC and IRISH DANCING are the best here!

Oh my. This was truly the best night of 2016 so far. And…read moreit's going to be tough to top. How does one convey in words such high levels of epicness? I will press on. If you have a deep appreciation for heritage pork, then you should be at this venue. If you don't, then you clearly do not belong in such a place with this kind of zeal and squeal. Nothing less than 5-stars, my friends; nothing less. First, I have history with pigs (aren't reviews really just a way to tell the stories of our lives?). I grew up loving pigs. Miss Piggy was my favorite. In 6th grade, I begged my parents to get a pot-bellied pig (one day I'll give them the kudos for sticking to their guns on not letting that happen). Also in 6th grade, I ate too much candy and started to resemble a pig, so I decided to stay quiet about my love of pigs until I got my waistline under control about a decade later (phew). While loving pigs, pork did nothing for me...until I learned of heritage breeds back in 2008. The color! The flavor! The texture! There was no going back. And just to show off ('cause that's fun to do from time-to-time), I discovered & tried, at a fundraiser dinner back in 2011 for the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, Mangalitsa pork belly for my first time, and knew right then there could be no other. And this is where the Cochon555 story begins... My sweet Mangalitsa was here in many culinary creations (and other breeds, too). And many of its dear relatives were here. It was a big family reunion and I was on cloud nine. Out of sheer randomness (& a reminder from God that He loves me), I won 2 VIP tickets from Yelp to this event! I wasn't even aware of what Cochon555 until I saw the contest (HOW did I MISS THIS?). When I read up on it, I realized that this evening was scripted for me and soon enough I found that I won! The joy! The rapture! The tears! Thank you, Yelp! The machine bots that chose my name were Divinely guided! I will write reviews for you until I perish from this earth. I invited a foodie friend that gets as excited about sustainably raised heritage piggies, from our beloved local farmers, as I do. Our tickets were thoroughly redeemed with every delicious, lovingly prepared, & creatively presented piece of pork. People talk about how drugs have altered their mind and enhanced their experience. I can't speak to that. But I can speak to what THIS pork did to me. There were top notch, sustainably & creatively-based restaurants, competing & representing at this event, including: Travail Kitchen & Amusements Spoon & Stable Chef Shack Ranch Surly Brewing (who won the MN Pork King title) Zen Box My favorite food delivery mode was a man, from Travail Kitchen, scuffing around the room on his knees in a sombrero. The sombrero contained a delicious & subtly sweet pate in the center of the hat and the rim of the hat contained chicharrones broken up from a large hide they fried late the night before. The server was on his knees so that people could just grab from his hat at standing height...it was brilliant. There was prociutto-like bacon (I know, it's either one or the other...but in this case, it wasn't!) "skewered" in waves on a thin crispy bread stick (no, it wasn't a pretzel ;-). There were also sweet lard-filled chocolates (I could have eaten those all night!). I was blown away by Spoon & Stable's creation of marshmallows made out of pork blood (same whipping properties as egg whites; who knew?!) and so much more. There was also the whole hog butchery going on right after the votes were taken. This is something IMPORTANT! We're a society that is detached from where our food comes from. Majority of us aren't going to be able to tell others what portion of an animal that a particular cut comes from, so this was valuable, precious, AND educational. All parts of the animal were put out for sale! Loved that feature, too! For as much gushing as I'm doing, I will say there were a few items that I thought were boring and uncreative for it being at an event like this: wonton-type items (wrapping pork in pasta is most likely what all of us would have thought of doing...just wasn't a "wow" (not that it has to be). Another item is that this is NOT a gluten-free friendly event. Considering the focus on sustainability and that wheat is an overcropped item (which is overshadowed by those who have gluten allergies & sensitivities). While I CAN consume wheat, I choose not to, because of past wheat sensitivities. I was truly surprised that at this day and age how many chefs went with the bland wheat berry. There was even a separate pie outfit that came in as a pop-up towards the end that didn't offer gluten-free options. Wha? Yes, one can consume the filling if they must, but one can also create a stellar gluten-free pie crust. Regardless, I would go to this event again & again. Oh, and ladies, 3 out of 4 attendees (or more) are men. If you're looking for a piggy-partner-in-crime, you may find your match here ;-)

I had never been to an event like this so I knew very little about what to expect. It ended up…read morebeing awesome! There is a wide selection of local wine and other beverages to try. It was a great opportunity to learn more about some of Minnesota's local food and wine producers! There were many different variations of pork as well as other dishes to try. The seafood bar was phenomenal! Overall, great experience. I highly recommend d for those who love pork or are just looking for a unique food experience!

We come to this every year, and it's always a lot of fun. The MN Scottish Fair & Highland Games is…read moreheld outdoors in the field of a church in Eagan (although the location is changing for next year), and the nearby businesses allow parking in their lots. Think of it as the cute, mini version of the Irish Fair? They have heavy games (caber toss for the win), highland dancing, pipe bands, clan tents, celtic music, a Scottish marketplace, food and drink, and some classic (European) cars - including one previously owned and signed by the Spice Girls? I was all in. The food and drink selection aren't extensive, but they do the trick. As long as I can get a few pints from McCracken Pub - or a wee dram of scotch if I'm feeling feisty - I'm a happy fair-goer. There was also an ice cream truck (golf cart) cruising around! It was blazing hot today, but still glad we all went. Looking forward to see what next year's new venue has to offer.

Scottish Fest used to be one of my favorite festivals. But it has really gone downhill in the past…read morefew years. First of all, they keep moving the location and the date. This year was in some obscure church parking lot. And July is WAY too hot for people wearing wool. It used to be in May which was perfect. They've lost a lot of vendors over the years. There was ONE vendor selling anything resembling Scottish food. Hardly any merch vendors anymore, the few that were there are also at every local festival. The sheep herding demonstration that was advertised never happened, we waited until well after 4 for it. In general, unless you can get there in the morning when the highland dance competition is going on, there is little to see. We arrived shortly after noon and felt quite ripped off. There was an out-of-tune brass band (WTF) playing, the only dancing that was happening was the uninclusive Royal Scottish group, and we kept trying to find the heavy games, but all there was were a bunch of people standing around. ONE pipe band played the entire time we were there. Really, $17 per person is WAY too expensive for what we were able to see. They should really discount heavily the price of admission after 12pm, as there is nothing to see or do. We were very disappointed. There are other ethnic festivals that have FREE admission that you get to see and hear much more. Please, Scottish Fair, fix your festival!

I was SO looking forward to this festival as I love Asian food. The quality of the food was very…read moregood and the ViP bag & pin were cute but tickets at $85 for two was high. But the food prices were through roof. When your only options for wontons is one for $4.00 and $18.00 for 8 is unreasonable. Can I get 2 for $7.00, so I can have other small tastes of other food? $21.00 for a cup of beef ramen (commemorative noodle cup which is very cute-see photo)? The drinks were also pretty highly priced. Mt other feedback was the security check. We paid for VIP tickets and expecting a VIP entrance. Nope, everyone goes through the same line which OK, I get it, it's police policy. However, the officer went way too far in searching. Not only did he pull my wallet out, he started opening up my wallet and looking though the compartments. What was he thinking he'd find? No wonder the line was long and we were there right at 4:00 pm. And I wasn't the only one, another guest commented on the extra security needed because she had never had her wallet inspected either. Probably won't return, unless, it can become a "tasting menu" vs. $70 for 3 dishes.

Ah, Panda Festival 2026 at the Mall of America. I believe this is the second year they have had…read morethis in Minnesota. We missed out last year because the tickets sold out (my fault), but we made sure to attend it this year. Here is the good, bad, and the ugly from our adventure. We, as in me, my wife, and 11 year old daughter, made it our mission to make it this year. I got the 1000 am check in time, and paid for 4 tickets to PANDA FEST 2026! This was the earliest check in time for day 2, Saturday, August 1st. Luckily we didn't get tickets to day 1 on Friday, because it rained almost all day. Saturday was rain free, but a bit warm. The temp was in the high 80's. The 4th ticket went unused because my daughter's friend didn't make it. We made sure we arrived about 20 minutes early, because I had no idea where to park. The event was in the far north parking lot of the MOA (Mall of America). I was happy to see that there was plenty of parking about 2 blocks from the festivities, and the parking lot was enormous. We walked to the entrance, and there was already a long line that had formed, and it was pretty regulated with the typical cattle guard fences and MOA security overlooking everything. We didn't have to wait long, and the MC of the event got on her "toy" bull horn and welcomed everyone to the second annual Panda Festival. The countdown started, and everyone shuffled through the security checkpoint that was manned by MOA personnel, and Bloomington Police Officers. This was a pretty secure checkpoint that looked like Terminal One of the MSP airport. Yes, they even had metal detectors, and all bags/purses were checked. No vapes, lighters, guns, or weapons, outside beverages or food were allowed in. But no worries, it looked like a few vapes were tossed on the ground before the check in. Confession time. I'm a retired copper of 30 years, and always carry a knife on me. Today was no exception. I figured my chances were about 50/50 on whether my very expensive knife was going to trigger the metal detectors. But I decided to play the odds, and then flash my Police ID if the detector went off. I'd hand over the knife, but return later to get it after we left the venue. However, I passed through the metal detectors no problem, despite having my cell phone, and a janitor sized keychain on my belt loop. Read that as you may, but methinks the sensitivity of the metal detectors were set a bit too low. Anyway, we passed the checkpoint, got our collectable panda pins, and the inflatable panda headbands. It was a nice touch that the headband station had hand pumps to pump up the headbands. My daughter loved the headbands. Now, it was time to eat! If you are a foodie, this was the place to be. Evidently there were over 80 food vendors here, and the variety was enough to satisfy almost everyone. We started off with 2 fruit juices since it was pretty hot out. The two juices were okay, and set us back about $10 a piece. We then decided to get something to eat. My daughter (who took all the pictures, thanks Dixi!) got some fresh fruit that was caramelized in a sugar shell. I got a marinated steak skewer that was about 14 inches long that was pretty fatty (very fatty) but tasted pretty good. The wife abstained from eating but got a potato tornado drenched in blue Taqui dust later (didn't like it). We then proceeded to check the rest of the place out, and I won a trivia contest that yielded a bamboo Vietnamese rice hat for the daughter. Then we ate more food. The highlight was a weird concoction of an ice cream cone that was shaped like a question mark that my daughter had seen on YouTube. It was messy, but tasted pretty good. She also had a conversation with the YouTube influencer that was there, so she was happy about that. We lasted about 2 1/2 hours due to the heat, but managed to visit the entire venue, albeit about $150.00 lighter, much to my chagrin. We had fun, ate a lot, but it was not cheap. Case in point: a panda container of fresh watermelon juice set us back $25. The average cost of a single item was around $15. With that said, the best deal was a Thai style papaya salad made to order for $10. It was very good, and was good for about 3 servings. All in all, we had a good time, but it was expensive. Will we go next year if Panda Festival comes back? Probably. This place made bank, and it was a huge crowd. A word of advice: Don't do the VIP treatment. It's not worth it, and basically gets you a slightly shorter line on entrance, a small swag bag, and more access to the port a potties. Shell out for the general admin tickets. The line goes quick. All in all we had a good time. Thanks to the kiddo for the pictures taken, and she got interviewed by a reporter from the Star Tribune on camera. Expensive, but it was an experience.

Excellent adventure for children, especially in fall…read more We went with our homeschooling co-op. Was a great opportunity to showcase bits and pieces of historical farm life. They have some beautiful livestock, and overall a scenic farm. My advice -- (1) be sure to bring a stroller with nice, large wheels so that you can pass through some rocky trails and long grass. (2) bring some food and a picnic blanket. This farm is the perfect place for a family picnic, and (3) bring lots of water. There is a beautiful trail that you'll want to take advantage

I came here for a special event called Tour De Farm, which is a farm to table picnic. The concept…read moreis simple, you eat on the farm a meal which is prepared only from ingredients from the farm. A 3 year old pig was the special guest of honor for the day and she played an important role in most of the dishes. Tour guides from the historical society dressed in time period costumes to give the tours which really gave the whole thing a special ambiance. They also had a horse drawn trolley to take guest around and show them the vast acres of farm land. Animals from pigs, cows, chickens and horses where all there and what makes this farm so special is it is purely educational. No food is sold from here, it is only used to teach people about farming so if you want to experience a farm go to the website find out more about how to take a tour. It's inexpensive, pretty close to the city and great for kids!

Riding til dawn! Slow riding for an hour was fun! I loved the experience! Would highly recommend.read more

My wife, daughter and I went here with some of my relatives while on vacation in October. We went…read moreon a hay ride. It was very enjoyable and some nice scenery. I love seeing the leaves changing colors on the trees. Everyone who was able to make it had a wonderful time. I highly recommend it.