This is the best Street festival I've been to in the GTA…read more It's huge, there's a good variety of vendors & there's a wide variety of price points (eg you can still get $1 pop, $4 hotdogs, $5 paella, $2 pizza slices & $5 mango lassi, but you can also get a $15 coconut). And some vendors give out free stuff too. There's even a separate alcohol section (with $5 for 12oz craft beer) so you can get your buzz, even in the middle of the day.

I love the Aurora Street Festival and try to go every year. The Aurora Chamber of Commerce runs…read morethis yearly event and this is its 22nd year. They block off Yonge St from Wellington St South to Murray Dr to make a 1.5 km long pedestrian mall where you can buy all types of food from vendors and food trucks. Like the name says, it's a festival running right down the centre of Yonge St. They claim over 500 vendors participate and it sure seems like it, once you start walking it keeps going and going... This is a big event, some 30,00 people come out for the event, it's a really great family oriented crowd. Your kids can get their faces pained at least a dozen times. Along the way are people selling everything from toys and gadgets to new products and food. Oh there is a lot of food, some of it's even healthy. There are a lot of handout along the way, from businesses to public organizations like the Police, the region, the city, etc, etc, etc and I always come home with a shopping bag pull of useful stuff, most of it for free ;-) There are a lot of scheduled entertainers along the way, there's no way to get bored, and always a lot go good bargains. There us little shelter along the way so sunblock is a must, I have come home from this festival redder and fuller than I planned.

3 Days 27 Bands Non…read morestop music action at Newmarket Music Festival! Love the different music varieties and perfect for all age groups! Since there was 2 stages and so the downtime between each band was minimum. Everyone was in a good mood, some even dancing around the stage! It helped with $5 for a beer from the local craft breweries: Arch Brewing and Market Brewing. Ample parking in the area. Kids under 12 is free and dogs are welcome! It was a really well organized event. Thanks for the hard work of all the volunteers, sponsors and the organizers. Looking forward to attend again next year!

I was fortunate enough to be invited by Jennifer K. to share her VIP Experience package that she…read morewon. It included weekend passes to the music festival, with personalized VIP seats, and the use of a Mercedes Benz for the weekend, courtesy of Newmarket Mercedes Benz. Yay! The weather was a little iffy on the Saturday that I went so the crowd was a bit sparse but grew as the weather improved. We saw three bands perform while we were there. While I can't say that all the music was to my taste, the performers were obviously very passionate about what they were doing. The event itself was very well organized, with tents protecting the audience from inclement weather, a few food and beverage vendors, lots of parking, very helpful volunteers, and a very well behaved crowd. Good job everyone! Thank you, Jennifer! Maybe I'll win the VIP package next year!

all weekend long in downtown Collingwood. There are number of stages featuring all types of Elvis…read moreimpersonators. There are also a number of street vendors selling food, clothing and other Elvis related merchandise. Fun for the whole family !

Prior to this summer, I hadn't been to a ribfest since 2018. I'm now on a ribfest tear…read more This past Saturday, after having had a great experience on a bee farm in Mulmur, I drove a bit to Barrie to hit Barrie Ribfest. Three weekends. Three visits to three different ribfests. I'm making up for lost rib time. Barrie Ribfest this year was held in the parking lot of Georgian Mall, where Sears used to be. It was bittersweet seeing the Sears sign up with a maple leaf in its logo. This ribfest was well-organized. As a tourist, I had no problems following the signs that led me over to where I needed to be. The smell of ribs helped me get there, too. One woman welcomed me and handed me a menu. I thanked her and slowly made my way over to the ribbers. There were three ribbers. I seem to be following Sticky Fingers wherever it is. Since I had already had food for this place at Scarborough Ribfest, I wanted to try a different vendor. I had a choice between Billy Bones or Camp 31. I went with the latter. There are two drive-thru lanes for each rib vendor. The lines moved pretty well. A friendly man came over to my car and took my order. I got the full rack dinner that comes with coleslaw and baked beans. I also got a side order of cornbread. There is an donation entry fee of $3, which goes to the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre. I paid with a credit card and included a tip. It was such an easy and smooth transaction. I pulled up to the pickup area and had a sweet woman bring me my food in a strong paper bag. I thanked her and slowly drove away. There was another drive-thru area where you could get corn and Tiny Tom's Donuts. I am fortunate to live in Markham where the latter is headquartered and I indulge year-round on those donuts. I also eat corn weekly, so I passed on both. I parked on the other side of the shuttered Sears store and had an extremely late lunch just shy of 4 pm in my car. There were two folks doing the same on the steps of Sears. Camp 31's ribs were so good. They were meaty, and the sauce on them was tangy and smoky. I had half a rack, because I needed room to enjoy the sides. I ate the entire side of coleslaw. It's creamy coleslaw with a good crunch and decent flavour. It was a winner in my books. The baked beans were fabulous. This places uses more than one type of bean. You could see the chunks of onions. The baked beans are delicious. I must flag a return visit to Camp 31. The cornbread was a small little loaf of golden goodness. It was soft with crunchy edges. So good! This place does everything well. This dinner was huge. I had leftovers the following day and the flavours were even better! I am having such a fun time checking out ribfests this summer. I'm so glad that I found one close to where I was last Saturday. I hope to return next year and discover more good barbeque eats. (325)

How has it taken this long for a festival of Pizza to come into existence in the GTA? I mean…read moreVaughan/Woodbridge/Maple, the Italian strongholds of Southern Ontario - and nothing? Until NOW! And man do the organizers of Vaughan Pizza festival do it right! Over 21 different pizza restaurants all selling their wares at extremely reasonable prices. I managed to get half a pizza for 6 tickets (1 ticket = $1). How many places are you going to get a full pizza hot outta the over for $12. They had pizza and Italian food representing all of the major Italian communities in Ontario, as well as some special guests from Jersey and beyond. Every pizza maker is either cooking their pizza in portable wood burning pizza ovens or these gas BBQ rotating pizza ovens. No reheated Pizza Pizza here. Speaking of Pizza Pizza... none of the overblown pizza chains were there, only local independents. AMAZING! Plus there was booze and 2 nights of live music. Night one of all throw backs to early 90's dance hits (Stevie B, Lil Suzy, to name a few) and night two had Dj Pauly D from the Jersey Shore - I know I know, stereotyping but whatever it was cool. On day three they had a pizza eating contest with some international heavy eaters on hand. This is a great location as well (right off the 400 and the 407, at the now virtually defunct Interchange Way Plaza - former home to AMC Vaughan), lots of parking, lots of space, amazing Can't wait for next year AND their brand new Burger Fest! Eatcrest Out

Currently running August 23 to 25 2024. No rides for kids…read morethis year and far fewer vendors than previous years. Still well attended.

We have gone to this rib fest for the last 10 years since we moved here. Unfortunately it seems to…read moreshrink more and more each year with the same BBQ vendors as usual. Nothing new or interesting. This year additional vendors were very few. Too bad a great venue. Could be so much more if they could attract more vendors to make it an event.

Perfect afternoon to head to the park. Better yet, we headed to the King City Craft Beer Festival…read moreand Food Truck Festival. This is an annual event that's hosted on one Saturday at the start of summer. The entire town seemed to have shown up as the small festival ground was packed with families & groups of all ages (many with pets) to make for a lively atmosphere. Once inside we briefly roamed around the festival ground and craft beer tents, before settling on ordering Urban Smoke's $10 brisket poutine based on the healthy lineup. Fries were crisp but the gravy sort of overwhelmed the flavour of the BBQ brisket slices. Slabtown Cider quenched our thirst well, so we tried both their legendary cherry and founder's dry cider. However another craft beer (aptly named Psychedelic Sunday) tasted like watered down perfume so I'd chalk that as a recipe gone awry. The other food truck that peaked my interest was Buster's Sea Cove. Figured I'd save a trip to Boston by ordering their $15 Lobster Roll! Their roll turned out to be about the size of the accompanying pickle slice, though filled with decent portion of lobster. For dessert, my wife had to try Funnel Cake Express to reminisce of CNE. Their funnel cake was a solid option: crunchy and not overly sweet from the light chocolate, caramel and maple syrup dressings. Admission started at $10. Gate fare was $20 to sample drinks, with 3 tokens that redeemed basically half a cup each (additional tokens were $2). Since we came with family, the festival was not perhaps the best value for the limited itinerary plus live music. We were in-and-out within 1.5 hours before heading to the nearby playground to enjoy the beautiful day.

As of late, I have been entering contests and have had good luck on my side. Here's hoping that I…read morehave not jinxed it. On Instagram, I saw that Yelp GTA was giving away tickets to the King City Craft Beer and Food Truck Festival. I decided to give it a try, which required reposting Yelp GTA's pic, tagging a couple of sponsors, and declaring that you want to go. My dearest friend saw my post and sent me a direct message saying, "I was hoping that we could hang out on June 9. Were you really thinking of going to this festival or just going if you win tickets? If you aren't a winner, we can still hang out." We have known each other since grade 7. I like that she still will be my dear friend, whether I am a winner or loser. Guess what? I got the nod that I have won a pair of tickets. Go, me! I tagged my friend, saying that we're going. The plan was for her to drop by my place, park, and we'd go in my car. Perfect! Thanks to Amanda, Kris, and King City Parks and Recreation for having us at this festival. The catch was figuring out whether we wanted to pick up the tickets through a quick Yelp get-together, or simply pick up tickets at Memorial Park just before the festival starts. We went with the latter. My friend and I got to venue at around noon. I didn't know where to park and ask what seemed to be a volunteer in a purple shirt. She said that parking on the residential street that we were on was fine. The downside was that she was talking to us facing the park. We were looking at her back in my car. Weird. Anyway, I parked and we walked in. I was to look for Kris and a Yelp sign. I saw nothing. My friend needed a washroom and she left to investigate. I seem to be an easy target for Kris to find me. He yelled my name out, which is now customary, and walked over. He told me that he loves this festival and hoped that I would, too. He gave me my tickets. We chatted some more. He pointed out to stop by the Yelp stand to vote for the best beer and food, and we wished each other a great day. You also get free wifi to vote, which lasts for fifteen minutes. The volunteers were not all that prepared, which is the main reason why I am not giving a five-star review. First, we asked whether we were going to drink beer at the front makeshift gate. Um, yes. My guess was that the tickets come with drink tokens. You get a green-coloured wrist band. Second, we had to show ID. No one looked at our ID. Did we look like senile old women that we didn't need to flash our IDs chiselled on rocks? Third, we didn't know which lineup to go to. We chose the one on the left. The fourth point needs a new paragraph. I approached the table. There were two volunteers. One asked for my name. I gave mine to her. She looked at her list and then realized that I wouldn't be on it, as I was holding tickets. She proceeded to give me three drink tokens. I said that I have two tickets. I should be getting six tokens in total. Her sidekick agreed with me. She didn't give my friend three tokens. Um, I'm waiting. I literally had to tell her to provide three tokens into the palm of my friend's hand. OMG, kill me! Anyway, my friend had to use the portable potty. We walked over. We were the first folks to use them, so they were clean. There was a handwashing area to the right. Perfect! We sampled some beer and cider. We ended up chatting with a number of vendors. The two beers and cider that I tried were fantastic. The folks selling them were enthusiastic and nice. Everyone was nice. My friend took a photo of the BMO folks working the stand for them. We enjoyed the various musical bands and acts that were playing. We got food. I had to get a tornado potato with sea salt. It is essentially a spiralized potato on a stick that is deep fried and salted. So good! My friend and I liked it. I have such a weakness for empanadas. We raided the Chacha Churros truck. I got beef and my friend got vegan empanadas. They were so delicious and packed full of fresh, flavourful ingredients. We loved them so much that we came back to get churros. Both folks working the truck remember us. I told them that their food was amazing. The churros had the best cinnamon flavour I have had in a long time. Wow! We visited every stand. I liked visiting the York Region one. You answered trivia questions and you end up winning a cup made of recycled materials that comes with a straw and a lid. We both got one. You could also fill up your water bottles and even these cups at the free water fountain next door. Nice! Naturally, I stopped by the Yelp booth to get some swag and vote for my favourite beer and food vendors. I liked that one person there said that she has seen me around. I suppose that I have been to more Yelp-sponsored events this year than my four years being a Yelper combined that I am fairly easy to spot! I had a fabulous time at this event. I got to experience so much wonderful food and chat with friendly people. I would definitely give it a go again. (227)

Outdoor farmers market is fun, organized, with a great variety of vendors. Support local and check…read moreit out!

Well worth the travel. There's a lot of great stuff to find here - not your typical farmers market…read morebecause there's a kids splash pool and live music on saturdays.