I'm glad I got free tickets. Frankly, what a waste of a trip out. Upon walking alongside the event all you see is an open field. Not much to it, just a few blow up games and bales of hay. Lots of tents selling beer. Upon entering the event we were searched and stripped of our water bottles. We had to throw away about 3 brand new bottles of water. At least he was kind enough to let my children have their bottles of water because they sure as heck were not going to be buying beer! I went with my family in hopes of giving the kids a different experience. Frankly, the Kidsfest portion of the festival was a joke. A double sided slide, a large football toss, some face painting and pumping bowling was all that there was for the kids. Mainly my children were mostly exposed to seeing a lot of people drinking outdoors. The more popular and fun games were for adults only: oversized beer pong and connect four. The beer was overpriced and there wasn't any real selection of brews available. I also hear that the $40 VIP was a sham and just a shaded area for drinking so you weren't exposed to the sun. I'm highly disappointed that it would be hailed as a family friendly event when they really had no family friendly activities for the children. For getting in for free, I can at least say I got what I paid for because I would have been mad if I had to pay for entry. For what I got out of the event I could have gone to World of Beer to get my fix of beer tasting. I have to say though. The highlight of the whole thing was finally meeting our awesome CM Allie. read more

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I had much higher expectations for this festival than it delivered. I recognize that it's the first year for this festival- but that's not enough to excuse it. I went to an Oktoberfest in Michigan in my youth (well, youthier youth ;P) and remember it being TOTALLY overrun with people, in a wooded lot and there were long community picnic tables for everyone to gather and eat/drink at in a shaded area, there was TOO MUCH food to choose from, my father was uber impressed with the beer selection, they had authentic polka bands playing and all sorts of fun for the kiddies. This one had fun for the kiddies... the similarity ends there. The beer and food selection was minimal, with hardly anything to offer that one thinks of when they think of Germany. (German chocolate cake, one type of bratwurst, and some crappy pretzels? REALLY?) One vendor even ran out of food completely and had to send for more. There was hardly any shade in sight, even the VIP tents got sun at one point or another through the day. Most of the music consisted of older and newer rock 'remixed' with a crummy scratch loop, or what sounded like an open mic night wailing from the VIP tents.The giant beer pong and connect four were there as advertised, but the connect four was half broken. I never did find the giant Jenga or corn hole that was advertised. Lots of fun events were advertised, but I missed them ALL because they weren't advertised readily with a TIME. Super disappointed in the organization and delivery of this event. (Noon-8, games of jaxtoberfest. Wow, thanks for being specific!) The only reason it gets 2 stars instead of a 1 is because of the yelp and Dachshund rescue tents. I wish I could have seen the weiner dog races, had an awesome brat, and an authentic pretzel... but cute dachshund photos eased the pain, along with some free yelp shwag, hanging out with my yeeps, and watching kids spin the wheel o' yelp. read more

I was really disappointed with Jaxtoberfest. I do concede that this was a first year, but I expected a lot more. I know that Oktoberfest really is just about beer and food, but so much more thought could have went into this festival. Start with the beer, food, and music and grow from there into an actual big fall festival. This really was just a super-size family picnic with no offerings of shade unless you spent a ridiculous amount of money on a VIP ticket. I expected to see some local breweries represented, There were none. Instead, there were all of 4 choices of alcoholic beverage, including 1 cider, but they were all major companies (Sam Adams, Angry Orchard, etc). I'm not a beer drinker, as I prefer cider or wine, but it just felt like a slap to our hardworking local brewmasters. On that same note, the selection for food was less than stellar. I love Diggity Dog and they did as best as they could managing their huge line, but how were there no food trucks? I saw one, but it was closed the entire time that I was on the premises, which was about 3 to 4 hours. On top of that, save for Diggity Dog, I could find no German food at all. Why was there no representation from German Schnitzel Haus or The Swedish Bistro (who does make other European foods besides Swedish)? Another thing, why wasn't this place jampacked with vendors? The caveat is that there were a ridiculous amount of other events going on around town. It's like no promoters talked to each other. There were so many things that I wanted to attend and I couldn't because they all ended up on this one day. I'm glad that we are getting so busy as a city, but these festival and event planners really need to start getting on the same page, at least with just communicating with each other about dates for festivals. Anyways, I digress, back to Jaxtoberfest, there was German music, but it was all the way on the far side of the premises. I had previously heard The Singing Bavarians a week or so ago at the Intuition Oktoberfest party at Memorial Park, and they were awesome. I really think they needed more of a central location for more people to have enjoyed their music. I'm just seeing way too many other reviewers talking about not hearing any German music. We had a decent size group of kids with us, who wanted to do activities like paint pumpkins, and all the pumpkins were gone by the time we got there around 3 on Saturday. We waited in line for them to do the giant Connect Four and the big Jaguars bouncy slide. We also ended up being accosted by a guy in that slide line who was just too impatient to wait for his kid to have his turn. It was humid and everyone was a bit annoyed, but there's no reason to be a jerk to kids that are just waiting in line for their turn because the line isn't moving fast enough. Anyways, the "Kidsfest" just turned out to be pumpkin bowling, tossing a football, and the slide. To bring my nieces and nephew, it was just such a waste. They would have had a better time running around at the park. The GA tickets that myself and our group used were won by myself at the last Yelp Elite event and by another person from a ticket contest. I'm really glad that we didn't pay any admission, especially with the parking lot scalpers wanting $15-$20 for parking on top of that. This wasn't a football game or a major concert event, absolutely no reason for those kinds of parking prices. Thank goodness for free parking downtown on weekends. I discovered that there is a Dachshund Rescue group in the area, which I didn't know existed, and was glad to see. The giant beer pong game looked fun and should definitely make a comeback. Also, there should be an actual schedule of events rather than saying that games will happen between this time and this time, nor do I think folks should have to pay extra to participate in those contests after paying to get in, paying for drink, and paying for food. I'm thinking that the folks who put on Jaxtoberfest should think about getting together with Intuition for a joint endeavor next year, instead of seperate events. I loved the Shipyards location, but I truly enjoyed Intuition's Oktoberfest much more than Jaxtoberfest. read more

Loved the location. Loved the idea. Glad to see at least one local brewery represented; would have loved more. Love that Jacksonville is trying to up the ante with community events like this one. Maybe it's because it was local & I didn't pay for it, but I think I liked this better than Festival of Bacon in Orlando. Like many other reviewers so far, I did get in for free. Don't know if I would have gone otherwise, but it was a good way to get out of the house. I don't have kids and if I did, I don't know if I would bring them to a festival where there was going to be large quantities of beer consumed, However, that being said, it was sold as a family friendly event, and like those that brought kids, I would have expected a lot more out of the kid zone. It is too bad there was a lot going on during this particular weekend. Like one of the other reviews mentioned, I think the committees need to do a better communicating with each other so they can start partnering with each other rather than working against each other. I do hope it comes around next year, but I hope the production company learned some lessons and makes some improvements next time around. read more

Jaxtoberfest - CM Rockin' the red couch - Festivals Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

$40 for a shaded area? Really? This festival was the biggest rip-off of my life. I was expecting a nice variety of different beers to sample from and at least one complimentary selection. Instead I received one 22oz cup that I had to pay for (in addition to the $40 I had already spent) and I had to fight my way through a crowd of other "VIP" people in order to find a seat. The entire experience was a complete scam. The same thing happened at World of Nations and Oysterfest. Honestly, I'm completely done with Jacksonville festivals. Duval, you seriously need to get your act together. read more

From first appearance, it seemed to be a pretty well put together event. However, it didn't really turn out that way. I participated in the 5k, where they served a 2 or 3 oz beer at every mile (I think). I didn't drink the beer, only because it wasn't to my liking. BUT, I did listen very well as I came upon the beer stations. Although the cup was only 2 or 3 oz, they made sure to tell everyone to drink as much as they wanted! They just could not leave the beer station until they were done. So, that was pretty neat! I got in the festival without purchasing a ticket because I participated in the run. I am extremely glad I didn't have to pay. It was not that bad, money wise to get a general ticket in... like $10, I think. Or you could purchase a $40 VIP ticket. From what I understand, that was a total rip off! There weren't a whole lot of places to eat, and what was there had pretty long lines. After running a 5k bridge race, who wants to wait and wait and wait to eat!?! NOT this girl! (which is why we left and went to Kickbacks). There were kiddie things, if I had kiddos that may have been a bonus. But my baby has babies and doesn't live here :( I seen a big beer pong thingy... that was neat. We didn't play, but I am positive it would have been fun.... Right???!!! Anyhow, I really hope they do this again next year but hopefully they will learn a few things from this disappointment. Jacksonville NEEDS these types of events, and WE need to attend to make this city awesome... again! read more

I could complain about the heat, but that would be useless since we all know Jacksonville is H O T in October haha. But the event crew are outstanding & super accommodating. They even opened up tent #2 for everyone! Now I can sit in the shade & cool off ! #thankyou #JAXtoberfest #iwantaBUZZ #ilovejax #onlyinjax read more

Jaxtoberfest - Beautiful day in downtown, Jacksonville ! #JAXtoberfest #onlyinjax #ilovejax #iwantaBUZZ - Festivals Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

It was nice to see the Jacksonville shipyards used for something useful, but this event left a lot to be desired. I arrived a little after 4PM on Saturday, the 2nd day. By then, all of the festivities and games were over. The food options were limited so besides drinking and kicking back at the Yelp tent, there wasn't much to do. Hopefully the lack of activities were a result of this being the inaugural event. I'd like to see this come back next year, hopefully with increased participation from some of the local vendors. read more

Well, I was pleasantly surprised by this event. I went into it hoping that it would be fun and it turned out to be pretty ok. I only attend the Saturday of the two day event. We also had purchased the VIP tickets, which I highly recommend. The nice thing about having the VIP tickets was being able to sit in the tents and get out of the sun. It was a nice benefit seeing as I did not think it was going to get as hot as it did that day. They had four beer tents, but I mainly stuck to the Sam Adams tent, which also featured Angry Orchard cider ( very refreshing on that day). They also had a pretty decent selection of food. They had two food trucks and about three food tents. I migrated toward the tent that had funnel cakes and turkey legs. Unfortunately when we arrived the turkey legs were not going to be ready for the next hour so we settled for just funnel cake,very tasty by the way. We also participated in some of the games that they had, mainly the beer chugging and stein holding contests. The only thing that I could say about the contests were maybe the prizes should be different for 3rd-1st place. Everyone who participated got the same prize, which were golf balls. Not exactly something that I particularly needed, I mean I don't play. The event in whole was pretty decent. The only other thing that I feel needs to be addressed would be that a lot of tents were breaking down around noon. Unless you watched the games every hour the tents were the main entertainment. So them leaving early kinda sucked. Will I attend next year? Of course, hopefully it will be just as good, if not better. read more

Ill have to agree with some of the other reviewers. This was kind of a let down. While i didnt purchase a VIP ticket, i quickly realized i didnt waste my money. I got in with the participation of the 5k. The 5k was fun, id give it 4 ****, because of the beer.. But it was a very small shot if beer at that. Once inside the festival, i found veeerry long lines and frustrated people. If the event comes again next year, ill probably go only to do the run. read more

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This was definitely fun, but I would say that the prices for entry were a little bit unreasonable. Especially for Friday night! It was $8 for friday evening and $8 for all day saturday. We went on Friday and they barely had any vendors and it was pretty empty. We tried to play a few games and someone came around and told us we weren't allowed because it opened tomorrow. It was literally.. throwing a plastic pumpkin into a hole. Did you really need to "save" this oh-so-exciting activity? We only got a few hours on Friday, which makes it even more weird that it is the same price as Saturday. When we went on Saturday (yes we went both days) there were a lot more people and vendors. It was lively and had a lot of entertainment and contests which was great. The food wasn't all necessarily German (I had jambalaya) so that was a little but of a throw off. I got to go to the yelp tent- which was fun to visit :) Will I go again? Sure. But I would skip Friday and only go on the Saturday. read more

We went on Sat aftenoon about 3pm. We loved the location but diasappointed with several things. If you didnt buy the VIP ticket , there were no tables or shaded tents to sit at. I wanted to hear German music with a real live band. I wanted to see my 3yr old do the "chicken dance." We waited about 2 hours for the face painting but he did enjoy several of the childrens games. The lines for food and beer were long. It was great that there were beer chugging contests for the adults early in the afternoon. YES it was really great watching a couple of ladies PUKING on the lawn. Next year, please dont have any CHUGGING contests early in the afternoon! Its not so family friendly. read more

Really, there should be no stars! $40 for VIP was the biggest scam. There were no VIP bathrooms, just port a potties off of the VIP tents. Where was the German music? Where was the German food? Only one vendor had brats, I like a natural toe and got weird looks when I mentioned no polish. German chocolate cake. The only pretzels were nuked in a microwave. FAIL! read more

This was a pretty dumb event. If we hadn't gotten free tickets from our home inspector, I would've been pissed if we'd paid for the VIP tickets. The only thing extra you got was a dumb plastic mug and access to shaded tents. It could have been so much cooler, but it just wasn't. Next time they should have it in a park that has some trees or something because the location was stupid. We didn't even bother trying to get anything to eat because the lines were insane. The beer we had was good, but the selection was sort of pathetic. read more

Hopefully they do better next year! I think they definitely need to put money down for a liquor license for people that don't drink beer. However, I really enjoyed the beers that they had. We participated in the dachshund races (3rd place!!). I think it was silly that they charged the participants in the race because the race was the best entertainment they had, in my opinion. I thought it was odd that they only had one food stand selling bratwurst and other German treats, it made the waiting time really long. Also, the bratwurst was definitely not even in the top 20 I've had; that had room for improvement. It was their first year so I will probably return next year and hope that they make it better! read more

I am a northern October baby so I love fall colors, pumpkins, creative craft beers and all that festive stuff. I was really disappointed like many other with the "VIP" amenities. I understand that it was the first time but anyone who has ever been to a legit Oktoberfest knows that this missed the mark by far. Same prices for beer for VIP besides the extra 6oz cups. German food limited to none and lack of food vendors. I won free VIP tickets in the yelp raffle but my friend upgraded his general admission ticket to be able to hangout with us. Well, big waste of money we barely used the tents, individuals with out wristbands walked to the backside off the beer tables and still were served. So the people in line were actually being passed over by people who weren't even in the tent. If I would have paid for the tickets I would be furious because my pregnant wife didn't use any of the so called amenities that I would have paid $40 for. If they have a 2nd annual "Jaxtoberfest" I want in on the planning committee. read more

A big disappointment. The VIP tickets were just a sales gimmick. The organizers produced a failure.