SparkCon is a really fun event that keeps getting better and better each year. I wish there were…read moremore activities Friday during the day, since that's when I attended this year, but I guess that was my own fault. Evidently there were lots of cool things on Friday evening that I missed. Most people probably don't have Friday off like I happened to that day. :) I always love seeing the chalk drawings, and the circus performers. This year I watched some bike polo and got a poem on demand written about my friend's baby! So cool! The whole vibe is so fun and friendly and creative. I can't wait for next year!

This is my second year to attend. I can't go tomorrow, so I went tonight (Friday). Didn't draw a…read more*huge* crowd, but there were a fair amount of people there. I attended a brief portion of the fashion show and a brief portion of the Circus act. Both were okay. I remember last year having a little more substance but I was also there on Saturday, not on Friday. There were only three food trucks out tonight and artists were just beginning to create their chalk art on the streets. A fun event nonetheless. And it's FREE. I hope they do the vintage map thing at the City of Raleigh museum again. That was my favorite part last year.

The first local Earth Day festival I attended a few years back was fun. I was working at Algonquin,…read moreand one of our authors -- Richard Louv -- was in town as a special speaker on getting our kids back in touch with nature at the Museum of Natural Science. I came out to support that but stuck around for the fun festival activities: earth-friendly clothes for sale; a strolling magician; a one-man junk band; and meeting THE Burt of Burt's Bees fame. In the last few years, the festival has grown even more supporting lots of live musical acts, a cute kid's parade where they march downtown with instruments and outfits constructed from recycled materials, even a large-scale bowling game with a giant PeeWee Herman-esque ball of trash knocking into empty water cooler 'pins'. But the coolest part of the festival -- and the reason I look forward to it every year -- is the Burt's Bees tent sale. This annual event is their way of purging old inventory. And It. Is. Fabulous. They have aisles by prices ($10, 8, 5, and 2 -- yes, two bucks!). And down each aisle are bins filled with goodies. The best scores are the gift packs, which you can stock up on at 50-75% off. But I also loaded up on cheap soaps, chapsticks and travel-sized baby oils for my guest bathroom. Great value and great products: not to be missed!

I am always a fan of any massive festival where I can take the kids. This year they coordinate the…read moreGrand Opening of the Nature Research Center with Earth Day. The outside activities were great and bountiful. The inside of the museum addition was designed well. On the inside of the museum I have mixed reviews, but do to the massive crowd I have to save final judgement about it later. Even some of the directors of the labs, and people that worked in the museum (red shirts) mentioned how they were just given the go ahead to move less than a week before the grand opening. I would say half of the interactive displays did not function properly, or were just turned off. The projectors were broken, so they had makeshift displays set up, that were broken as well. The labs didn't have their equipment set up, so we couldn't get a real feel for the labs. As I walked through the museum I wold see a panel that was laying on the floor exposing wires, bags of screws laying out, or trim just laying on the ground. I don't think they did a walk through to make sure the building was ready for thousands of people to come in. But, I will be back later just to see all of the exhibits after they get them fully functioning. For anybody that is wondering, since the rest of the building obviously was no where close to being finished, I was told that it was office space. Office space or not, it looked horrible for a state wide Grand Opening as the backdrop as the Governor was speaking.

If you like sweet muscadine wine, this is the event for you. There are some non-sweet wines but not…read morethe norm for NC. With VIP, you get in 1 hr early to avoid the lines but food does not start till noon with general admission, so you have been drinking for an hour and in need of some food but the lines are ridiculous so you end up paying for food at one of the food trucks. Should open the food tasting stations an hour early to make it more of a VIP experience. Not our type of wines and did not stay long. They did have live music which was decent.

I have actually been coming to this event for years. Normally Great Grapes is mid-late April, but…read morethis year it was moved back to May 5th. I enjoy this event overall. I would say compared to the beer events they have at the Cary amphitheater, the wine festival draws more of an older diverse crowd (beer festival is a big fraternity bro-fest). Ok, so they do have a lot of sweet muscadine wines at this event, and I am not a huge fan of the sweet wines which basically taste like kool-aid with alcohol. I generally like the dry red wines, but when the weather is warm I will venture over to a white or rose. This last time was really warm so I tried a white and a semi-sweet red. I liked the white wine the best which was from Chatham winery in Morrisville. I would say if you are really into wine, you probably won't be impressed with the NC wines at this festival. IMHO California wine is much better as is French wine and I have been to some wine festivals in Virginia with much better wine offerings. North Carolina is known for barbecue, not wine (unless you count Cheerwine) However, If you want to spend a day outdoors in nice weather (usually) and catch a wine buzz while listening to bands then Great Grapes wine festival will be a good time!

Its a two day renaissance festival that is 15$ a day. You can get 1-day or 2-day tickets. It's rain…read moreor shine. Will go again next year!

Came in from VA for this event. Ample parking, many food options, staff and vendors very friendly…read more Kids and families welcome. Mix of plane clothes and awesome costumes. I got to hold a raven, sing sea shanty, dance, laugh, and and hear some really cool music. Knights battle, bag pipes, Ariel dancers, goblins with trinkets, fairy with bubbles for kids, all the vendors are super friendly and not pushy, plenty of bathrooms with hand wash stations. Getting bigger every year from what im told and we will be back. ​

Wow! What a sh*t show! 2019 was my 8th and LAST WBF here in Durham. It has admittedly been 3-4…read moreyears since I last came to this one. My memories were awesome from past ones - there was fellowship and a bit of a party. I always go to the early sessions to enjoy the sunshine and hangout with the more serious beer drinkers/aficionados. There are so many good festivals out there - avoid this one - you have been warned. Now - if you're curious why, keep reading. 1) I got Early Admission tickets for 1 hours earlier entrance. It was until about 15-20 minutes after we were supposed to be let in that someone finally came to set up entry. What??? Completely unprofessional!! And they charged extra!! You should have someone ready to scan/take tickets long before you open. The guy who finally was setting things up was a real horse's patoot and was yelling rude things back at the irritated crowd. Then a blond woman, who I'm assuming he called on his cell phone, showed up all frenzied and tried to get things under control. 2) There were only 35 stations set up - only 29 of those were for beer. If my memory serves me correctly there were at least twice as many beer stations years ago. Participation has certainly dwindled and I'm sure will fall off a cliff this coming year. 3) The beer stations were mostly in the internal outside perimeter of the stadium where the concession stands are. Lame! The last ones I went to were either down on the field, the inside perimeter of the stadium, or both. There was no rain forecast. People want fresh air and sunshine not feeling sealed up in concrete! And if the answer/excuse is the Bulls don't want people on the field, please find another venue. 4) There were a lot of stands who were manned by people who had no clue about the beer they were serving. At one station I asked for the Wit - a snaggle toothed man said "The one in the orange can or the green can?" - the beer was also warm - yuck. There were at least two other stands that were completely unstaffed and had stacks of warm beer just sitting there (one of which was Greenman from Asheville). Other stations had one person running 2 tables and 4-5 taps. I pointed out to one guy (Elysium Brewing) that he had a bunch of product he was supposed to serving that was sitting on a wall behind another table. He seemed unconcerned and didn't even recognize his own clearly labeled product. He also made no efforts to retrieve it. Yikes! 5) The beer they did have was very generic. Really?! Was that an Anheuser Busch station I just avoided? Seriously, there were maybe 4-5 really good breweries there (e.g. Birdsong and River Rat) otherwise it was like walking through the beer section at Food Lion.... I really have no idea what happened to this festival - it used to be so awesome but now just plain...well you get the point. Jeez! Yelp didn't even want to participate - now that's saying something....

Of the two WBFs -- Durham & Raleigh -- the Durham one is unequivocally my favorite. The ballpark is…read morethe perfect set-up (and doesn't have the scent of public urination that Moore Square does). October has the perfect weather... and so many great seasonal beers! It also seems less crowded than Raleigh's. Tents shield you from the sun (or rain), and keep things navigable... like all the NC Beer together in one happy place. The best part about WBF compared to other beer fests I've attended is the detailed program which can help you locate a brewery and see exactly what they have on tap. The second best part of WBF is just the sheer variety. You cannot drink your way through the entire thing -- but you'll have fun trying! Disclaimer: Yelp has been a proud media sponsor of WBF-D in 2011 & 2012.

Just an all out amazing time. There is so much to see....so many vendors. The vendors have…read moresamples and authentic products. The Carolina Pig Jig is held outside. There are over 20 Masonic lodges that are competing for a win for best bbq and sauce. The tickets are only $20 and you cannot eat as much bbq as your soul desires. I look at this festival as a prequel to the state fair that is held in October.

I love this festival…read more The fact there is an NC based festival that focuses on local vendors and creators is such a wonderful idea! I went to the sip and shop area where you can get an alcoholic drink and wander around. I got to sample so many amazing local foods, sauces, and sweets. I walked out of that place work so much stuff! Then the agriculture center has livestock and learning experiences for the little ones. This festival is definitely a must try if you've never been!

I visited for a Juneteenth event. I thought the event was organized well. I enjoy educational…read moreevents geared towards Juneteenth. I'm glad I could attend the event. The staff here for the event were welcoming and pleasant.

Such a great local museum and located right in downtown area where other cool places can be seen…read moreand visited! The museum gives a great snapshot of Raleigh's historical beginnings and significance. And it's free! But donations are welcomed. Friendly and helpful staff at the reception area. And they have a gift shop with cute merchandise

There may not have been a parking-lot sized version of the Mouse Trap game that crushes large…read morehousehold appliances with each drop of the trap; or flame-shooting robots; or electric cars modeled after Doctor Seuss mobiles. BUT. There were remote-controlled robots; a chaos machine that filled a whole room; and battleships that sail and fire ammo! Even though I was attending as a sponsor, I honestly would have gone anyway. Free Sunday entertainment that includes some of the most creative and industrious hobbyists in our community? That's pretty awesome, people. Even if it's not the size of San Francisco's Maker Faire. Apparently this is only the second Faire to be held on the east coast. And of course, it was the first to be held in North Carolina. Even though it was confined to an indoor space in the old now-closed Loehmann's department store, it turned out tons of people. Adults came to be kids. Kids came to be kids. And everyone came to be inspired. I met folks (exhibitors :and: visitors) who had traveled in from out-of-state. One attendee, even as far as Los Angeles! The organizers did a tremendous job pulling some cool DIY-ers together and getting the word out. And I think there's every indication that next year's will be bigger and better. You peeps better start working on that life-size mouse-trap...

Attended my first Maker Faire today--what a blast! I had been a bit concerned that it would be "all…read moreelectronics, all the time," but there was a real variety in the exhibitors. Chain mail cozied up to a spinning wheel, 3-D printers were next to Legos, and the beekeeper wasn't too far away from the solar energy dome. Truly something for everyone who has ever felt a creative urge, in whatever form. $10 well spent. Bonus: it was held on a Saturday at the Kerr-Scott building at the State Fairgrounds, which meant extra browsing at the Flea/Farmer's Market on the way out.