"What if we went to Italy…read more                                                                                             I don't speak a word of Italian Except for Campari and soda for two" (Mary Chapin Carpenter) What a nice time we had at the Southington Italian American Festival. Lower Center Street was closed off to vehicle traffic, creating a pedestrian mall of sorts. But no worries, there were tons of street parking and parking lots on upper Center Street. The street was lined with colorful high top tables and Italian flags making it quite festive. Many of the nearby restaurants had outdoor sales booths, so the festival kind of expanded beyond its boundaries. Once we entered the fairgrounds, there was live music from the big entertainment stage, a big tent to buy raffle tickets for dozens of gift baskets, and oh yeah-- the food stations. Sausage and peppers, gelato, pasta fagiole, soffrito, sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, and of course.... pizza! I had a pepperoni slice from Nonna's, and I swear, I was transported back to the great Italian pizza I grew up on from Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. Oh, and they even had a petting zoo for the little Bambinos and a Sunday morning Mass. The Festival is only open for a few days, and we were there on Sunday which marked the end of the Southington Italian American Festival's 2022 edition. I'd love to go back next year and try the sausage and peppers!

06/08/24: First time at this huge event hosted by Town of West Hartford! It's a two day event; June…read more8, 10-6 and June 9, 12-6. My family and I had a great time. There were rides, food trucks/tents, vendor/arts/craft booths, and music. First we started off at the carnival rides. They had a ferris wheel, huge slide, and various of other rides my little one enjoyed. Then we had food; so many options to to choose from. We had the fried potato/cheese/corn balls from Chompers food truck. My husband and son had hot dogs at another vendor. I had pad Thai from a Thai booth. All were good and decently priced. There's ice cream for dessert; something for everyone! There were over 150 vendor booths. We bought some art from various vendors. The quality and craftsmanship at these booths were great. I am happy to support small businesses! The turn out was great, there were hundreds of people. Overall, a fun family event and can't be missed!

This is our fall treat. Every year we are looking for fair season and Berlin Fairgrounds its on the…read morelist. They have convenient parking close by but for those that can not find parking they also provide shuttle service to and from the fairgrounds . We took the shuttle from Eversource. Its seems like every year this fair its getting bigger and bigger. With a buzz of people and an enormous amount of food and activities to do. THE FOOD oh my, the food , so many vendor to pick from its hard to decide. We are A LOT, street corn from Mexican vendors, grinders from church tents, and of course we can't forget the expected fried dough. I also noticed the decrease of animal activity, it seems like more comercial than a fair animal experience itself. And at night its so exciting to see the rides illuminated and music playing loud for everyone to hear. A lot of happy memories.

I love coming here every year, especially on Thursdays for demo Derby…read more When I'm not at demo Derby, which takes all day, I enjoy a different day with all the different local vendors, small Mom and pop shops, all the different shows, and of course, who could forget the food?! The different livestock, and the cute little chicks being hatched are one of my favorite things The carnival area is great for kids, which I don't have so personally I don't venture to this area often as it is a little wild, especially on the weekend Thursday is the best day to go because of demo Derby however it's a few hours long and being opening day you don't get much time at the fair. I would suggest going on a Friday as well to experience the full fair.

"Hey, mambo, mambo italiano Go, go, go you mixed up…read moresiciliano All you calabresi do the mambo" (Dean Martin) Who doesn't love Italian food? I'm sure there are some poor souls out there who don't like tomato sauce and mozzarella and pasta and canolis. They have my sympathy. Today, we attended the First Annual La Festa ItaliAmerica celebration in Elm Ridge Park in Rocky Hill. It showcased Italian heritage, history, music, art, and, of course, food. Local TV celebrity Dennis House was the Master of Ceremonies, and it was pretty cool when he introduced a young lady wearing a gown and opera gloves to sing the Italian national anthem. There was a speaker who led dozens of dive teams to the wreck of the Andrea Doria. Ever hear of it? The Andrea Doria was a 700 foot long ocean liner that was sailing from Italy to NYC on July 17, 1956. They had over 1,100 passengers onboard. Off the shore of Nantucket, it collided with another ship, and 46 of its passengers perished. One of today's speakers was a survivor of the disaster, and she rang the Doria's bell that had been salvaged by the diver. The bell and one of the Doria's lifeboats were on display at the festival. Another historical segment was a display on Italian migration to Hartford between 1870 and 2000. It was horrible reading some of the racist newspaper articles about the "wave" of Italian immigrants. Oh yeah, there was food, too. The Casa Mia Restaurant Grouph had a busy booth selling huge meatballs, porchetta sandwiches, pasta e fagioli, and arancini rice and meat balls. All were $8. Modern Pastry was there with baked goods, there was a gelato booth, a food truck from Square Peg Pizza, and a booth sponsored by UNICO National selling $3 hot dogs, $5 burgers, and $7 sausage and pepper grinders. We both had a giant meatball for lunch. It was served with a dinner roll and a sprinkling of parmesan sauce. The meatball was as big as a baseball and was great. We bought pizza and a sausage and pepper grinder to take home for dinner. For their first annual celebration, it sure looked like a successful event to me. I do recommend they increase the tables and chair seating under the tent because when we were ready to sit down, there were no seats available.

Glow Hartford is definitely geared toward children (as is to be expected, but perhaps a tad more…read morethan expected), with lights, light swings, hoppity-hop areas, color-changing pads they can jump between, a small train, and some photo ops that kids will love. It's all indoors and warm, which is a plus for New England winters, but personally I'd rather find local outdoor light displays instead. For the lights themselves, the standout for most kids was probably the hanging "icicle" garden -- rows of lights you can walk through, which seemed to get the biggest reaction. Do it early enough next year, and you may even get a decent shot or two in time for your Shutterfly or equivalent Christmas card. The snack options were fine, and there's alcohol for adults, though some things are a bit on the expensive side. You'll probably also end up giving in to some of the add-ons -- glowing cups, light-up wands, or similar extras -- so your kid isn't the only one without one. (Maybe prepare yourself with a preemptive "OK, but just ONE.") The self-stamped passport activity was a nice touch, and the PEZ dispenser prize at the end was a cute detail. All in all, it's an OK experience and a nice family option if you take advantage of everything inside. I'd call it 3.5 stars -- fun to do once, but probably not something I'd make a yearly tradition.

"Morning glow, filled with light You can make the whole day…read morebright" (Michael Jackson) Glow is a family-friendly indoor winter festival of lights currently open in five Canadian cities, Eugene Oregon, and good old Hartford, CT. It was a beautiful display of color and design, highlighted by plenty of dazzling lights in the shape of iconic landmarks from around the world. If you ever hoped to see Christmas lights in the shape of the London Eye, Eiffel Tower, Asian temples, Taj Mahal, the Louvre, and London Bridge... well you'll be amazed at the images you see here. Complementing the visuals are bars, rides, food, photo ops with Santa and the Grinch, live music, and a vendor trade show. Plenty of kiddie activities too - a bounce house, train ride, glowing swing sets, and games. We saw quite a few families with kids of all ages, including a lot of strollers enjoying the show and taking advantage of the hundreds of photo ops. No doubt many of the pics will end up on next year's Christmas cards. All in all, this was a very enjoyable experience.

06/15/24 9:30-8: This street festival was located in Collinsville and Main St. was blocked off for…read moreit. There were chalk artists drawing wonderful art on the street, live music at different spots, axe throwing on a truck, an Art Fair. There were food and beer at the local restaurants such as Grindstone, Lasalle's, and Lisa's Crown. Parking can be found on street, the church lot, and the town hall lot. The art fair had a few artists, authors, and various vendors selling apparel, jewelry, and art. There was a beer/seltzer cart in front of Lisa's Crown. Music on Main on The Collinsville Green started at 6 pm to 9 pm. This event overlaped with the festival. There were no porta potties, you would have to use the restrooms in the nearby establishments. The weather was perfect and the view was great; overall a great day well spent.

May 18, 2024 Every…read moreyear, the City of New Britain hosts a street festival right in downtown. Parking is located in the parking garage for free; there were plenty of spaces when we went right around 12, when the event first started. A large stage on the overpass with live music; another stage near the Central Park. There were quite a few food trucks; fried dough, Thai, Latin, tacos, ice cream, etc. There were plenty of picnic tables and hand washing stations. Other entertainment included, a car show and kid zones; bouncy houses, bubble machine truck, and live animal demonstration. They even had a touch a truck event; huge police swat vehicles, ambulance, and public works trucks. If you're thirsty there was a 21+ area you can get alcoholic drinks at. The event was from 12-8; we had a fun filled day. The city of New Britain did a great job with organizing this event!

Once a month festivities on the first Thursday of every month where Manchester celebrates its…read moreculture and it's businesses. You can walk down all of Main Street and walk into ALL the businesses there that showcase themselves. There also sometimes are bands, zumba, games, food and other fun activities. I highly recommend going sometime. The only day Manchester is anything like Hartford. It's held from May until October.