This Festival goes under few different names: The church website calls it "Greek and East…read moreFestival", the host (Harris Pavilion) calls it "Annual Manassas International Food Festival," and earlier versions on the Facebook called it "Old World" festival. These are all good names for this Nativity of Our Lord Carpatho-Russian Orthodox church fundraiser. In a conversation with one member I learned that this is one of those orthodox churches that do not have the National denomination (Bulgarian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, etc...) as it caters not just to the first generation of immigrants but more to all generations and all people with the Orthodox fate, with no consideration of the national borders. I learned that they have one mass in English and Our Father prayer is recited in 7 world languages. The menu of the festival reflects the church diversity but caused a dilemma of many comers as far as what to eat because it is a long way from Ethiopia to Russia on the food road. People took longer time to figure out if they would rather have Ethiopian, Greek, Slavic, Romanian, Mexican or American food but once in line you move quickly with the food vendors winking and lifting their trays to entice you to get their food. Pierogi were very good, baked well; hard outside and soft inside so combination of dough, potato and cheese was properly melting in the mouth. While I was eating delicious plums with crème, my tongue quickly detected a harder object within the plum. I wondered why plums were not pitted like the most things in US are and to my pleasant surprise the object in question was a walnut half. Once I knew what I am eating - it all came together very nicely. Letdown was that the deserts did not offered any layered moist cake or crepes - which always make me anticipate any Slavic or Western Europe festival. Another letdown was that I could not have a Greek or Russian beer. There was just one Greek wine type but on a hot day a beer goes better with the lunch. The venue was perfect and enthusiasm of the host was energizing. I was happy to support in some way their church. The visit can be combined with a walk in the old town Manassas.

I went to Celebrate Fairfax for the 1st on 6/9/17, 6/10/17 and 6/11/17…read more It is apparent that Celebrate Fairfax has grown over the past couple of years from a traditional carnival. You take the shuttle (because there is not enough parking at the festival for everyone who attends) from either Fair Oaks Mall or a nearby business park and walk right past the traditional carnival rides. I remember as a child. After the carnival rides you past vendors selling everything from coffee to Botox (agree with other Yelpers Celebrate Fairfax is not focused on crafts). After you past the vendors you are welcomed by the smells of food from everything from chicken to popcorn. After you past the food vendors, you arrive at the stage (concerts are offered on Friday and Saturday night). I was primarily interested in attending Celebrate Fairfax to see Bush (which turned out to be one of the best concerts I have experienced from the sounds to crowd) and when I looked at the ticket price I said "hey a 3 day ticket doesn't cost that much more". The concert space has chairs for anyone who wants to sit and if the band turns out to be super popular (and no chairs are left) you can either sit on the very small lawn space or stand. At the end of each concert there is a great fireworks displayed. I was impressed by the half hour show (stayed for the entire display on Saturday night). The fireworks displayed can be seen at almost every part of the festival (e.g. at the concert space or near the rides). The last day of Celebrate Fairfax the organizers tried something different this year and hosted a Brewfest. It was a really nice mixture of cider and beer. I heard from someone who attended the previous year that the organizers focused more on wine than beer. I think. Beer is better bet because I think you will attract more people because beer (in my opinion) offers more variety. I loved the concept of unlimited pours (and no tickets for tastes). If I had one compliant about the Brewfest portion it would be to have more sun umbrellas and dump buckets available. I know. It can be hard to predict the weather but Celebrate Fairfax happens every year in June and therefore rain or shine you can expect it to be hot. On that note, you can bring in Camel Backpacks into the festival. It is very helpful to have a large source of water available since all of Celebrate Fairfax (except for the restrooms and train display in the Government Center) is outside. In a nutshell, I am super psyched to live in Northern VA so I can attend Celebrate Fairfax (fingers crossed they have another great band(s) next year).

Why wouldn't that have a shady area or more cooling stations…read more Non gender porta potty's - gross. Very little choices for picky kids, vegan or other diets- maybe pack your own stuff. Fair food.

It was nice and we really enjoyed it . It was nice vendors and lots of people there. Food was…read moredelicious and nice and hot.

Friends and drove out to check this out. It was our first time attending and after waiting to get…read moreon two 6-seater vans to be driven to the faire, we decided to walk there, which ended up being quicker. There were so many booths and food trucks to check out, but we were all surprised at the lack of strawberries available for purchase. We had envisioned being able to pick strawberries, but the only option was to buy baskets of strawberries that we didn't know where they came from, which was disappointing. We each tried some strawberry flavored food (frozen custard, shaved ice and even a croissant donut). It seemed like there were more booths selling services (like new windows) and dog related items, than anything related to strawberries. It was nice listening to a band playing music, and checking out Randolph Macon College, but it was very hot and crowded, so our overall experience was not that great.

wonderful homemade greek specialities - meals and sweets, I drove 50 miles to be able to find…read moreauthentic moussaka at a reasonable price and I had food for several days - wish it was closer but I am likely to repeat

The weather was warm and the food was hot. We had a great time at the Greek festival the food was…read moreexcellent. The entertainment was so enjoyable between listening to the wonderful music and watching the Greek dancers this made my Sunday perfect . There was a large tent with plenty of tables and chairs to enjoy the food and entertainment out of the sun. I was delighted to find my favorite Greek pastries inside the church. There were vendors set up so you Could look around in the in the air conditioning. We had a very nice time in very good food and entertainment. I am very glad we made time to go.

I finally got to come to this fair, and I couldn't help but compare it to the MoCo Fair, which I've…read morebeen to twice. Immediate comparisons... it's sooooo much smaller! They had more rides than meets the eye, but the space and food options were noticeably far less. But unlike MoCo's $20, parking is free. And they kept it PG and had a live go-go band... gotta love that! They are next to an equestrian center, so sometimes you can smell manure, but that's just nature haha. It was like $7 to get in as an adult, and the unlimited ride wristbands are better for individuals than tickets (if you like rides). It was only around for a weekend, so for anyone seeing this... well, you'll have to wait until next year haha. If you're around, definitely go. The free parking is a huge perk!

I have been going to the fair for about 30/40 years. I've had some very good times with my children…read moreand grandchildren. There were pony rides, dancers, contests and concerts. I hope it is back to its former state. I miss the fair!

Pathetic excuse for a fair. Even a small county fair…read more I love fairs. Big and small. I knew this one was small, so I had low expectations, but you can see the entire fair in about 7 mins. And....it's costs $15 to get in. And $5 to park. So $20 bucks for the world's smallest fair. I went soon after the fair opened, and none of the rides were operating and only half the food vendors were open. What did I get for my $20? Very very little.

Amazing fun great food cute animals and lots of fun. There's a lot of rides and different options…read morefor food. I'd definitely recommend coming to the county fair over the summer.

Awesome festivities, creative lights on boats, and community engagement at its best! Amazing…read moremusics venues, Pendry Hotel tables nicely designed outdoors with a fire pit, and a Santa photo op. Various treats and freebies offered, great concert - live music. Talk about clubbing on the pier! This evening of Jack Daniels partnership on a pier at the wharf was a full on Techno, old school, pop dance party! They did not spare much...DJ sounds, free tastings of Jack Daniels apple whisky and Jack Daniels rum and coke lasted from 6-9pm. The Boat parade was demonstrated how great a community we have on the the wharf. Followed by fireworks, this 30 year celebration of the holiday boat parade could not have been a better welcoming of the holidays! Kudos to the wharf for putting on an amazing event!

My husband and I love boats and sailing (and one of the things that drew us to each other). So it…read morewas pretty humorous that we had consistently missed the Parade of Lights for the entirety of our relationship...but quite honestly, isn't that the way it seems to always go? Well, this year, we put it on our calendars well in advance, and made a point to head down for the Parade of Lights. So, first of all - if you haven't heard of it before, the Parade of Lights is on the Potomac...as in, it's a parade of *boats*. The parade starts off in Old Town Alexandria (down by the Torpedo Factory), and ends up on the DC Wharf on Water Street, where all the boats dock, and there is a big awesome after party. We opted to watch from Alexandria, as we weren't really in the mood to deal with drunken revelers (I know, so unusual for me!), and I think we were ultimately glad we did. Although the docks were crowded (seriously, get there early and stake a spot!), the view was perfect. The boats were all decked out in lights, each boat with a different theme (although there should be a drinking game...whenever a boat's theme is "Christmas", you do a shot. You'll be drunk 15 minutes into this thing). So the good: The event started right on time. The kick off was supposed to be at 5:30, and the first boat pulled into view at 5:35. Awesome. Some of the boats are decked out incredibly creatively It's not your usual parade There was a professional radio DJ (I didn't catch which one...Tommy something?) that provided the commentary and filled up the time when the boats lagged behind The not so good: The DJ that was providing the commentary ran out of material about 1/3 of the way through and he started to read off tweets...which I pretty much loathe (even though I'm a huge fan of twitter) Some of the boats really lagged, so there were periods where you would just stand there in the cold waiting for another boat to pull into view It is COLD. It's the beginning of December, on the water, at night. OMG. SO. COLD. All that being said, it's a quirky, off the wall little event, and I love the creativity that the captains put into their boats. Definitely fun and weird.

Visited during Clarendon Day and the weather was perfect after the past rain. We ate at Spice Craft…read moreand the food was awesome. Lucky the tables outside were free s we could enjoy lunch. We walked up and down visiting the booths.

This festival was amazing. I feel like we need to share our experience since we went here with our…read morekids and had such a blast. It isn't a massive festival, but has plenty of vendors all from the neighborhood. There were bouncy houses for the kids, a silent disco, cotton candy (always a hit) and so many fun activities. We spent about 4 hours at this festival with our 4 year olds. They had so much fun as did we. There are adult beverages for sale along with so many fun activities. It made us wish we lived in Clarendon!