Waited in line for food for 30 minutes only to be told, they only except cash or Venmo what are we…read moredrug dealers? Left it don't need it not coming back again

This was really a lot of fun. We got to hear two bands - the first "Wedding Band", was a pretty…read moregood cover band. They all wore t-shirt tuxedos (a little tacky), but their music was good. At 10 pm the headliner came out - they were called the "Cherry Poppin' Daddies" out of Oregon somewhere. The name put us off a little (no- a lot). Their music was what I would call "suggestive" but their style could be classified as swing. This was not what a Saturday night crowd of several thousands wanted to hear. Not sure why Palatine chose them and not a rock band. Needless to say, a lot of people left during their performance. Now, the festival itself was great - Palatine festivals always get a great turn out. There were the regular information booths from insurers, politicians and window replacement companies. The food tents represented the best of Palatine - I had Pad Thai from Siri Thai and a hamburger from Heybeck's. Both were outstanding. Finally, the beer garden was packed. We set up chairs by the stage, but trans-versed the crowds to get beer several times. All I can say is there was no way to get to the beer tent easily. Oh, it was a straight shot. But there were so many people and the music was so loud, in many cases you had to push your way through. The craziest thing was the way they cordoned off the beer garden. The main entry was about a 30 foot long metal plank on the south of the area. There was one other entry point to the east. The porta- potties were set up to the northwest of the beer garden which I think makes sense. But, there was no entry between the two. In order to go from one section to the other, you had to leave the beer garden from either the south or the east, then walk all of the way around until you got there. It was not convenient. But, overall, it was a really good street fest which I will definitely go to again next years. My hope is that the people who put it together take these two points into consideration. If they corrected these, it would be a 5 star experience.

My husband and I love Septemberfest! It's one of the most well-run festivals in the area. The best…read morepart is that parking is free and super simple. You park at one of the high schools, and the shuttle will transport you to the festival. Shuttles run so frequently that every time I've gone I've never had to wait for one. The festival also has free admission! The only thing you have to pay for is food, drinks, and games. The concerts are also free to listen to. We come here every year and it's definitely worth the trip. The food options change every year, and we haven't been disappointed yet. Everything is delicious and we get try different cuisines without committing to going to the restaurant.

Returned to Septemberfest 2025. Added more photos. Food tent had more vendors selling food. All the…read morefood was delicious. Ride area was expanded with more rides.

Another typical suburban festival -- carnival rides, mixed with music stages, and food tents, and…read moresometimes, business vendors. To be honest, I enjoy em, and this one, called Buffalo Grove Days, or what the cool kids call it -- "BG Days" is A-OK with me. I do like how this is well laid-out. There are shuttle buses to take/drop you to where you need to be. I didn't bother looking for parking and ended up parking at wherever the Buffalo Grove Days parking signs pointed to, which ended up being at the Buffalo Grove Metra station, which was free. I do have to say that the offering of carnival rides BG Days have, compared to the other copious amounts of suburban festivals, was less. It was actually hard to use up our 22-tickets (this year it was 22-tickets for $25) and I'm glad I didn't go with the unlimited rides for $25 each. The carnival games included pop-a-shot, lucky ducks, and other typical games. Food-wise, the food tent was actually pretty big. Lots to choose from, from pizza, to Mexican, to Dairy Queen. Food prices were A-OK and definitely not like the $40 for a piece of lettuce prices you'd find at the Taste of Chicago. BATHROOM REVIEW: The couple of port-a-potties we visited were actually pretty clean! Many to choose from and there was no line on the evening we went. Sit or squat? It's still a port-a-potty after all. Squat.

Free to enter. There are various shuttles (bona-fide school busses!) to bus you from parking lots…read moreto the fairgrounds and back. Tip: Make sure to note whether your bus says COOK CO or LAKE CO on the side window so you can get back on the right bus route. Bring chairs or blankets for the parade (starts at 1). The north side of Lake Cook has craft fairs and food, while the south has rides and games (and a few food options - mostly cotton candy, elephant ears, corndogs). Ride tickets amount to about $1.25, and kiddie rides are typically 2-3 tickets. There are two sections of rides: the kiddie ones and adult. Food vendors included a lot of pizza (Nancy's, Wapaghettis...), Jersey Mike's, JD's BBQ, Culvers..also mac and cheese, chicken tenders, burritos, pretzels, etc from various other vendors. There's a covered picnic area to chill and take a break from the sun and heat, as well as a misting tent. Prices weren't TERRIBLE. My steak burrito was $7 and my custard sundae was $3. Pop cans are $1.50 and water is about $2.50. You can bring your own beverages, water, coolers, whatever (non-alc), too. There's an abundance of portra johns, and we even saw some being cleaned! Clean sh!tters?! Score!

Fun summer event with lots of great Irish themed booths, music, activities, drinks, and food…read more Throughout the event, there's plenty of great dancing and bands that play starting from the afternoon that goes till the evening. Admission is very reasonable at only $5, with proceeds benefiting the Arlington Heights Historical Museum. There are some nice photo taking opportunities as well with several setups for leprechaun themed pictures. Nice place to spend an evening listening to some great music and celebrating Irish culture. Don't forget to try some of the special soda offered here as well.

From the owner: Irish Fest with beer, food and bands. $5 admission.read more

This is a pretty decent-sized festival for the burbs. It has the typical carnival rides on the side…read moreand food tents setup that you usually see in suburban festival. I decided to check it out after a Northbrookian (or is it "Northbrook-ite"?) kept saying how awesome it was and that he so far went on the previous two days. Most be good, I though, eh? I have to agree that it was pretty good. The weather was perfect on Sunday and its right next to the Metra stop so there was parking that was really close by. So unlike other suburban festivals that are held in residential parks (think Arlington Heights Frontier Days) you don't have to take a tour of the neighborhood and drive around in circles looking for somewhere to park. The food there was decent and "festival priced" -- the currency there is tickets, tickets, tickets and they were selling 1-ticket for 50cents. I got the beef brisket sammich at some BBQ place called TK's which was awesome, and I shall "bookmark". This place showcased a lot of Northbrook restaurants that I shall try out in the near future. My forgetful memory entails that I'll need to lookup the names again :-/ Overall, a decent-sized festival that is worth checking out if you're in the burbs.

Rides, games, music, food, people That IS NB days fest. Located in downtown Northbrook, the village…read moregreen turns into a huge carnival area with food/game/ride vendors plus a large stage area with live music. The kids love it, big enough to have fun, small enough to still be some what contained. Rides can get expensive, they used to have a band deal but not sure what the current status of that is. This event fires up on a Wednesday in late July and soldiers on through until Sunday evening.

I know there are a few people who would disagree, but I miss Des Plaines old summer party, where it…read morewas a "taste of" and actually had tents serving DP restaurant's food! Tents, not 4 tents, but a slew of them. The Des Plaines Summer Fling, while better entertainment than we had in years past (if you're into David Cassidy), didn't hold a candle to years past! 1. $3 cover! WTH? Lucky they had a singer (David Cassidy) who drew a bunch of people (odd though, I really wasn't a big Partridge Family fan, but had a ton of friends who went just for him). 2. 4 food booths, and I do not believe any of them were DP restaurants. 3. Carnival rides, complete with carnies and a full-fledged rip-off! 20 tickets for $20, rides were 3 - 5 tickets... I've got three kids who wanted to ride stuff, if I let them ride that stuff, there, I may as well have taken them to Six Flags for the day... it was a ridiculous waste of money. 4. ONE beverage tent, right by the stage (since that was the draw, I guess if you're only going to have one, that's where you'd put it) 5. Arts and crafts... BULL @#$%! There were 4 tents with artsie-craftsie stuff, two of them (the ones on the ends, because they were all in a row) had the same stuff! See below for a brief description of what this used to be if you want, but if it's run by the same organization next year, we won't waste our time! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Years past, when a company wasn't contracted to do this, but it was done by the city: 1) our restauranteurs came out and represented with good food and great personality; 2) free bouncy houses for the kids to play on, along with arts and crafts station; 3) historical center sold fresh baked pies from the porch for $3 a slice and it was GOOD!; 4) free to get in because you spent a ton-o-cash while you were there; 5) arts and crafts: portraits, hand made jewelry; knick-knacky stuff; you name it - it was there and it was worth seeing; and 6) local bands with local flavor and local followings were showcased.

The best part about this fest was the band JAKTRIPPER. They should headline this event next year!!!read more

Sadly, as others have shared, there weren't a lot of strawberry items here as there have been at…read morepast festivals. However, I can always count on Enzo & Lucia's for a cool, themed cocktail, like a frozen strawberry daiquiri, in this case. Other "on theme" items we saw were chocolate dipped strawberries (dark chocolate is my favorite), strawberry donuts, strawberry Nutrl, Smithwick's strawberry brew, and chocolate strawberry kabobs. One Greek food vendor had a strawberry frozen yogurt with baklava that was very refreshing in the heat. A beer mimosa at Buffalo Creek Brewing hit the spot too, and it's great to be able to cool off inside, even with our pup. We are always thankful for the parking at Long Grove Community Church for a $5 donation - totally worth it. And the people working the parking lot are so friendly. Thank you to the Village of Long Grove and an army of volunteers, first responders, and people it takes to make these festivals available.

$5 to park with The Lions, $7 to park in the lot by Buffalo Creek Brewing, used to be free (first…read morecome first serve). $7 to enter the festival, used to be a suggested donation, now it's required. So you are already out the 12 to 14 bucks plus gas and you have not even done anything yet. Interestingly enough, Buffalo Creek Brewing was pretty chill just outside the festival and did not have a booth at the festival either; but was a welcome respite from the crowds. FYI - Buffalo beers in plastic cups are allowed to take with you when a festival is going on. If you are coming for music, scope the schedule out ahead of time because they tend to do theme nights, this year Friday was modern, Saturday was classic rock, and Sunday was country. There were a few niche "strawberry" type featured items from some vendors, but for the most part, this was more of a straight up street fest. You are allowed to bring lawn chairs for the live music and many do. Several food types available, BBQ, Brats, Grilled Cheese, Quesadillas, Nachos, Chinese, burgers, hot dogs, etc. Vendor beverages featured beer, seltzers, NA, and sangria. Years past, I think you had to buy tickets to get food and drink and this year they seem to be shying away from that practice (thank gawd). We usually linger longer, but this year I think we left a little earlier than we expected.

After experiencing the difficulty of getting near the launch site of the fireworks shows, this year…read moreI decided to watch Itasca's firework show from a distance in Elk Grove Village. Though there was still quite a line off 53 and onto Biesterfield and Arlington Heights Roads, this is still much better than what I've experienced closer where the fireworks are launched. It's a good idea to allow a minimum of 30 min before and 30 min after for heavy congestion though even an hour after the show, the traffic was still quite heavy on the main roads. The show itself really dazzled with both a higher frequency of fireworks than many nearby spots as was a larger size fireworks. This spanned a large array of different firework types though I wish there was a little more variety in the colors available. Regardless, even from over a mile away, the show was amazing and well worth the drive nearby. It's still crowded in the surrounding towns and there were a substantial number of lines at local businesses like McDonalds who were serving food. Overall, great fireworks show to watch -- even if you're not experiencing it directly at Hamilton Lakes.

Great shot with lots of beautiful and very patriotic colors and styles of designs above our heads…read moregoing off, but was a little too short.