It has been many years since I last attended the event and this is my first review of the fiesta…read more The event reopened in 2021 after being a Virtual Festival in 2020. This is the 30th annual fiesta and was held September 22 - 25, 2021. In addition to wine dinners at local restaurants, chef luncheons, a golf classic and cooking demonstrations, the Grand Tasting was a 2 day event held in Mager's Field at Marcy Park. The Grand Tasting featured 90 wineries and 35 restaurants serving samples of their cuisine under 8 tents. Entertainment was provided by a live band. There was plenty of shade under two large tents which had tables and chairs. Shuttle service was provided from several locations to the Grand Tasting. This years attendance was limited to half the size of previous fiestas to provide more space and shorter lines. Kudus to the Board of Directors and others that participated in making this a great event.

This is such a good time! Great selection of wines from local vineyards in New Mexico and a few…read moreCalifornia. At the festival, you will find everything from sweet whites to dry reds and ports. There are also an assortment of vendors selling food, clothing, art, and other specialty artifacts. The festival is completely outdoors so pray for good weather and dress comfortably because it will be dusty. Definitely check it out! My only gripe is that the tasting lines do not have a good flow so things don't move very quickly.

Such a wonderful event! Love that ABQ has some cool & fun family events like this!!…read moreGo early with some chairs or lounger so you have a spot to relax. Grab some dinner and s'more goodies and roasting stick so you don't have to pay for them inside. One thing I would recommend buying inside is a personal fire pit. I think it was new this year 2019 and the lantern will float much better (chance of not ruining it) if you have hot air to fill it up quickly. You won't get a chance at the public fire pit for that. There's enough spaces to squeeze in for marshmallows though The beauty of thousands of floating lanterns in the night sky is like walking into a dream. Don't miss it!! (And buy tickets early on sale or go get them on Groupon. More than 1/2 off on Groupon deal!!

This has got to be one of the coolest things I've ever experienced in Albuquerque. The event takes…read moreplace at the Sandia Speedway, the views are epic, the atmosphere is so laid back, it's like the ultimate campout.... with hundreds of your Duke City neighbors. Ticket prices include a lantern, marker, lighter and s'mores kit with each adult ticket purchased, and a small gift with each kid's ticket purchased (ours was a flashlight) - you are free to bring food and drinks. (no hard sided cooler, glass bottles, or alcohol allowed, and, no tailgating permitted). They have fire pits set up throughout the open area, so just pick one to gather around and prepare to chill. Don't be greedy, leave some room for others to join you. You're allowed to bring blankets, chairs (bring a jacket to tackle the evening chill). There are vendors there selling food, drinks, and more. Princesses walking around, live music. At sundown, they start lighting the firepits, and give everyone easy instructions to prep your lanterns, enjoy your s'mores and get ready to launch at the same time. It is so exciting, and watching these lanterns go up all at the same time, truly magical. Music. Laughter. Lights. Joy. Unity. It's something to see. Ingress is a piece of cake. Egress, now that's a different story. Consider carpooling, or ubering, because getting out of this place is a pain in the donkey....make sure you hit the restrooms before you leave, because once you get stuck in the line to get out, you're gonna be there a whiiiile.

Absolute worst wine festival that I have ever attended! Not worth the money! My husband and I…read morewent to it and after two hours had not even tasted a single wine! Over-crowded with no control on lines or crowd! We finally gave up and left, having tasted not even one wine! Even worse is that the company running and the staff working it do not care about anything other than bringing in money! Horrible! We will never waste money on this event again!

Always a fun day at the wine festival. This year we got their just after noon time. The lines were…read moreshorter. Thankfully, because three hours later they were fairly long. I like that you can buy your tickets online and they will scan the barcode off your smartphone. It helps if you are a traveler like me and don't have access to a printer. Plus, why needless use paper? So good job on saving a tree! New Mexico wines are not Napa Valley wines, so don't expect similarities. However, many are quite good and at one of these events I can easily drop $100 to $150 buying bottles to take home. The food this year was better, but the wait can be long. Tables near the food area flip frequently, so in less than 10 minutes you should be able to find a seat. The tables on the other hand are filthy. It would be nice if you had someone clean them periodically.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas Is to New Mexico what Colonial Williamsburg is to Virginia, though a…read morebit smaller in size and historical importance. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this was the last stop on the Santa Fe Trail right before arriving in that city. Visiting this "living museum", you get something of a feel for what it might have been like to live in a time when it took many months for caravans traveling the Santa Fe Trail to reach their destination. The living areas, workshops, farm, and animal pens give visitors a look at the hard lives of those who blazed the trail for the settlement of this part of the American Southwest. If you're traveling with children, you'll find that there are walks (both short and long) through the property with space for children to explore and run. Situated only about 20 minutes South of Santa Fe and accessible from I-25, the site is good to visit year-round, but in the Summer months it's probably best to come in the mornings while the temperature remains below 90+ degrees.

My son from Dallas found this place in his google search & wanted to visit. We have lived here 5…read moreyears & didn't know about this great place. The maps make it easy as long as you understand how to orient the map to where you are. We had no problem. We spent all morning here walking the place. You will do a lot of walking, because it is a distance between exhibits. I saw someone say this place is dusty, well YES it's an historical village. Kids can really get exercise & will love the water mill. We plan to go again during the harvest festival. The historical volunteer experts were outstanding & a wealth of knowledge. There are lots of shade trees If you bring a picnic lunch. This place is very much worth the drive. Tips: good walking shoes, water, hats, suntan lotion, walking sticks (because of rough terrain if needed) Go early to beat the heat....

July 10th from where I live and call home...the awful music from our neighborhood park which we…read morecannot use until IFAM leaves is so loud and awful. I have my windows closed and doors closed but cannot hear my programmed TV. my dog is in need of medication to cope. this is not america! trump might as well have been in charge of this sh-t show, no rights for the residents! this all should have been kept at the museum hill and not a neighborhood where it interferes with tax paying residents. I think this is all political and a lot to do with under table cash pay offs.

I love this museum. Their regular exhibit is a blast (devils in the pit a personal favorite) and…read moretemporary exhibits are interesting too. If you are interested in Mexican arts and culture, in particular, this is a win. Not a massive museum, you likely can see it all in about an hour. Easy parking and it's a nice area to museum hop. Museum shop is excellent. Also you can use reciprocal museum cards here so if you are a member you may get in free.

I was on a mission to find a bottle of wine that my cousin had asked me to specifically get from…read moreJaramillo Vinyards. I walked in and was greeted immediately with a warm and friendly welcome. The space is clean and nicely appointed. The large windows give it a light and airy feel. She inquired if she could help and I told her the details of what I was after. She didn't have the exact specific bottle of wine but offered a couple of close alternatives. She let me taste them and also gave me more information about each one. She was very helpful and I greatly appreciate how she handled the situation. I'm not much of a wine drinker myself but would definitely highly consider returning to enjoy a glass at some point.

While driving back to Santa Fe from southern New Mexico, we happened upon a listing for a wine…read moretasting room in Belen. This was a worthy stop. It was Sunday evening and we rolled in about an hour before closing. There was a small group of locals hanging out. We ordered our tasting flights and were advised to grab some snacks from the table nearby. There were some fruits, veg, crackers, cheese and the most wonderful bread. The bread, we later found out, was made by one of the farmers who was hanging out for the evening with his wife. We complimented his bread making skills. The wines were delicious! I tried the 2023 Riesling, Petit Verdot Rosé, Desert Rose, Rio Abajo Red and the 2021 Norton. I am not normally a sweet wine person, but the Riesling and Desert Rose were delicious. We ended up purchasing a bottle of the Norton to take home and glasses were included with the tasting. We felt welcomed and enjoyed our conversation with the folks that were there.

What an amazing venue! We walked into the expo and there were people to greet us, check off our…read morenames on the guest lists, and handed our gift bags. There were specialty lit figurines of animals, flowers, Dragons, Castle, Trees, and everything else imaginable! So there was a stage set up ready for an hour of performance . The Complimentary food and drinks were all set up near the stage. There were delicious Chinese food, like egg rolls and steaming hot rice with bok choy, and broccoli beef and few others along with Iced Teas and lemonade. So we were given an introduction as to the performances that were about to take place on this stage. We're about to see all kinds of spectacular Chinese acrobats. There were plates juggling, planters pot juggling, contortionists, masks changing dancer, water vessels juggling, and so much more. Performances were very well executed along with beautiful music from China. As the performances went on and the sun was going down, all around us the brightly lit figurines got brighter into the evening . Such beautiful sights to see and to captured on our camera phones. After the show, we were able to walk around and take lots of pictures of twinkling lights of all the different shapes of figurines. Then there was the tram to catch and ride above the lit figurines. How amazingly delightful this was to sit high up and look down at all the exquisite detailed figurines down below. Thanks to our manager, Howie, for setting all of this up for us Yelp elites! This was definitely a treasure the experience of a lifetime for me to have this opportunity to be there in person. I highly recommend everyone to come and bring the families the next time the performances come back into Albuquerque Please check this venue out! How fun this was!

This is an amazing show. Got at dusk and as it got dark it became even more amazing. It is a great…read morefamily event.

We spent a couple of hours ingesting bacon in many different ways...on pizza, on marshmallows, in…read morequiche, on cookies, on chicken, in macaroni salad...it was a smorgasbord of salty goodness. We arrived early and parking wasn't too bad but at our departure, the line for parking was getting a bit long. Unnecessarily long. Parking was free, which is always a plus. Overall the food was worth it at a good enough time to return next year. Arrive hungary....

This was honestly a little different than I thought it would be. I am a huge bacon fan, and I just…read morereally didn't feel like this was a bacon festival. This was more of a full on beer festival than bacon. It could have been a brew festival with a bacon theme instead of fusing both the things together. The reason I gave this such a low star rating, mainly comes from the excessive wait times there (along with the lack of emphasis on bacon). I understand it's a busy event, but a wait time was literally attached to everything. Every line (brew lines, food lines, and even bathroom lines) had 7-30 minute waits. Plus the only thing you really got was music. The food samples were very limited and unless if you really really wanted something you didn't dare go to the line. I think this should have been called a food truck brew festival because the majority of the vendors just put some bacon crumbles on top of their regular menu items. I think even like a bacon and tortilla sandwich would have added more bacon theme to this event than some of the other options. Some business did try to capture that bacon theme, but others just didn't. If this occurs again next year I really hope they get way more vendors. This years selection was very limited and even if they had like craft, jewelry, and art vendors that might even out the crowds and diminish wait times. This event has potential, but it just needs a little work. In regards to the eats, I had some nachos that were not bad. They were a little cold (maybe due to the outdoor breeze), but the overall flavor was good. The blueberry lemonade was okay. The presentation was beautiful, but it had the tart Minute Maid taste. I brought it home, and currently it's sitting in my fridge. I plan on adding some simple syrup to sweeten the taste. I also had a salted caramel ice cream sundae with granola, maple, and bacon toppings. That sundae was really really good! I was impressed with the flavor combos. The salted caramel added a nice addition to the granola and bacon taste, and I would most definitely eat it again! I'm not trying to knock this festival in anyway, but there do need to be some improvements for next year. With a little work this event could be great and it could bring in some revenue for our local brew and food vendors!

Years ago, I had a friend who had this event on her priority list. This is a thrilling annual…read moreevent and, if you can survive the truly hellish attempts at parking, I think this is a must-see spectacle. It's the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade but with fire and the most chaotic up-close experience possible. I don't know it all seems to work without mayhem but it does. It's a viscerally invigorating time. If you arrive asleep, you will leave astounded by the blazing profusion of colors and flames and quiet ascension of balloons reaching into the sky. In other words, unlike that famous parade, you are in the mix and a part of it all. It's a whirlwind of the human spirit. The morning session is the ascent of the balloons. The silent takeoffs into the blue sky are like bubbles in boiling water and so serenely soothing to watch. The evening session are the balloons posing brightly at ground level all lit up from inside by the flames that keep them inflated. They are gigantic night lights adorning the large field. The fiesta has a large contingent of food stalls from the proverbial funnel cakes to Japanese ramen. There are souvenirs for sale and music to be heard. Families make this an annual tradition and I understand. People visit from around the world. My friend and I lost touch too long ago but I hope she made it here. She would have loved it.

This event has been on my travel bucket list for years, and we finally made it happen in 2025! We…read morewere incredibly lucky with the weather since our visit was short, from late Thursday night to Sunday. We dedicated Friday morning to the Balloon Fiesta, and aside from the drone show being canceled, everything went perfectly. Getting there was easy using the Park & Ride from Coronado Mall. You do have to wake up early since the buses start running at 4 a.m., and we arrived about 25 minutes later. Once there, we found plenty of carnival and fair-style food. Some highlights were the green chili cheese curds, Frito pie, and an Indian food vendor serving delicious chicken marsala burritos. We walked around while waiting for Dawn Patrol, and by 7 a.m., the sky was alive with color. The first to launch were the Rainbow Riders which are massive balloons carrying over 20 passengers each. Soon after, the sky filled with hundreds of vibrant balloons, including the fun "special shapes" from the rodeo lineup. Everywhere we looked, there was something new to admire, there are over 500 balloons in total! We also learned about Albuquerque's unique wind pattern known as the Albuquerque Box, which allows pilots to take off, fly south, and then, by changing altitude, catch a return wind that brings them back to the launch site. It's the only place in the world where this phenomenon happens, making it ideal for hot air ballooning. Seeing the Balloon Fiesta in person was absolutely magical, it is a breathtaking experience that everyone should witness at least once.

This event was pretty amazing…read more As I walked into the Star center, I was greeted with a wonderful array of aromas and smiling faces. It was hard to keep my inner child at bay and not run around from booth to booth trying absolutely everything... but overall, it worked out just fine. Highlights: Street Food truck, Turtle Mountain Brewery, Cheesy Street and Cazuelas. Street food truck had so many delicious little entrees. My favorite had to be the tempura soft taco. So many new and savory flavors all in one mouthful. Turtle Mountain Brewery had an AMAZINGLY mouth watering bacon Mac 'N Cheese and even more wonderfully paired craft brew to boot. Cheesy Street. The name says it all. So many deliciously unique grilled cheeses smothered with all things heavenly... then complimented with a smooth and creamy tomato bisque... What more can you ask for? Oh, man... what can I say about Cazuelas... the food here was nothing short of intensely flavorful and prepared with the utmost care. Tamales, beans, rice and sopapillas all wonderfully seasoned and extremely appealing to my every tastebud. While I appreciated the attendance of the fast food chains present at this event (Little Caesars and Baskin Robbins) I made it a point to venture elsewhere to get a more authentic "Taste of Rio Rancho" ... and I must say, I was not dissatisfied. All in all, I came in hungry and left with a happy and full belly. Knowing the area a little better for future food adventures made it all the better. I look forward to what will happen next year! If you are looking for a truly well-rounded foodie experience with all the fun and social interactions of a small scale festival, then this is the right place for you. Bon Appetit!

This is a really good event. I am sooo full though. Pacing is clearly a responsible thing to do. A…read moreshout out to the Yelp team! There were some highlights for the 2015 event. Turtle Mountain Brewery gets my vote for the amazing Mac and Cheese. Spice with green chile and of course BACON! They did it right with chaffing dishes and hot boxes to ensure a good showing. A solid team working the event to make you feel that taking all three samples isn't a bad thing. Second place was the Grilled Cheese Truck. Such and easy item so impressing a crowd is hard to do. They also have a nice bread pudding that is worth a try. The Fat Squirrel also showed well. A friendly staff mixed with a shepherd's pie is a win. The melty cheese on top didn't get greasy which can be a hard task. Overall, this is a good time for families and singles alike.