I'm what you might call a festival-phile. As my friend said when he ran into me at yet another…read morefestival for three weeks in a row "if there is a festival in Philly Melissa P. is there!" True story. This was my second year at Bloktoberfest and it was once again a good time despite the little fall of rain and some intense lines. $15 presale online (with a few dollars processing fee) gets you 3 beer tickets and a sweet wristband, they're $20 the day of. You can get a 5 beer ticket for $25 or additional beer tickets for $5. There are some fancy strong beers, some ciders, and a lot of pumpkin ales and Oktoberfests. I would recommend going with 3 tickets and taking it from there in case it rains/gets too loud/crowded/your lame friend wants to leave/your awesome friend gets too drunk and needs to leave, etc. Lots of food trucks are out and places like Jamaican Jerk Hut, Sawatdee, and Magpie have food for sale. Lots of live music and even activities/performances for the kiddies (but ya know 26 year olds like to paint pumpkins too!) Some freebies from State Farm, City Fitness and even free on site eyebrow wax! Also love the print your own instagram table. It gets really crowded though so if you're not into things like night market... I would not recommend. I'm really not sure what my weekends will look like without all these fall fests, probably a lot of crying and moping around the house.

Had I had even considered reviewing Bloktoberfest before I would have done so 5 years ago when it…read morewas Graduate Hospital's event of the year! But since that time I've have seen it grow into a big time festival that showcases everything that's awesome about my favorite side of South Street. Deep down I'm happy to say that I was at the first 2 Bloktoberfest's that took up 2 to 3 blocks of the Graduate Hospital hood just south of Sidecar. And even though they were smaller scale, had fewer food trucks and brews, and the 2nd one suffered a huge hit by a considerable rain storm; it was a solid event that showcased the best of a South Philly community. And even when it expanded onto the best of South West South Street, teamed up with Bella Vista Beer Distributors to bring in even MORE beer, added in even more food truck and restaurant involvement, and utilized even bigger musical acts; it maintains the central organic theme that it was based on. This years fest gave me the chance to catch up with bad ass Philly bands like Swift Technique, West Philadelphia Orchestra, and Jason Jefferies & Tall Trees. While it was great to catch up with old food truck standbys like Say Cheese, Koja, and Sugar Philly Truck; I was blown away by new trucks like Mom Mom's Polish Food Cart. Grabbing familiar brews from the likes of DuClaw and Clown Shoes was definitely a winning combo. But I enjoyed new brews from Horny Goat, and the fact thar Neshiminy Creek brewed Bloktoberfest's own fest beer. Add in some suitable previews of restaurants I've been meaning to try like Rex 1516 and Cambridge; and this year's festival might have been the best one yet!

I had no plans for the weekend and last minute decided to go to this festival with my family. We…read morearrived around 3:30 and after 10 minutes of looking for parking we decided on the parking deck which was a great decision considering how packed the festival was. We had a ball, we walked the entire festival area, heard some good live music, ate delicious food (including tacos and street corn), and had some good beer and cocktails. We are beat and that is a sign we had a great time!

A lot of fun in great weather. Lots of food options…read more Make sure to get the Bavarian pretzel from Brauhaus. Don't forget to look for freebies and food samples too.

The Italian Festival at Mother of Divine Grace is the start of summer! It's a fu. Time for all with…read moremoonbounces, games, a beer garden and delicious food. An Italian restaurant is inside the school with platters of spaghetti and meatballs, ravioli and meatballs, shrimp scampi, and spaghetti and clams. Outside has stands with pizza, French fries and sandwiches. Platters come with bread and a piece is Stock's cake. Cannolis are also available at 3/$5. The pork sandwich is delicious and has provolone and broccoli rabe. The meatball sandwiches have 4 big homemade meatballs. The sausage and pepper is very good. All food is $15 or less. The fried dough is a must! It is a piece of pizza dough filled into a long roll, deep fried and covered in powdered sugar. It's similar to funnel cake but better!

My father grew up across the street on Thompson and we always went to this festival. I remember…read morethey use to have old school one arm bandit slot machines...great memories visiting my nonna and nonno...

This year's Pennsylvania Dutch Festival was the 35th anniversary and was widely advertised, but a…read morebit underwhelming for me. There were some specials in the market ($1 bread from one of the Amish places, etc.) But no large display of Amish made goods like I was expecting. Reading Removal was more crowded than usual, even at 3 pm (the line for Beilers wrapped around the market). Chaos. Outside, there was a small petting zoo with cows, ponies, pigs, sheep, goats and baby chicks that everyone kept picking up. They looked terrified and one showed his displeasure with being picked up by leaving a stinky present behind in her hand. It all seemed very disorganized. The blue grass band was cool, and there were some bales of hay set up for sitting. Songs ranged from mildly Jesus-y to full on sermon-y. A tiny buggy led by tiny horses took people around for rides around the market, with some kid-sized barrels on wheels attached to the back transporting other kids. I wish I could have fit in one of those! Overall, I wouldn't go out of my way again for this festival, and certainly wouldn't come in from out of town for it, but if I had city kids who never saw animals maybe I would bring them by for a taste of the country. (Just bring hand sanitizer).

The second weekend of August is when the Pennsylvania Dutch Festival is held inside and outside of…read moreReading Terminal Market. You can buy crafts including quilts, woodcrafts, paintings, hand braided rugs, wooden toys and cedar chests.. They also serve traditional foods like chicken pot pie ice cream, pies and canned fruits and vegetables but my favorite are the hot fresh donuts. Outside they offer Amish buggy rides and horse drawn wagon rides around the Market, as well as country and bluegrass bands. They also have a cadre of live animals such as horses, cows, chickens, lambs out there as well. One year they even had an animal parade down the streets of Center City. Where else can you witness a sheep get loose and almost get broadsided by a SEPTA bus? That year a goat got loose and had to be evicted from the fountain at Love Park. Only in Philly!

Greenfest Philly is a smaller fest, but still a fun afternoon activity if it's a nice day! I went a…read morefew years ago and remember it being pretty small and close to Headhouse Square, with limited food options. This year was located around Bainbridge Green and seemed bigger and better (although still somewhat limited food). Free stuff: it was a good haul: spun an indego wheel for some gummies, could have gotten some free sunglasses and pens, tote bag, coupon, and banana from Mom's Organic Market, 10 min scalp massage on site from Eviama (amazing!), and the company giving out $20 food coupons for taking 10 selfies was incredible. Also remember to bring clothing for the swap (for every piece you bring I think you get one piece). Saw some girls with free recycling bins. Activities: sit and enjoy live music (West Philly Orchestra was there), climb a free rock wall, do yoga in the morning, learn about lots of green things (think:composting.) Eat and Drink: Kung Fu Hoagies (vegan banh mis) seems to be a staple, this year also had Humptys Dumplings, some boozy popsicles, Bridget Foys tent had mimosas and popcorn, and there was another Asian tent with skewers and spring rolls. These can be bought with $10 food tickets you can purchase at the end. Constructive Criticism: seems a bit ironic that Greenfest exhibitors would be handing out flyers, and food and drinks in plastic and paper plates (although many of these are recyclable). Could be cool to offer discounts for people who bring their own cup? Check it out if you're free, but I wouldn't rearrange my weekend around it.

If you want to get your hippie on, come to Greenfest! It's an annual festival going strong, in fact…read moregrowing strong, since 2006. The fest is coordinated by Clean Air Council Philly which promotes living a greener life in every way you can imagine and in some ways you probably never though of. All the yoga, organic fruit, yummy plant based noms and animal saving you can handle. This year the festival expanded beyond just Head House Square, down to South Street at 3rd. The festival includes really great live music of all kinds, many local artisans and of course, many amazing food vendors such as My Soy Cafe, Nomad Pizza, Flora from Jenkintown and personal favorites (and always a bigger line) Kung Fu Hoagies and Gangster Vegan from Norristown. (Look out for their new brick and mortar opening in University City soon!!) This year there were cooking classes with some of Philly's favorite vegan gems like Ms Rachel's Pantry (fav), Revolution Taco and P'unk Burger. There's a fun kids' corner sponsored by Mom's Organic who is always on hand dishing out FREE goodie bags and produce! (Oh, and they're opening up a shop right here in the city at 10th & Market in Dec/Jan 2016.) The kiddos could participate in FREE yoga, build and play with natural wood toys, sculpting, painting and meditate, even rock climb! Way cool! Honestly, the festival is a great place for us freaky veg-heads to gather every year, but also for anyone who wants to venture out and try some of the most delicious animal friendly food you will ever have and learn about how we can all make the planet a little better!

Underground Arts is such a cool live music venue. From the moment you arrive, it feels like you're…read morestepping into something different -- it's literally down in a basement, and the walk in almost feels like part of the experience. The journey sets the tone, and once you're inside, the artistic expressions all over the space give it a gritty, creative, Philly vibe. Entry was smooth and well-organized. Drink prices were on the higher side (pretty much what you'd expect for a live music venue), but they do offer a light food menu, which was a nice bonus. Seating is limited, but it honestly didn't matter -- the space manages to feel intimate while still giving you room to move and breathe. We saw York Street Hustle perform an Amy Winehouse tribute, and they were phenomenal. The sound quality was strong, the energy was right, and the venue really amplified the performance. If you're looking for a unique, intimate spot to see live music in Philly, Underground Arts absolutely delivers.

Great venue. Extra points for not being a Live Nation venue…read more Good sound and I love the two separate rooms. Even though it's considered a smaller venue you can still fit pretty many bodies in here.

I really enjoyed attending this Philly event! Flannel festival is just what you think it is! Show…read moreup wearing your flannel, shop, eat, drink, dance, sing, sit & socialize! It was a diverse event. Mature crowd for all ages. I didn't know what to expect & I was pleasantly surprised! Great job to the event coordinators! See you next year. Check out their IG for pics & info. I was so busy enjoying the experience I didn't take pictures ‍!

Magical unicorn here! I visited Fright Factory this year on the final Saturday (the busiest night)…read morebefore Halloween and it is well worth the money, especially when you can go alone or at most a group of two. The scare actors timed their approaches perfectly and scared the living !@#$%^&* out of me more than ten times. I was scared out of my mind at one point and thought about leaving, but I had to continue because, well, I paid for a VIP ticket! At one point, I could not see in front of me and I felt so discombobulated that I wanted to sit and calm myself down. Right after I left the haunt, I felt really nauseous. That's how scary this was. This haunt is THE BEST HAUNT IN PHILLY 2025. Eastern State Penitentiary was good. Lincoln Mill was better. But this haunt... jeez, it's on another level. Nobody's paying me to say any of this. I like going to places without someone else swaying my opinion. The scenes are really good and well thought out. Lincoln Mill tried copying one of the scenes at Fright Factory but it pales by comparison to Fright Factory. You will be scared out of your mind when the monster approaches you in it. Big props to the creepy clowns. They make Art the Clown look normal by comparison. One clown in particular had this way of approaching me that was hella creepy. I was freaked out! I timed this haunt on my smart watch at 25 minutes from start to finish. It is described as three parts/acts/sections according to their web site and other reviews. There's more to it than just thinking about the haunt as sections. If you submerge yourself into any one room for too long, you will see, as I did, how scary that could be. I was hightailing it out of certain areas as fast as I could as the monsters chased after me, sometimes for long corridors before they let up. You're looking at a much longer haunt stepwise than most other haunts. According to my smart watch, I experienced almost 4 minutes of 127+ bpm heart rate (that's super high intensity), about 11.5 minutes of 99-127 bpm heart rate (high intensity), and 11 minutes of 71-99 bpm moderate intensity. I'm an elite level athlete (#6 in the world in yoga asana competition), so your experience may differ. If you suffer from any heart or breathing conditions, be sure to get that all well-maintained before you enter this scary haunt.

They definitely need more actors. The area is dirty waiting in line. The guy was yelling at people…read moreto form a straight line when everyone was already in a straight line. It was super annoying. Lincoln Mills in Manayunk is so much better.