What a wonderful festival! The waterfront was the ideal spot for this lively and entertaining…read moreevent. There were various vendors displaying all kinds of products. Fun for the whole family.

The first Persian New Year Festival happened at the Scottsdale Waterfront March 9th 2019. This year…read moreit was a free event with proceeds to benefit brain tumor research. This year there were around 40 venders. There was food, Persian Tea, music, dancing, art, jewelry, crafts, Persian rugs, clothing, fortune telling and more. A few food trucks also participated. The event this year (2019) wasn't perfect but was pretty good for a first year festival. They offered lots of variety and it was free so I can't complain. They only things that could use improvement were that there was a lack of hand washing stations and many venders opened much latter than the festival opening. Parking was close and FREE.

I have always enjoyed attending this parade during the holiday season. Phoenix has been hosting it…read morefor over three decades. The parade route usually goes down Central Ave to Camelback Rd and then to 7th St. You have to be a little strategic because people camp out early to claim a spot. There are floats and vehicles covered in lights in the parade. My personal favorite is seeing all the families and kids come out all dressed up and having fun. You can usually catch some local Valley celebrities on some of the floats too. I attending the light parade this past year and enjoyed the parade despite the rain. If you don't want to try and find a parking spot, the Valley Metro light rail has a station nearby on Camelback Rd. The parade is sponsored by APS.

We try to go to this every year cause the family enjoys it. The hustle and bustle with the holiday…read moreseason and this parade is part of it just like Glendale Glitters for us. We decided to not worry about traffic and parking and we took the light rail. We got off on the Central and Camelback stop and walked over to the street. There was cones and police directing people where to stand or not stand. This year it started sprinkling but we were good hanging out for a bit and waiting for the parade to start. Problem this year is by 7:25pm we were STILL waiting for it to start. The parade was supposed to start at 7pm. With the rain and not seeing any floats or sign of the parade stating we headed back to the light rail and decided to get dinner. I'm not really even sure when it started cause we boarded the light rail around 7:30 and it still had not started. Hopefully next year it will actually start on time and I'm sure we will be back to check it out again.

I went to the 2019 Dish It Out on High Street in Phoenix. This festival benefits boys and girls…read moreclubs of Phoenix. General admission tickets ran around $70.00 and VIP admission ran around $200.00. They had 29 general admission restaurants, 22 beer vendors and 24 general admission wine and spirit stops. and 7 VIP restaurants and 10 VIP wine and spirit stops. They also had a live band performing. I've experienced several problems with this festival. The biggest problem was that after an hour the place was so packed with people you couldn't breath. The lines disappeared and it was just a packed crowd. You were trapped and at that point it became hazardous. Also many people just started dropping plates of food and drinks and the ground became hazardous and slippery. That pizza that hit my husbands leg became like a banana peel on the ground. I tried to hit the food spots as quick as possible and then try some wine. I could only get two glasses of wine. I was planning on spending most of my wine at one certain spot but within an hour they ran out of red wine (BAH!) It was just too crazy to fight the crowd to try to get another glass somewhere so we just left. The other thing I really hated was that on the dish it out website they listed participating vendors without separating them into general admission and VIP. It wasn't until around the day of the event that you actually knew the separation. Some of the food really was very good but I didn't feel like I got my money's worth. It was too uncomfortable and hazardous walking around. I will not attend Dish It Out at this location again.

2017. Wow. Classy event with every course covered! Flemings, Tea2Go, The Vig, Chino Bandido, Red…read moreBull, Wine, Beer, The Halal Guys, Kona Grill, Venezias. The lines were long and there were areas where you couldn't move, but that's part of the excitement of a good festival. Making friends and enjoying the libations. Cool ambience with VIP lounges and good signage. Well organized and laid out. So much to choose from that I didn't sample all the restaurants!

A fun, affordable event with a bounty of local AZ beer tasting. As a first timer to this annual…read moreevent, I expected more food truck vendors and beer tents to be present. None-the-less plenty of tasting tickets were provided (many more than we could use - NO complaints there). We enjoyed ourselves.

Really gays? What has happened to us? We've become so serious. So mainstream. So. Oh dear. How do I…read moresay this...so, so heterosexual! GASP! Strollers. Parents. Pets. Lacoste shirts. Topsiders. Soccer moms. Soccer dads. And in my best Sarah Palin voice, "Joe 6 packs". Just normal folks don't ya know. You betcha. Where are the inappropriately dressed men in Speedos, glitter and nipple tassels? Dykes on bikes? Minors tripping on E? What has happened to our luster people? Have we become....um, boring? Well, I"m not sure. But the Rainbows Festival is darn fun. A small town feel, in a lovely urban setting, filled with the usual food vendors, t-shirts booths and local organizations hawking their wares and services. But overall, the genuine feeling of fun, love and celebration permeated this event. Lots of smiles, hugs and waves. And yes, lots of families of all types. And, really, that is what it's all about right. We noshed on turkey legs, tacos and swilled Bud and fruity vodka drinks. Ten bucks to park, but free to get in. How cute and small town is that? Well, not the parking maybe. But who doesn't love a free party? Rickie and I had a blast and at the end of our Rainbow, we found a bag full of condoms, lube and free minutes for a gay sex site. Ahhh, my people! Girls and gays just wanna have fun! See ya next year. And don't forget the nipple clamps!

A smaller version of the Pride Festival, Rainbows is a good way to introduce someone who has never…read moreattended a Pride event before. I find it interesting that a previous reviewer took issue with the "strollers, walkers and kids" and called the gays "mainstream" and "boring." It's unfortunate that someone from our community would actually begrudge others in the community the chance to show off their families in a safe and (supposedly) accepting place. Yes, there are kids. There are dogs. There are babies. There are families. It's a very family friendly event, and not as overwhelming as the big Pride Festival in April. There's entertainment by local drag queens and drag kings, dancers, singers and DJs. There are informational booths and food booths. And, unlike Pride in April, you can actually bring your dog with you to Rainbows. So pack up the kids, the strollers, the diaper bags and the family dog and get down to Rainbows Festival and celebrate your fabulocity!

This event is much smaller than I was expecting but it is in 3 separate locations. They had chalk…read moreavailable for anyone who wanted to participate. There was shade for the kids that wanted to draw on the sideways near Dave and Busters. The artists drew on canvas so their art could be auctioned for charity. Alley had her favorite so she will be back.

Everyone seems happy with the weather cooling down in the evening including me…read more Nice cold beer, great performances and happy people. What more can you ask??? Michael Franti is always great, I love him! Thank you Tour de Fat and thank you Yelp, it was wonderful!

I'm shocked there are only 6 reviews for TDF, since this festival has been around for many years…read moreand Tempe is the last stop (of many) across the country. The reason I'm not enamored with the festival (anymore) is that it used to be free, then it was $10 entry, and now it's $25 to get in. When it was free or even $10, there were more things and activities to do at the festival, and it had a much better vibe (although the last year it was free, it was outta-control packed). I understand that the cost is used to defray event expenses and is a charitable event, but you can't significantly increase the cost while removing all of the goofy/fun things we've come to expect at the event year after year! For example, the Karaoke port-a-potty was gone, the crazy/unique/fun bikes you could ride in the circle, the giant picture frame to take photos...these are things that they've already spent the cost on, so I don't understand why they disappeared! We always came for the day, so just having a few bands and beer (which we can get anywhere...) won't bring me back. On the plus side, event staff are volunteers and friendly, this year there were no lines since attendance was severely down, and the were able to maintain the bike parade again this year (after nearly cancelling it). At $10 I can maybe justify this event next year, but at anything over that? Not a chance.

This annual film festival is held in the Center for the Performing Arts of the Paradise Valley…read moreCommunity College. I very much enjoyed the presentations for this year - lighthearted ones, as well as serious ones such as the film depicting the struggle of the LGBT people of Uganda. I commend the PVCC groups/organizations - PVCC P.R.I.D.E., Student Life, and the Center for Performing Arts - for putting together a festival that not only showcases really entertaining films and documentaries that shine a spotlight on important issues facing the LGBT community worldwide, but also promotes cultural diversity locally for the Valley of the Sun.