Great event! Went on Friday evening, had the early bird admission. There was a lot of people…read morethere but the space is large enough to handle the crowd. Lots of vendors, some giveaways of stickers and buttons. It was really great if the actual vendor was at the booth with the volunteers, as it was nice to hear about the brewery, their upcoming events, and other beer they brew. The event had two downfalls in my opinion: 1.) its winter in Cleveland and a coat check would have come in handy and 2.) not enough food vendors. I didn't see hot pretzels which would have gone well with beer! All in all, it's a good event to meet friends, try beer, socialize, and even hit the dance floor at the silent disco.

We went on Saturday and it was so busy. One of our friends volunteered and said there were 9,000…read morepeople there, it was crazy. A lot of great vendors but so many lines. Per usual no one takes drink tickets. I wish there was a little more order to lines. People would be walking and then stop all the sudden to wait in line. Super clustered. Overall a great time though.

This event was a lot of fun! Lots of delicious food and it was a beautiful atmosphere. I loved the…read moreChristmas music and the huge tree in the center of the lobby. It really got you in the Christmas spirit. There was a ton of gourmet food to go around all night long. 20 drink tickets was plenty since they were giving pretty good pours on the wine and beer. My only con would be that there was no coat check so we were stuck carrying around our winter jackets. Who knew since the day before it was 75 degrees, only in Ohio right?! Other than that, I had a great time!

I've been looking at all of the drink and food festivals happening around town the next few months…read moreso it was awesome to score tickets for this event. And to be hosted in the State Theatre at Playhouse Square, classy! My friend and I were dropped off and picked up so we didn't have to worry about drinking and driving especially since the snow hit that night, but how fitting for the Winter Fest! Tickets are $55 plus a $6 something fee. You get 20 alcohol samples and no restriction on food samples. Crowd seemed to be in the 30 and up club. Pros: -Lots of food samples and generous portion sizes for most. -Got to try drink and food samples from places I had not been to before. -Generous alcohol samples, they always filled my glass to the top. -Love the huge Christmas tree and other holiday decorations (I'm looking at you Mr. Reindeer man!) Cons: -Music kept getting shut off then turned off completely. Killed the mood a little as all you heard then was the loud humming of everyone talking. -No coat check so you had to hold onto your coat or secretly stuff it behind the Christmas tree and hope no one steals it. -Pretty crowded, lots of people sitting on the steps so you had to be careful squeezing past them. -Not enough high top tables to set your cup and plate on so you could enjoy things. Having to hold everything, try to consume it, and not bump into people was a little rough and awkward. I know for me, this caused some clumsy food spills a couple of times. -Would have preferred more wine options. I think there were only three wine tables? We only used 10 drink tickets because there wasn't much we wanted to try or keep going back to. All in all, glad I got the opportunity to check this event out! But, we ended up leaving before it was over, and unfortunately I would probably check out a different holiday food and drink event next year.

Another great year at Laurellive. Perfect weather, awesome crowd and the best music. Every year…read morethey impress me with the lineup of acts. Music to please all kinds. You can hear some favorites and always discover some new band as well. Dennis Lloyd stole the show day 1 with Castlecomer knocking it out of the Park day 2. Of course Hozier and Sheryl Crow rocked the crowd. Fabulous food, drinks, Merch. This is one of the best organized events I have ever been to. Last year at Butler Campus. I can't wait to see where they go. Hard to beat this setting.

A time was had while in Cleveland for work. My colleague took me down and I was not disappointed. I…read morejust wish I could have stayed longer than I did. There was so much going on. An area for food, merchandise, community information as well as businesses inside were open. So much to try and explore. I got a noodle and rice dish and tea from vendors. All of it was really good. I definitely enjoyed my time and will be back next year if possible.

Another great year at the Asian festival it's progressively gotten bigger every year this year in…read morefact it was so big that it got shut down early due to the extremely large crowds on Sunday we went early and still had an amazing time and ate all the good food. Asian town Square is a gem for the city of Cleveland so many great restaurants, and shops.

Stopped by Scene's first ever Pig and Whiskey fest in downtown Willoughby on Saturday afternoon. We…read moregot there pretty early and there wasn't much of a crowd although some people were hanging around the Browns tent for meet and greets with some of the players. I think these sessions were $50 apiece, you couldn't just walk in and get an autograph. Bands took the stage later on -- Uncle Kracker was the big draw but that wasn't until Sunday . I like the idea of this festival, but overall there are some kinks to work out. On the food side, they had a solid offering of BBQ vendors - Smoke Ring, Old Carolina, The Proper Pig, Over the Moon. I was very excited about the Smoked Mac & Cheese from Smoke Ring but disappointed in the portion size. It was basically a large handful's worth of food for $5. The bacon on a stick from the Proper Pig was definitely the highlight - also $5, but it was the thickest, juiciest slice of bacon I've ever had the pleasure of devouring. That is one food truck I would definitely chase down if I happen to spot them on the road. The main problem, then, was the booze. Drink tickets were 5 for $5. I believe all the beers were 5 tickets apiece, but there was a serious lack of local beers. When we were there they had a few different brews from Goose Island and Shock Top on tap. Considering Willoughby Brewing was literally right next door it seemed like they could have made more of an effort to get Cleveland beers here - it's not like we've got a beer shortage in this city. "Whiskey Row" was the center of the confusion, however. Each vendor had a menu displaying what kinds of liquor they were offering and they number of tickets each costs. They ranged from 5 to 11 tickets (there might have been a 12 ticket whiskey, I can't quite remember) and you basically got a shot's worth. Or maybe a little more. Every tent had different sized serving cups, so we really had no idea what we were supposed to be getting. Now, why would someone who isn't familiar with a whiskey (or any whiskies, which I think was probably the case with a lot of guests) want to pay $11 for a glass of something they aren't sure if they like? I know entrance was free, but how much money did they think people were going to drop on whiskey? The point of going to food/drink festivals is being able to sample a bunch of stuff you wouldn't normally be exposed to, or want to pay full price for in a restaurant/bar. That was not the case here. At a few of the tents, we asked to pay less for a smaller amount - like 2 or 3 tickets for a smaller taste. A lot of the volunteers weren't really sure what the policy was, so we got a way with a few, and then others refused. So that needs to be clarified, and hopefully next year they'll do sample pours. Obviously a pour of 10-year aged whiskey is worth more than a pour of Bacardi (um, why bother, btw?) but it just made deciding on what to a drink a hassle when every single thing was priced differently. If people want full-size pours, fine, but just make everything the same number of tickets so people don't have to mill around trying to figure out what's what. Also, most of the whiskey offered was bourbon, which is cool because yay America - but the even among the bourbon selections there were only a handful I hadn't seen before. People can walk into any bar and try Jim Beam if they wanted to. It would've been nice to see a few more small-batch brands and international whiskies. But the pig was fabulous!

An afternoon of beers, food, and friends in Lincoln Park ? What could go wrong ?…read more My first beer festival and I was a bit disappointed. Note, this isn't a beer tasting. It's a beerfest where most people were getting drunk. You likely won't have the chance to chat with the rep. pouring the beer, there was a line of 5+ people behind you waiting for their beer. I was in VIP [thanks brother-in-law!] which for some amount (I think he paid a discounted $60/ticket, through a groupon), offered a private VIP area with a food station, our own port-o-potties, food from BRGR9, and 2 additional beer stations (of Goose Island), a covered tent, and seats (thanks to the Lincoln Park). Excellent food by BRGR9 ! They had the complimentary food (burgers, homemade corn dogs - the first corn dog that I've ever liked - the breading was homemade and light, salad, mac and cheese with sundried tomatoes and bacon - awesome]. Now, water for us ? A staffer told us water should be available but promised it was on the way and it came around 2-3p. For the proletariat non-VIPs, there were 5-6 food vendors, and water for $2. Besides the food and booze, there was a volleyball net and a handful of vendors in Lincoln Park. Next time, they should use a larger portion of the park because people were crowding around each other and near the beer lines. Although the Scene promotes other events around town town, they could have promoted their own event better. Their website, their facebook event, the latest copy of their paper magazine and the ticket itself didn't even include information like whether there was a rain date, whether any seating available (the only seating was on the grass unless you were in VIP), whether there was reentry [there was not], and what was exactly included in the VIP package. The beer selection ? Decent. They promoted the event as featuring 100+ brews, and I thought they were likely just right around that number, a little under it maybe. Many from local microbreweries, a few big 'micro' ones (new castle, sam adams, yuengling), don't think any of them were from Europe besides Delirium and New Castle. None of the brews as far as I know were exclusive or limited editions, but there still many of them that I didn't have yet. On the positive side, they had enough porta-potties, the volunteers and beer reps were nice. The lines to get the beer weren't bad, I usually waited 3-5 minutes each time but they could also improve on that. Unfortunately by 4:45 PM, with over an hour left of the event, nearly all but 1 or 2 stations were out of beer. We left about 45 minutes before it ended, all of the places were out of beer. Did I have a good time ? Yes. Would I pay that much again ? Nope. I'll try brewzilla or krusty's next time instead, hopefully they wouldn't run of beer there. If you're interested in going next year, bring your own water, get there early, and bring chairs if you want to sit.

I haven't gone to any other beer fests in the NEO region but this was pretty good at a reasonable…read morecost. It rained a bit this year, but it was still an enjoyable event. There were about 30 beer vendors at the event, each with a few varieties of their brews. Some local brews were present such as Brew Kettle, Portside, and Cellar Rats to name a few. You'll certainly find your favorite type of ale here. There was also a Tito's booth that was serving cocktails. Although they were a bit on the weaker side, its nice having another drink choice other than beer. Yelp was also present. My friends and I made pretzel necklaces which we snacked during the fest. I was told that pretzel necklaces are a tradition at this event. There were people who brought their own necklaces with large pretzels! Reading the reviews from previous years, it seems like running out of beer was the main concern, it wasn't an issue this year. The admission included 10 tickets for samples, some vendors didn't even ask/take the tickets. I had 4 tickets left at the end of the day and I couldn't drink anymore. My only complaint was that the booths should have signs ABOVE the vendors and not on the tables. It was a bit difficult finding the vendors within each booth/area. Looking forward to it next year and hopefully it'll be dry and sunny!

My first Oktoberfest! It was fun tried all kinds of food / alligator bites - and jumbo cream puff -…read more- pretzel wrapped bratswurst with beer cheese sauce - very nice event ! I had a wonderful time :) lovely summer fair !!

I am addicted to this festival! So much fun to spend a few days at!…read more First of all, you must go with other people to really enjoy it....invite your family, friends, coworkers. Second, get crazy - wear some lederhosen or a drindl. Buy a hat or a flower headband. Buy a fun Oktoberfest tshirt to wear. Get in the spirit! Third, if you love beer, try it all! There's also wine and spirits around the festival for purchase, but beer is really what everyone drinks. Not only are there Oktoberfest beers, such as Paulaner and Hacker Pschorr, but many local craft beers. Fourth, go early and have a Bahama Mama from Schmidt's in Columbus for lunch. If you're still hungry, have a giant cream puff or strudel for dessert. Fifth, watch the Weiner races, enjoy some traditional dancers, walk through the vendors area of crafts and German imports, watch a sand sculpture being made right in front of your eyes, get a picture taken with Krampus and crew, watch the Strongman competition. Sixth, go to the Glockenspiel as many times as you can and dance & sing your heart out! Seventh, grab some Authentic German grub for dinner and park yourself in a bier tent to watch some great entertainment. I highly suggest a plate from Das Schnitzel Haus, some pierogi's from the Pierogi Lady, sauerkraut balls from Hey Hey or a pretzel-wrapped bratwurst. Eighth, make sure you're still drinking beer and take some sips of water in between - you'll appreciate that in the morning. Ninth, grab a partner and get on the dance floor for the chicken dance and some polka! It doesn't matter if you don't know how to polka, you'll pick it quickly or someone will teach you. The Chardon Polka Band, Alex Meixner and Klabetheads are all my favorites! Tenth, take lots of pictures to memorialize this great event! And lastly, get an Uber or have a designated driver to take you home!

Had a great time with family and friends but was a bit concerned about the urine smelling theater…read moreroom and the general smell of stale throughout the building. Let's take a little more print in presentation and cleanliness ,

PROS: just came back to this place and it's still amazing! Six floors of display items, items from…read moremany performers even those that aren't in the hall of fame, good prices, nice food, some of the staff is friendly. Huge gift shop CONS: some of the staff isn't friendly (the food staff), the top floors are also way smaller than the bottom floors, gift shop is overpriced, no parking lot despite the size of this place OVERALL: I still give this place a five star review despite some issues it has. I'll always come and visit this place. Merchandise is always revolving so no two visits are the same