The rides were amazing! Although the games could've been better and were also slightly rigged. But…read moreI will definitely be attending the Grape Festival next year and highly recommend spending a summer night here!

Gotta give this place a 5star! First of all this is a big time carnival for a lil town of 1200…read morepeople. It's been going on for 120 yrs. the Italians who migrated here have been serving there famous chicken n spaghetti dinners for over 100 yrs. The volunteers work weeks in advance to make everything from scratch, tickets are 12 bucks it's a great deal. What's better is the town of Tonitown has 2 of the best Italian restaurants in the state. Venetian inn and Momma'szzz!!!! The carnival is your basic rides really nuthin special same as the games. They do have a great place to listen to live music Nightly. Each night they do a grape stomp were you get in a barrel and stomp grapes barefooted. It's fun to watch the kids go at it. There also known for the grape ice cream it's the bomb!!!

The Hot Water Hills Music & Art Festival at Hill Wheatley Plaza - a three day event in downtown Hot…read moreSprings happens around the first week every October, to celebrate music, art, community, sustainability and the fall. This Low Key Arts event is another great community festival in a great location. A true Green event - The HWH M&A FESTIVAL has made a commitment to lessen their impact on the environment by reusing, recycling, and reducing waste in every aspect of their event. Always working for and striving to create and earn a Zero Waste Event certification. Teams of community volunteers work tirelessly throughout the event to make this happen. Now going into its fifth year - this home grown festival is an all day fun event for children of all ages. Activities planned throughout the day include artisan demonstrations, children's play events, a cardboard city, an upcycle pumpkin contest, crystal digging, and some of the areas best local food vendors, that along with lots of great music. Artist/Artisan marketplace provides an outlet of some of the regions best artists to showcase and sell their works. Musicians from the region and beyond, converge on downtown spa city for this weekend event - from rock to classical - blue grass to ska - jazz to indie pop - there is a little bit of everything for everyone to enjoy. An awesome community all ages, music & art festival, in October in spa city. 00180

As an old school documentary filmmaker, received my MFA in Documentary Film from the San Francisco…read moreArt Institute, I adore this festival. In 2021 I worked as a volunteer at the Malco Theatre screening venue which also happens to have one of the coolest, underground wine and beer bars in town. Last year Maxwell Blade dropped in everywhere and did instantaneous magic throughout the festival. Many of last year's entries went on to become hugely successful commercial films. Prior to COVID I met Werner Herzog, my film school idol for "Aguirre The Wrath of God", and actually hung out with him for awhile. That is the nature of this Small-But-Big event. Before becoming a repeat volunteer I always purchased a FULL ACCESS TICKET as there are so many parties, screenings, work shops, pop-up events and opportunities to meet the filmmakers in person, it is really an event best experienced via total immersion. Wouldn't miss it for the world!

The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is considered the Grand Daddy of Documentary Film…read moreFestivals by many. This amazing event just finishing its 23rd season this past October, has been through many changes over the years, and preparation for this years festival is already underway. This 99% volunteer staffed event is a true community event that draws documentary film fans from all over the continent and world, and documentary film makers from around the globe enter submissions of all kinds for a chance just to show their film at this wonderful festival. As an attendee, you can view films individually for around 5$, with a by the day ticket or with a pass for the whole event - I recommend the festival pass if you are a serious doc fan as it gives you unlimited viewing access throughout the entire event - you can often view 8+ films a day if you are a mind to, as well the VIP passes have perks including private after parties with some of the film makers. The HSDFF screening committee has been bringing literally hundreds upon hundreds of fine quality documentary films of various lengths to this festival for decades now. These dedicated volunteers peruse 1000's of films every spring season and spend hundreds of hours months in advance preparing for the fall - watching the good, the bad and the ugly - searching for a handful of true gems worthy of this grand festival. Only about 2-3 out of every 100 films screened make the cut for this awesome festival, and screening committee members must watch and review and minimum of 250+ films individually in order to have a vote and say on the final films allowed into the festival. This process makes the quality of films viewed usually very high for festival attendees. I have enjoyed this festival for years - attending it over 15 years ago for the first time in 1999, and have been an attendee of it a half a dozen times since then over various years. It has been a couple seasons since my last trek to this grand event and I hope to attend it again in the near future. This is a true documentary film gem and definitely worth the trip at least once and well worth the effort to attend if you are a true documentary film fan. A Solid 5 Star festival 00192

I don't know why, but I have Tina Turner's "Simply the best" chorus in my head right now…read more Wakarusa is the lil' festival that could. Is it one of the majors? Fuck no. Could it ever be? Probably not. Should it? No. Wakarusa is just fine the way that it is. Hands down the strangest festival I have ever attended (and hottest)(and I have been to Stagecoach) with all this flowerchild power sort of vibe to it. Neo-hippie culture. Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed it. In fact, I am a fan of Wakarusa. As far as I have experienced, this is the most camping-centric festival that exists. Probably helps that you are in The Ozarks -- absolutely stunning -- and, there is live music somewhere on the festival grounds being performed at all times (even in the night)(You will be able to sleep, don't worry)(Music 24/7: how cool). I never attended Wakarusa when it was held in Kansas. Let me be clear: I would have probably not gone if it did not get moved to The Ozarks (Arkansas was on my bucket list). I know a lot of Kansasites were upset about the relocation (sorry, dudes), but change is inevitable. A few areas in need of improvement: - Showers. Where the fuck are the showers? More showers. - Food. Where is the variety in the food selection? More food selection. - Line-ups. This one is harder to address because it is a lot more complicated. Thus, I will take it to paragraph form. Is it hard to get artists to agree to play in the middle of the fucking Ozarks? Maybe. Probably hard to get U2 to do it or that idiot Jessie Bieber. But, is it really a deterrent to some headliners signing on to this festival? It probably is. Not to mention that Bonnaroo is right around the corner (time-wise, not necessarily geography-wise), so those artists -- and there are a lot -- signed on to Bonnaroo are out of the equation for this lil' festival in the woods. I mean, someone correct me if I am wrong. The year I attended both, I cannot recall any crossover (besides the whorish Mumford). And the biggest headliners at Wakarusa had played Bonnaroo the year prior, thus making them incapable of appearing at that festival in the current year. What I am saying is that there is a need for a perfect storm of (a) currently touring; (b) interested in going way out of your way, to the woods, to play; and (c) not performing at Bonnaroo, in order for Wakarusa to score its headliners. Anyway, this is a solid little festival (that is not really that little). Interesting setting, very laid-back vibe, and once-in-a-lifetime experience (unless you go more than once). I'm a fan. - E

Been to Wakarusa twice, and it was one of the most delightful experiences. I'm very saddened to…read morehear that it won't be returning this year! Bonded with a lot of cool people, met a lot of lifelong friends. And the camping experience was amazing for me, there was good vibes all around. Hopefully Waka will return next year, and if so, I'll be there!

Had a great time at the Robber's Cave Fall Festival this year. I went almost every year growing up,…read morebut haven't been for a few years as I moved out of state. Enjoyed seeing the booths and people selling other products like Scentsy and Thirty-One. Nice mix of vendors. I also liked the live music playing throughout the day. And who doesn't love "fair-style" food?! :) Saw several classic and show cars in town, so now I'm considering going back tomorrow just to see the car show. I like that the festival has lots to see, but isn't so big that you feel worn out when you are finished.

2016 Festival was at Robber's Cave State Park. This festival is written up like it's really…read morespecial. If you are interested for the arts & crafts, stay home! It's crap not crafts. One ad specifically said 'people who are just resellers of inexpensive foreign products have not been accepted as vendors' - this is an untruth. Cheap plastic beaded jewelry, plastic purses with rhinestones, & bamboo sheets from who knows where were there along with fake fur glued to rocks. There were some nice cars there but if you want to see them all best get it done before noon before they all head out. The parking was atrocious. Cars parked either side of the road from 2 miles away. There was a shuttle (302 Main St., Wilburton) but they couldn't pay me to go again.

A true 5 star independent underground music festival, the VoV is now in its 11th year. I first…read moreattended this ultra cool, original underground grass roots music festival in March 2009 - it was in its sixth season. The brain child of local legend Bill Solleder, what started out as an outlet for local and area talents has grown into a vibrant festival with dozens upon dozens of acts from all around the world performing over multiple days and locations and drawing venue goers of all ages in the thousands. Most shows are all ages welcome. Held at several venues now within the city, it all goes back to it's starting point - the low key arts building - a dark green industrial two story building with a red door, that sits off Arbor nestled up against the side of Hot Springs mountain. This unassuming concrete structure, for a week in the spring, becomes the hub for this eclectic and awesome event. The days always start off pretty easy and mellow, with blue grass, instrumental or chamber music for example early and builds in intensity throughout the day, the groups or acts during the evening hours are usually more rock and alternative and definitely louder! Since it's beginning it has been a volunteer driven event - where many community members have worked and helped support this amazing event every year since it's inception. And each year, it grows more adds more talent and more people find out about this awesome festival. Great independent music of all kinds, over a week in mid March (always the week of spring break there), with good food, cold beer, trail shows, cool venues to listen and enjoy said music at and lots of really nice folks for helping out - the VoV - the way an underground independent music festival should be... Well worth the effort to attend - buy your event wrist band early and make to journey to the Valley of the Vapors. 5 Starts 00179