We came this weekend to Victoria specifically because we had lucked into this annual Festival on a…read moreprevious visit and were really impressed. However, this year the published times did not match the venues nor the performers. So we ended up seeing the same performance over and over. And apparently the venue in the Inner Harbour has nothing to do with the Festival and the performances that we saw there were just as good if not better.

A must see, they have 7 stages, shows start at 12pm and finish at 10pm. Street performers and they…read moreare great at what they do.

Luminara is a wonderful free annual festival that occurs on a Saturday in July at St. Ann's…read moreAcademy. This lantern festival attracts between 15,000-20,000 people. The festival features installation art, costumed performers, and lots of lanterns. Kids will love Luminara and so will adults.

I need to admit I wasn't expecting much from this festival, but I was pleasantly surprised! First…read moreof all this is a HUGE festival by area standards. Size-wise it probably rivals the big Ski-to-Sea Festival in Fairhaven, and I found the vendors to be much more local and much more varied, which was nice. It sits literally right on the Anacortes waterfront, with breathtaking views over the marina toward snow-capped Mt. Baker. This was a postcard-worthy place to hang out on a sunny June day! There was a heavy emphasis on locally-produced crafts, art, and food and less of the "commercial" type booths which seem to be mounting a takeover at other festivals. There was also a HUGE Corvette show going on right next to the festival, which gave the hubby something to do while I surfed the jewelry and housewares booths. We also enjoyed the beer garden, hosted by local Anacortes Brewery - they had 5 different varieties of beer on tap, plus several wines. Next door was a robotics demonstration put on by local students, which was super fun to watch! While we pretty much attended this festival by happenstance, I would definitely add this to my "first weekend in June" calendar in future years. Note: get there early to sign up for the free boat rides offered by the local yacht club!

Great fun. Many items beautiful day wish it was 2 days…read more Great weather was great to be out

This is a review for the 34th annual Shipwreck Days Festival 2015 at Anacortes, where it is held…read moreevery year and my primary reason for visiting Anacortes in July. It is a massive community effort by the vendors, residents, businesses and the Fidalgo Island Rotary who make this thing come true every year, which is a gigantic feat, considering the massive city blocks this antique show/craft fair/arts fair/garage sale occupies. This interesting festival was born 34 years ago when commercial fishermen started selling their used gear as yard art on Commercial street. Perhaps a few of them started bartering fishing nets and other gear as well, attracting all sorts of curious onlookers who in turn started selling their used stuff and so on and so on. You can find EVERYTHING here. Plants, baked goods, old antiques, crafts, toilet seats, crappers on wheels, junk, handicrafts, paintings, beads, statues, old toys, street performers, rubber ducks, foam skeleton heads, mannequins, and yes, even fishing nets. Toilets via porta potties that line each side street. Park on the street and walk. It is very hot in July. Take a rolling tote or else face the wrath of bringing back everything by hand like I had to do - back and forth to the car and back in the sweltering heat. Slather on the sunscreen. Take some bottled water or buy the lot of water available by street vendors for $1.00 Go early, although we went as it just opened and it was still a human sardine garden with people bumping you every which way. Protect your wallet as well. Eat lunch at Gere A Deli right on Commercial Street. There is a long line but the food is so worth it!

We've been wanting to come to the crab fest for years and finally made it up in 2025. They have a…read morenice outdoor setup with lots of vendors and big tents for the main event (the food!). Thought the prices were outrageous - I believe I paid $72 for 1 dinner! That gets you a crab, a corn cob, and slaw. Crab was good, as was the corn. Slaw was terrible - no flavor. We also got food from other vendors in the tent, including mexican (it was ok) and a couple small crab cakes that came with a flavorless slaw (not worth it for $22!). Afterwards, we were still hungry and wandered around town to get more food. We also took advantage of the weekend's free entry to the marine life center, which was awesome and our kids had a great time. I don't think we'll be back simply because the cost is too high for what you get and we weren't blown away by the food itself.

Fabulous festival, beautifully run, dedicated and friendly volunteers, well selected and diverse,…read morecraft and food vendors, excellent dining and music spaces, very walkable, and beautiful setting. Loved this fun Friday at the festival.

First time checking out this festival. I enjoyed the different variety of foods. There was a…read moreBlack forest mushroom stand where they sell Alder tree logs for $45 inoculated with chestnut mushroom spores. The Lummi Nation island salmon lunch plate was $18 but it was wild salmon, pasta, bread and beans + water bottle. I like how they air grilled/smoked the fish. That line was the longest. Trident also had a stall where they were giving away shirts, key chains, fish oil, chocolate swag. The boat building offered a demo on sea urchins which i missed out on. They also had a Whatcom Maritime museum station where kids can build wooden boats. Enjoy coming to this place eventhough a bit far for us. It was nice to be by the water and free parking.

So much fun packed in two days. Today's weather was perfect for the Seafeast...sunny and hot at…read moretimes but dry the whole day. We got there around 12 and stay until 5:30pmish. Parking at that time was a bit challenging but we manage to find a free parking lot close by and walk toward the festival. Once there we saw tons of vendors with all kind of marine info and education. My girls (ages 9 & 11) found the "Passport" section where the girls get their passport stamp as they go thru and learn about each booth. I find myself learning a few things too. Food court was loaded with an abundance of sea and non-sea food options. Nice that most if not all took credit cards. My meal pick was Fish and Chips from Fork & Fin food truck. A huge portion for $12( definitely shareable.) Girls got a huge hotdog ($5) from a hotdog stand. For dessert we grab some ice cream($2) next door to the hotdog stand. Only wish there was a water station so we could re-fill our water bottles instead of having to buy the plastic water bottle. Maybe next year a water conservation vendor would sponsor that to keep us water drinker from contributing to the plastic landfill and from the ocean. We headed to the main stage with all our food goodies to eat while enjoying some live music. Definitely a fun family festival for the whole family.

I have been to a lot of outdoor events such as food truck festivals, Craft market, Italian Day,…read moreFusion events and etc. This one is definitely not wow. No fancy concerts here. They have low cost performances. No beer garden here either. This is basically a city event put up to teach kids to recycle. Its not wow. Food trucks were ok but not as much as say the Columbia Street festival. I would say 80% of the stalls are put up by the City of Richmond. I guess its great for kids. But for grown up not really. I also think its due to the demographic of Richmond. Maybe Richmond has more young families and Asian so this event tends to be tailored to them. If I haven't gone to so many outdoor festivals this year, I probably would have enjoyed this one. There are limited parking here and one option was to risk getting your car towed by parking inside of Richmond Center. The event is free and yes the ice rink is also open to the public for free that day (ice rink is owned by the City of Richmond). It was ok but I guess my interest is not to learn about recycling at 10+ different stalls.

Went last year but this years Fest knocked it out of the ball park!…read more Lots of food options & great entertainment from Kunda Africa band as well as Tokyo Police Club! Lots of food trucks & great food sampling at the culinary stage. Fun for the whole family & friends. For some reason this festival only runs on Friday & Saturday - on a long weekend ... why organizers!?? Tried the Pad Thai chicken dish from the Thai Box on Truck food truck - it took awhile to serve us - they were extremely busy - it was well worth the 20 minute wait! Pressure will be on for next years event to be just as good if not better - good luck organizers!

I was over the moon when I found out BOTP was back after a two year absence (thx covid). This has…read morealways been one of my fave beer festivals, with its cool indoor pier setting, live music, and generally being a pretty darned thorough fest in a semi small town. Things have definitely changed, though, since I last attended in 2019. Most noticeable was that there were far fewer breweries and cideries in attendance. In its heyday, BOTP had a whole separate section just for cider. Now, the cider vendors were sprinkled amongst the breweries, making it even more apparent that some of the PNW brewery stalwarts were not in attendance. Kulshan, Stemma, Boundary Bay, North Sound, Wander, Aslan, and many of the great Seattle-area breweries were nowhere to be seen. Shoutout, though, to local greats from Farmstrong to Georgetown for being there. Just wish there were more! The music was great - the Naughty Blokes were pretty entertaining, although I must confess I kinda missed the old polka band that used to play the festival. Gone, too, was the costume contest (though I still saw a few dudes in leiderhosen making the rounds). Perhaps most disappointing were the food trucks. There were three meal-oriented trucks and one serving kettle corn. The prices were OUTRAGEOUS though. We paid $17 for four street-sized tacos at the Mexican Food truck! Hopefully 2022 is just a transition year for BOTP, and they'll be back in full glory next year.

Fun event in Anacortes. Included in your admission is a souvenir tasting glass, eight tickets for…read more4-ounce samples, and a program that gives information about the different beers and ciders that are available to taste. There is a booth to buy additional tasting tickets. Also at that booth, though they were not advertising them, you could buy a string of mini-pretzels for $2. Nice to have something to munch on as you walked around. Also they had food trucks where you could buy dinner, and free bottles water. The venue is an old warehouse type of building on a commercial wharf. It had a fun vibe to it. Definitely bring a warmer layer if there is any wind or rain forecast. One downside was that the band was very loud and it was difficult to have a conversation inside the building.