Great idea! Fortunately I was gifted tickets to the 2025 GLOW Festival and it's the group you go…read morewith that will make this fun. Like all events, it's all about perspective. I'm local to Saint Paul and I love a quiet St. Paul activity. We went on a Friday evening which I believe was opening night and it was dead!! Contrary, I liked it. We took an Uber which relieved us of any parking stresses and because this was a quiet event the uber prices were on point. I don't think this experience is worth the normal ticket of $27 but if you're looking for something to do, go for it. This event would start to be spendy with kids as each activity inside costs money. For example, the marshmallow fire roasting station is $6, the slide with the tubes is $3.75, carousel is $5, hot chocolate is $6, the zip line is $15, etc. Contrary, Santa was onsite most of our evening and the visit has no cost. The entire CHS field is lit up with lights ranging from Christmas trees, polar bears, moose, and varying little stables for the kiddos to pop in and out of. There are basic concession stands, a warming house with a bar a couple of local vendors, a giant slide and zip line. There is holiday music playing and attendees roam the arena. Tons of photo opportunities! The night we went it was pretty warm with no snow so I do believe that snow would make this a very different experience. Fun fact: My group was able to witness a couple get engaged. Congratulations to those two!!

TLDR: Great for families with younger kids, lots of things for them to look at, run around and do;…read moreparking is limited and expensive. I had no idea this holiday festival was a thing! I wasn't sure what to expect and brought my adult daughter with me to see what it was all about. If you have young children or a person who loves looking at holiday lights, this is the place to stop by. Luckily, the night we went, it wasn't too cold, but there really wasn't much for us to do other than walk around and look at the light displays. Neither of us was drinking cocktails that night, so we didn't take advantage of the cocktail lounge, but did get our picture with Santa Claus. The little houses all around the field are super cute. They had great music playing and a "fireplace" image displayed on the Jumbotron. In the same area as the cocktail lounge, there was a makers market. I saw people who purchased concessions from the normal concession stand areas, but we didn't get anything from there either. We parked on the street using the app, and it was ridiculously expensive for being a Friday night and I booked a few hours, not knowing how long we would be in the festival. Turns out it only took us about 45 minutes to walk around. Not sure if I would pay to go back. I think it's a kind of thing that I'm not sure the experience changes much year to year.

Unseasonably warm weather and fewer ticket sales did wonders for Firkin Fest this year…read more To offset making 30% fewer tickets available this year, the organizers increased the ticket price to $50 for regular admission and $75 for VIP, which is a fairly steep increase from previous years, but well worth it to have some additional breathing room. For the most part, the all-firkin beer lineup did not disappoint (though it does feel like a few breweries were phoning it in this year). One of the best parts of the event are all the brewery reps that show up to serve, discuss and enjoy their creations (most of which you won't be able to find at your local liquor store since most beers are made unique for this event). Hooray beer.

dont get me wrong it was fun, but Im pretty sure with enough beer I could have fun locked in a…read morecloset. The VIP tickets are the only way to go, the rest of us stood in line for over an hour (even though we were in line before 1pm, they didnt let us in until after 2pm). It basically felt like a frat party with older people. They oversold the shit out of the event.

I have been to both the dabblers this year, winter and highland. This was larger in size, but a…read morelittle poorer planned in my opinion which is why it did not get 4 or 5 stars. The pros - huge area: they did a great job with the locatation. There was lots of room so even though there were a lot of people it didn't feel too congested. The beer tents were spread out nicely helping to keep the lines down. - quick entry lines - divided up international regions - Large beer selection from MN brewers, micro, domestic, and foreign. Similar to the dabblers, but a little more selection. Although I am not a big Sam's guy, kudos to them for bringing a new beer not available locally to the beerfests. In this case it was the Hallerteu IPA. - Good live music throughout. - Lots of parking options in the area Cons - What you think you need for bathrooms double it and add 50% more!!!!! It was terrible. The wait was easily 15 minutes plus. Our group left at 8:15 because we didn't want to have to wait in line again, even though we all would have like to stay for a bit longer. Hopefully they learn from this blunder like the dabbler did after the winter fest. - More food carts. For the number of people there was too few food selections. The Chef Shack is great (love the pork tacos and bacon brats) but the line was constantly long. Same with Buffalo Wild Wings. - I think it is absurd DD's have to pay, but at least you should have some beverage options for them. I felt so bad for our DD. No free pop options we were able to find, only saw 1 non alcoholic beer (may have been more). Respect the DD's a bit more. Overall it was a fun time on a nice fall night. Hopefully they have it again next year and make a few improvements.

The Minneapolis Beer Fest is a bit different than a few of the other beer festivals in the Cities,…read morewhich is pretty noticeable when you look at the list of participating breweries (i.e., many macros, a few regionals and the occasional local brewery). In other words, it's not a place that you're likely to find many diamonds in the rough, but it's still enjoyable when appreciated for what it is. For the event's first year they were actually pretty well organized, with the one exception being the long lines for restrooms (which is a common ailment at such events). The presence of a number of food trucks was a great idea; any time I can get a lobster roll from Smack Shack will always make for a good evening. They also had live music throughout the duration of the event with solid local bands. All-in-all a good event for the non-die hard beer drinker and those looking for a fun night out during the fleeting days of fall in the Twin Cities (though Four Loko should never be present during a beer tasting).

Whoever set this up has never been to the legit ones in Nuremberg or Berlin. Way too narrow for…read morepeople to shop on both sides while having room for others to pass by in the center; only a couple hot wine vendors with ginormous lines, didn't see any warm pretzels (and those are like every third stall in Germany), and the majority of the crafters sold overpriced junk. So: no heart, no space, no cheer, no festive atmosphere. Just angry hordes jostling to get through. And BTW, if you're going to have too-narrow thoroughfares you need to prohibit strollers and have an area for people to ditch them.

Came here for this years Christmas Market on a slightly warmer than lately Saturday…read more As usual it's a gorgeous setup. The small huts and lights are just so aesthetically pleasing, and fun to walk around and peruse. We haven't had something we disliked food wise. It's all very good. A little spendy, be prepared for State-Fair level prices, but hey it's an event and at least they don't charge you to get in! The mulled wine or Glühwein as it's called is great. if you pick up a mug you can get cheaper refills. I've had the red but didn't get around to getting a cup of the white but I'd still recommend it to people who like sweeter wines. The shops are all really cute and have alot of good products. Think art fair, you can buy art, clothes, knick-knacks, Christmas decorations and more, homemade and super bespoke. We might swing back but if not we'll definitely be there to check it out again next year!

How have I never reviewed the Ordway?! I come here often enough and for long enough…read more This is one of my favorite venues in the Twin Cities for theater. Seats are comfortable and have good leg room and not really a bad seat in the place. I also love the addition of the concert hall for smaller events. Staff are always helpful and friendly. The bars always do a fun drink that rotates for the show at the time. Do yourself a favor and pre-order a drink for intermission if you plan to have refreshments at that time. The one drawback here is parking. The ramps aren't super close (although, they're within an easy walk) and street parking in this area is always chaos, so give yourself plenty of time before your show to find space. If you haven't had the chance to enjoy and event here, get yourself to the Ordway!

We've been coming to the Ordway for years! It's definitely my preferred theater in the Cities!…read more Parking is a bit of a toss-up...here are my go-tos: hope for a miracle and get street parking, pay a little more and get a spot in a nearby garage, get a bite beforehand at the St. Paul Grill and use their Valet :) The space itself is very modern and clean! I actually like that it is updated and not a "historic" theater. You don't have steep staircases, old bathrooms, or impossibly tight leg room! Tickets are usually reasonably priced, and my favorite "cheat code" is to buy the "limited view" seats in the front corners, as they are significantly discounted, and often only have a minimal disruption in the view. Staff is always friendly and excited to welcome you to the show! They have snacks, coffee, and alcoholic drinks available for purchase, but often frown upon you bringing it into the theater with you, so plan ahead and get there before the show to enjoy!

One of the many things I love about the state fair is that you can either go and have the same…read moreexact experience or each time can be completely new. From the food to performances, you can stick with the staples or mix things up entirely. I'm forever in awe of the logistics of the fair. Starting with the park and rides. One of my drivers lives in Missouri and comes to Minnesota ever August for two weeks to work the fair. To the different buildings, like the creative arts competitions. To all the animals and the logistics of keeping both the FFA/4Hers and animals feed and happy is no small feat. Through the rain to blazing temperatures. I absolutely love the fair and all the grandstand, roast corn, and new food vendors have to offer.

My first time at the State Fair and it did not disappoint…read more Things we did that helped our group have a great time: Attend during the week if possible. The crowd is much smaller than the weekends. Very few long lines for food or rides. We parked across the street at a school and paid a small parking fee. It was a short walk to the entrance and at the end of the day, you want a short walk back to the car. We brought water, lots of water. It's hot and food and beverages can be expensive. Dress cool. Denim is not your friend with the heat and humidity. We wrote down new food options we wanted to try ahead of time as there are hundreds of food and beverage stands throughout the fair. We only found one of the new food options which was disappointing but we still ate all kinds of yummy treats. We rode the skyway to the other side of the fairgrounds snd worked our way back to the front. There are an abundance of alcoholic beverage buildings throughout the fair and they don't care if you walk around the fair with alcohol. All of the animal exhibits were wonderful. Beautiful animals. Especially the birthing building. How lucky were we to view a live birth! There are so many craft and food exhibitions. However, all of the buildings are hot. No air conditioning. It was difficult to spend too much time in any one building which was disappointing. If you are with a larger group such as us, we only bought a couple of food items and shared amongst the group so we could try more items. The rides and carnival games were meh. I could skip this entire section next year. Loved that there were plenty of security guards throughout the fair. I think this helped quite a bit with crowd control. Especially the evening. A variety of shopping available with deals including pontoons, clothes, docks, RV's etc. There were various music venues scattered through the fairgrounds. All the bands were heard were excellent. Especially in the international section. All the staff we interacted with were very nice. Overall we had a nice time. Would definitely attend in the future.

If you're wanting to taste and sample complex and/or obscure beers, you will be disappointed by…read morethis beer festival. That said, there are still many redeeming qualities that make this an enjoyable event: GOOD - Efficient entry process - Plenty of port-o-johns - Lots of eye candy - Live music - Mixed crowd (though generally a bit younger than you'd find at similar events) - Good location MEH - Pretty mediocre beer selection - Not many brewery reps on-site - Beer lines can get a bit long This is more of a social event than a beer tasting, but there's nothing wrong with that.

This was the second time I have been to this festival, I was also here in 2012. While the first…read moreexperience was great it was raining and storming this year which made it much less enjoyable. Pros -Beer -Fun people watching -Music and games (beer pong and bags) Cons - Selection is not great and seems even worse than it was when I went 2 years ago. There were multiple tables of stuff like mikes hard lemonade, come on, it's a beer festival! - Expensive: make sure to find a deal, they always sell tickets on sale, we did the city pages daily deal and got 4 tickets for $45 vs the $35 normal price her ticket - Food: in the past they had a few different food trucks, this time they made the parking lot smaller and only had 1 truck, one mobile pizza oven and one burger stand, it wasn't very exciting If you live close and get a good deal it's a fun way to spend a Saturday evening. If you are a beer aficionado and are looking to expand your knowledge, stay away, you won't be happy.

I attended my first Internet Cat Video Festival at CHS Field in St. Paul yesterday. Venue was good,…read morecrowd lively and funny. But the videos were just meh. You can see most of them on YouTube and I get that the real attraction is seeing them with a whole crowd of cat video enthusiasts, but perhaps the genre has jumped the shark? Perhaps almost all of the cats-doing-silly-things have already been filmed, there just weren't enough of those. And there were too many slickly produced MTV-style cat-themed shorts: weird people with cat heads; cat photos animated to music. Videos didn't start till 8:30 pm on a weeknight, making this less than ideal for children.