This was my first time at the festival and I had such a great time. I love Jazz and right in the…read moreheart of Silver Spring downtown, this event adds to the excitement of the line up Veteran's Plaza brings up every year. I personally know the event manager, Eric, at the Plaza and he is a wonderful guy. The bands were awesome. The atmosphere was so casual with the crowd getting their own chairs, bringing food and drinks from the many near by restaurants in the area and just chilling - very fitting for the event. There were two stages. The bands alternated between the stages every 30-45 mins. So people kept switching the direction they faced. Cool. If you are in MoCo or visiting around this time, make it a point to spend a few hours at this event next year. If you appreciate jazz, you won't be disappointed. And what's better, the event is free!

I've attended many concerts at the Annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival; but there are certain…read moreattendees that immediately come to mind: David Sandborn (saxophonist), Dianne Reeves(vocalist) and most recently Dee Dee Bridgewater with her all female quartet! There have been many artists that has participated but these stood out! Always recommend this event.

What a great farmers market! Located behind the main commercial area in a parking lot, it feels…read moremore spacious than many of the other farmers markets in the area. This one also comes with many farmers with fresh produce from all kinds of tomatoes to broccoli to potatoes. There's a vendor that sells pickled mushrooms, baked goods, oysters, and so much more!

Great farmers market offering a wide variety of "farm to table" produce and goods!…read more The Takoma Park Farmers Market is ....definitely one of my favorite farmers markets in and around the DMV area. To be so small, it is packed with lots of good finds. Plenty of samples to goo around too...well sorta...COVID has kinda shut that down these days. At this market, you will find a full variety of conventional and certified organic fruits and vegetables, pasture-raised meat, poultry and eggs, artisan sweet and savory baked goods, fresh milk, butter, yogurt, goat/cow cheeses, fermented foods and pickles, jams, jellies and sauces, flowers, plants, handmade soaps, and more! You name it, this market has it all. One additional note to know...."It's a year-round" market! Unlike most farmer's markets in the area, where you are limited to summer-only and seasonal openings. The market is open only on Saturday mornings between the hours of 9am-1pm. Parking is available on the streets for free and parking meters are free as well on weekend. And, if it helps...all vendors accepts SNAP/Food Stamps and WIC. In all, lot's of great finds and a great way to connect with local farmers in/around the DC metropolitan area. It is definitely worth a visit. It's the perfect place to spend part of your Saturday morning on a nice day...and on the cheap.

I have not seen anybody looking at the phone screen @ this festival which is a testament of things…read morebeing interesting and moving quickly. Entertainment was great: starting with the basic African drumming, continued with the dance and followed by steel drums music with a lot of good fillers between (African Zumba and South African country dance). The vendors offered very unique items to buy - from minerals to clothing and sandals and jewelry. Sales people were very kind and willing to explain the meaning of everything they were selling. It was a teaching moment for kids to see the works of art featuring Mandela. The venue was perfect, 7 story garage right at the venue, big parking lot nearby and street closed. The menu was interesting - a true African cuisine. My choice - it turned out very good - was a food vendor from Ivory Coast. Croaker fish was delicious and it offered a different experience just by virtue of having to pull the meat from the bone instead of eating it in a fish stick. The fish was wonderful, not fatty but flaky. The couscous was not North African but West African style and slightly sour. Plantains were divine (soft and sweet) and doughnuts different (consistency more like bread - a bit harder). Rice and greens met my expectation. I did not notice any North African country represented in the entertainment or in vending shop. Most northern products were from Ethiopia selling under premise of African art. This is a very convenient, very fast pace and fun festival with good food.

Great things can come in small festivals! The 2nd annual DC Africa Festival was a small affair as…read morefestivals go but had all the makings of a great day: musical and dance performances, jewelry and other fun crafts for sale, and multiple food stands and trucks, including the Fojol Brothers of Benethiopia (guess where I ate!). PLUS, someone had the foresight to set this shindig up in the shade. Brilliant move. The DC Africa Festival, surprisingly, is still a pretty understated affair with a smallish crowd, but I expect it to keep growing. Even with only a handful of performers, a couple mediocre but enthusiastically delivered speeches, and a "Vendor Village" that's more like a vendor neighborhood, a whole afternoon can be wiled away quite pleasantly, and isn't that all you can really ask for in a festival? I probably won't organize my whole schedule around this event next year, but I do hope that it falls on a free and sunshiney day.

In Downtown Silver Spring, the Cultural Arts Center is part of a Montgomery College satellite…read morecampus. It is modern, clean, wheelchair and easy to access, with ample parking - including open lots and a garage, and numerous handicapped spots. The facility has gender specific rest rooms and also a gender neutral family rest room. Before the event that we came for, the snack bar was open - with surprisingly well-priced sodas, beer and wine, and snack items. We came for the David Russell classical guitar concert - part of the John E. Marlow Guitar Series - on a Saturday evening. Wow! He is absolutely amazing - and offered a flawless and entertaining and mesmerizing and calming 2+ hours of music! Before the concert, we were treated to a discussion about the music in a one of the many rooms available for lectures and gatherings. We also were treated to bonus content during the concert - including a performance by the youth winner of a classical guitar concert and a proclamation presentation from the Montgomery County Council - recognizing 25 years of this type of programming initiated by and in honor of the Marlow family. The auditorium space was large and comfortable, with no poor seating anywhere - including the wheelchair section (great view, about a third of the way back in the theatre style seating). What a great space and place for appreciating and learning and celebrating culture and art - and life.

Went here to go see Bhi Bhiman. This is my first at the venue and will not be my last. The staging…read morefor the show was pretty cool as well as we were on the stage. It is also close to Cristfields so it's a win-win.

It pains me to give two stars to any festival as the festivals are supposed to be celebratory and…read morehappy, great culinary experiences and sharing cultures and knowledge. The problem with the Nigerian Festival is that the Nigerians did not show up. Being late one hour does not mean anything when you are late for nothing. Music was going on, few vendors showed up. Three food vendors (Senegal, Congo and Nigeria) with limited food choices. I tried two dishes. One had a fake jollof rice as jollof rice should be red. One tasted like a subdued Indian spicy meal and the one with real (reddish) jollof rice was not amazing. The doughnuts were OK. Whoever organizes this carnival needs to care a bit more about it and get the crowd moving and get them excited about something. I cannot wait to tell my Nigerian friend at work how disappointed I was with the entire thing.

Shame on me for not consulting with Yelp before going to today's (5/8/22) Jamaica in Silver Spring…read moreEvent. I was looking for something interesting to take my mom and the some of my siblings to and this event looked interesting. I came across the following advertisement on EVENTBRITE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taste-of-jamaica-tickets-257838169907 And after reading it, I thought, "whoa, what a bargain and even better that proceeds were going to charity." So I purchased four so-called "early bird tickets" for $15, with a $2 service charge for each ticket. Now, I like to consider myself a semi-intelligent person and an even savvier shopper who usually reads the fine print. The main reason I purchased the Early Bird Eventbrite tickets was this section: "EARLY BIRD MENU PRICE OF $15 will be offered again for JERK CHICKEN, JERK PORK, JERK RIBS, CURRY CHICKEN AND BROWN STEW CHICKEN. VALID ONLY AT THE TASTE OF JAMAICA BOOTHE. REGULAR PRICE WILL BE $20----$25." So most "reasonable" folks buying this would assume that the $15 price would pay for any of the items listed in the description of the ticket..right? So imagine my surprise when we arrived around 1:30pm, showed our etickets and were flatly told that the $15 early bird ticket only allowed us ONE of the chicken items - which BTW were already priced at $15!!! So what did I pay the extra $2 service charge for, if the it would've been cheaper for me to just pay at the tent? And when I tried to show the "manager the text of the ticket which said my early bird ticket, he insisted that it did not cover either the Jerk Pork or Jerk Ribs" since those were extra. He kept reiterating he wasn't "responsible" for what "gets put on the website," however I see the review for 2018 has an eerily similar experience. What's worse, the group before my family stepped up to order, also got the early bird tickets, and they were able to split their entree orders (such as getting 1/2 curry chicken and 1/2 jerk chicken), while we were curtly told, "that wasn't allowed." Saay what? I don't want to speculate as to why my family received different treatment from the group before us...you'd have to ask the "manager" guy. As for the food - meh. The curry chicken was super oily and the only real flavor was salt and hardly any curry spice was detectable. And the jerk chicken was super dry and mostly bones (again, similar experience to the last reviewer 4 years ago) and had a very bland flavor profile. As one final "shady" item, when we got our food and were leaving, I asked some of the staff about the charitable contribution that the Eventbrite ticket listed: "THANKS FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT. WE ARE COLLECTING SCHOOL MATERIALS FOR OUR CHARITY ( JAMAICA EDUCATION FOR THE POOR FOUNDATION, 501(C) NON-PROFIT) The lady who portioned out our food had a bewildered look on her face and then once again referred me to the "manager" guy who said, "oh yeah, we are using 'some' of the proceeds today are going towards a charity." Not really a resounding vote of confidence there. BTW, there was also ZERO signage anywhere in his tent about proceeds benefiting any charity. In the future, if this business comes up again with Eventbrite, I say avoid, avoid, avoid.

Taste of Jamaica does not gather tens of thousands of people so the wait in the line for the food…read moreis only between 2 and 10 minutes. It has free nearby parking, no entrance fee, jamming reggae, a lot of food vendors. Hats were only $5. People are walking around, sipping coconut water from fresh cut coconut. Everybody is smiling or dancing. Vendors product are priced reasonable. I got a got a goat curry with the vegetable and it was great. Meat was just about to fall off the bones and goat meat had the texture of lamb meat. It was just mildly spicy and it was plenty. I tried fish with jerk seasonings and it was good too. Here is a small video that brings the atmosphere. https://vimeo.com/221112689 I would love to go again next year and try ox tails and dance more.