This was an interesting experience. First time hearing about this event. It was quite busy on the…read morefirst day and loud. We went right at opening and was able to get parking on the lawn, which was managed by police and volunteers. Outside has tents for frappes and some desserts. The main hall has seating and vendors all around. Walking through the hallway leads to the main kitchen area where there are two lines - one for actual food and the one in the back just for desserts. Both can take a while. If you're there with two people, I would split up here. Finding seating is the next problem as it rained during this time. But it cleared up and most people took it to go. The live music was loud, but you wanted that because of how many people were there and talking. They do serve alcohol on premises and they had a "Bar" corner. Fun experience for the area and while you're driving around, you see some nice houses.

The weekend before the St. Katherine's Greek festival in Falls Church was the St. George in…read moreBethesda, which is a bit of a drive but worth going to Maryland as it's always well organized and a lot to do/see/eat. They have multiple outdoor areas with tents for food options like the coffee (frappe) and it can be customized according to your liking. There's Loumoumades which were well cooked, fried so it's crispy enough and also enough honey/syrup. There's other food too when you go inside and we managed to catch the dance performance at the stage. This church hall also has a flea market and multiple vendors. And there's a large area/section towards the back where there are pastries and other goodies to buy like Greek pasta, candy, coffee bags, etc. Even though the lines can seem long, they actually do move pretty quick. There was also pistachio ice cream this year with the Greek sour cherry spread on top reminiscent of what I'd enjoy when I travel to Greece. The parking lot does tend to fill up pretty quick so folks can do street parking, and they have volunteered directing crowds as well.

Amazing free all day jazz festival on the plaza. Last year I think it was the day before Father's…read moreDay. Also a great way to get people from all over the region and even some visitors like my dad to support the many amazing businesses in Downtown Silver Spring.

The Silver Spring Jazz Festival is an enjoyable event. There was a variety of jazz styles and…read moreartists, which I appreciated. It didn't really get busy until after 5. There are some benches but it's best to bring your own chairs. The beer garden was disappointing because it was only beer--no wine, mead, or cider. And there were only two breweries with limited offerings. It was a cute setup but the furniture looked flea-ridden. We sat on the least chairs with the least amount of fabric. Food and shopping vendors were limited and disappointing as well. One Thai food vendor that has awful food and then some stands that looked like they belonged at Fiesta Shows. Better to support local downtown restaurants. So when you come to this event, you are really coming for the music. Which is fine because the music was really good. I've been to a few DTSS events and this was the best one by far. Every other event has been dismal and I want better for Silver Spring. But the Jazz Festival is worth it.

Annual Hungarian Bazaar kept the quality with the food quality, food choices, cultural program and…read moreabove all amazing work of all volunteers. The volunteers are highly motivated, having a hawk's eye for any possible assistance. I was given a napkin (that I forgot) and had plates taken (as soon as I finished) and when I tried, in the second round, to trash more plates, I was "denied" by a volunteer who assisted me and did it himself for me. Food came to me with a speed of fast food restaurants - if not faster. My pasta with pork and been soup were delicious as expected. Definitely smooth and fatty in a good way. It is sad that I have to wait a year to repeat my good experience. Dobos torte was just like it should be (elaborate and fancy) (all tortes are cakes but not all cakes are tortes). The crowd was actually diverse, married-in or just visiting (like me). Once again, extending my wishes for a successful fundraiser and congratulations for a job done well!

I attended the 2018 DC Chocolate festival thanks to Yelp. It was a good event but the lines were…read moredefinitely long and the samples were small as the previous poster has mentioned. However, it was nice to have an opportunity to taste the chocolates from all over the world, especially since most of them are single origin, fair trade and well sourced. I'm no chocolate connoisseur but I do know that chocolate varies according to geographical origin and that sustainable practices are key. I ended up buying some chocolates from Minkya and they were so delicious! I recommend their 43% dark chocolate. The Yelp elite check in was quick and painless thanks to the lovely lady at the desk. I think the $30 entry free otherwise is a little steep for the small sample sizes but it makes for a good experience.

I enjoyed myself at the DC Chocolate Festival. I mean, how could I not? Chocolate everywhere! Who…read moredoesn't like chocolate? My boyfriend and I were lucky enough to win tickets because he unwittingly won a promo contest on Instagram. $30 for tickets is a bit high but I guess with all the samples you get, it pays for itself. They're were so many vendors with different chocolates. Many dark and milk varieties. I tried a turmeric cream chocolate and I was very impressed with how good it was. There was a chocolate fountain with marshmallows. They also had a vendor that made caramel sauce with Old Bay. It was soooooo good. Dont knock it until you try it. They had tea vendors that used chocolate in their teas and even a vendor that made lotions from cacao. They also had photo booth. I left with a sugar high and it was so worth it. I definitely enjoyed myself.

This is an amazing park with a museum, theater, dance hall, and great art galleries. Used to be an…read moreamusement park but now a great historical site. They also have the Clara Barton House that my wife and I toured. You can drive here or take Ride On Route 29 from Bethesda or Friendship Heights.

Tried the waltzing class at the Glen Echo Park complex and loved it. Tony Treston (affiliated with…read moreWaltz Time) was my instructor; he demonstrates the basics of waltzing in an easygoing manner. My first lesson was no pressure and I felt like I made a lot of progress. BTW, this is not Viennesse waltzing, which is a formalized style of waltzing. The kind of waltzing taught here is more of a "garden variety", and done by cultures all over the world. It's a 3-step candance (slow, quick quick), and anyone can do it, seriously. It might be the best $13 that I ever spent. That's the cost of admission, which includes a 45 minute lesson, followed by nearly 3 hours of dance time with a live band. The Spanish Ballroom, where the social dances are held, is a premier venue. The building itself is Art Deco architecture and considered to be one of the best ballrooms of its kind on the East Coast. The interior is decorated tastefully and lighted well. The expansive floor is made of a lovely maple wood. The live music is such a treat as the acoustics here are top notch. The social dances are a lot of fun, and waltzing isn't the only style offered--there's contra dancing; tango dancing; swing dancing; blues dancing, etc. The social dance calendar is quite extensive. Check out Glen Echo Park and Waltz Time websites to see all the possibilities. Am already planning when I'll attend again.

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.

Love it! This is the only way I find out about a lot of restaurants in my area which are gluten…read morefree. Pete's New Haven, The Melting Pot, ShopHouse, etc. They also have raffles throughout the event. Companies bring food samples to try, and you just get a lot of exposure to a lot of options I did not know exist. It also helps to sample something then I can go to the grocery store and ask them to carry an item i love. There are usually coupons which help because gluten free food is EXPENSIVE. The ticket price is covered by the amount of information, samples, food, and coupons you receive. Absolutely worth the cost of admission. Plus it is usually on a Sunday so street and lot parking is free. I have gone 2 years in a row and will be back this year! I agree with making sure to bring cash to the event, there are plenty of items for sale there as well.

The Gluten-Free Expo is an annual event held at the Double Tree hotel in Bethesda. This was my…read morefirst year attending. My friend has been to several Gluten-Free Expos and said this was by far the best. It's crazy that tickets were only $10! Make sure to bring cash for any purchases. Vendors were not keen on the credit cards. There were 70 vendors and almost all of them provided samples - full sized samples!! At various wine festivals in the area the samples are so small and few and far in between, but here the vendors were extremely generous. Vendors were giving out full sized granola bars and snack bars, mini bags of cookies and crackers, and hot samples such as pizza and lasagna. Obviously since it's a gluten-free event, most samples were geared around cookies, flour, crackers, cupcakes etc. Some vendors even allowed us to take one of every flavor of whatever they were handing out. We were already stuffed after a few tables. My friend and I both agreed that the best items were from Joan's and 1-2-3 Gluten Free. We both purchased full sizes of the Joan's Corn Toaster Muffins which were really good (you can get them at some MOM's and they will soon be in Whole Foods -- actually I tried to purchase them today but ended up having to special order them through MOMs). We bought several boxes of the 1-2-3 Gluten Free mixes - Sugar n' Spice Pan Bars, Brownies, and Muffins (these are only sold online and are free of gluten, wheat, dairy, casein, peanuts, corn, egg, and soy) - and they are friggin' delicious! And the vendor gave us some nice re-usable bags to take home. I also really enjoyed the Cabot cheese flavor in "Everything Bagel" - I have never seen this anywhere in grocery stores but I am certainly going to request it. My favorite take home sample ended up being the Lucy's Ginger Snaps that are made with chewy pieces of ginger, lemon, and chipotle sauce (available at MOMs). Next time I will have to take home more samples. I was stuffed early on and ended up bypassing many items out of pure sugar overload. Some other tidbits: - Parking was very easy since it was a Sunday - the nearby lots are free to park all day Sunday. - The event was well organized and they staggered the entry - 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, and 2:00 pm. More expos should follow suit. You will definitely want to enter at 12:00 pm. I heard in past years the vendors ran out of samples for the later crowds. - The event staff had the technology to allow entry without a paper ticket - you can use your ID. - The crowd was minimal at 12:00 pm. My friend and I entered the ballroom as the first two people (this was not planned) so we had the run of the place for a bit, which was nice. - Bring cash. The website did not mention this but vendors were not prepared for credit card purchases. - Vendors were great about offering reading material about their businesses and coupons for future purchases. - You will receive a sturdy bag to carry all of your goodies in.

The Saint Sophia Greek Festival is a pleasant little community experience. This event takes place…read moreacross 3 days and I recently attended during the day with the kids. It's pretty tiny but somehow we ended up spending about 4 hours here, mostly because of my kids. There is a small indoor portion in the church, where there are various vendors mostly selling women's jewelry. That is about 80% of the vendors at least when I visited in 2025. There was a stand selling great olive oil and olives (both of which I purchase) and a stand selling the delicious Greek desserts I basically ate every day while I lived in Astoria, Queens (one of the largest Greek communities in the US). The ladies at the bakery were so friendly, even offering my son a cookie for free (and of course he takes the entire box!). Outside, there is another bakery (with about 4 times the size of the line), and other food stalls. We got a lamb gyro with tzatziki and it was out of this world. There is a tent with music, where some people were dancing and an occasional singer or band would rotate in and out. Also in the tent was a drink vendor where my partner and I enjoyed a glass of white wine on a very hot day. The kids were drawn to the bouncy houses, which included some traditional ones and a blow up slide. It cost $10 per child for use all day. They certainly got their money's worth! There was a sign for face painting and pony rides but I did not see either and the ladies working the desk didn't know when or if they'd actually show up. Overall, a very relaxing spot. Don't expect a huge festival but a relaxed afternoon out or evening. There is also a lovely flower vendor that is a nice place to wander or buy flowers for the spring.

İ like Greek food and culture! Very close with Türkiye. One…read moreof my favorite place is Athens and the irelands... Every year we visit... Today We've been Greek Festival at St. Sophia Greek Festival. İt was good. İ was expected a bir more things but still İ enjoyed. Döner, Börek, Lokma, kurabiye... We bought all! Also some jewelry, art stuff and olives, olive oils tables was looks fun. There is also show from kids