I saw so many posts on Facebook about the Dutchens Festival, all advertising it as "the annual…read moreDutchens Fest -- the biggest festival in Pflugerville!" I was so excited to attend, especially since it was my first time. It was promoted as a fun, community-based event -- but the reality was completely different once we arrived. As a family of eight, we were told there was an entrance fee of $10 per person for one day, $15 per person the next day, and around $20 on the last day. You're telling me I'd have to pay $80 just to walk in with my family to walk inside a public park with vendors? On top of that, there were tons of small businesses, vendors, and rides for the kids -- which is great -but you have to pay for that as well. Nowhere online did it clearly say there was an admission fee just to enter -- $10 the first day, $15 the next, and $20-$25 the final day. And keep in mind, this was held at a public park. They completely gated the entire area off, like literally fenced it off every inch with metal gates so no one could enter without paying -- it felt like a lockdown, not a festival. It's honestly frustrating that a city like Pflugerville, which is supposed to be so "community-oriented," would host an event that excludes people based on whether they can afford to pay just to walk into a public space. What if someone just wanted to support local small businesses or grab food from a food truck? If you have a family of 4, 5, 6, 7 -- you're dropping $50, $60, $70, $80 just to get in. The advertising was misleading, and the setup felt more about profit than community. I really hope future events are more transparent and actually represent the community spirit they claim to have. Also, where exactly do these funds go? Because ,I have no clue. They should be ashamed charging people to enter a public park -- especially when everyone inside is already spending money.

Pforgive me, pfriends, for I am about to plunge into a pfun-filled praise of the perennially…read morepopular Deutschen Pfest, hosted by the in the pflourishing town of Pflugerville, right in the heart of Pfluger Park. This German-themed extravaganza is packed to the brim with pflavors, pfun, and a whole lot of Pflugerville spirit! But before you spurt off to this pfestival with cash in hand, be aware that Deutschen Pfest no longer accepts cash for admission, so you best be prepared to buy your tickets online @ deutschenpfest.com. Or, for those of you with a penchant for traditional German garb, dust off your lederhosen and dirndls, because wearing these gets you in for free! No pfun pfest would be pfullfilling without prodigious draft beers. Pfriends, they got'em here. Oh, the glory of lifting a gigantic beer stein and taking a deep gulp of that golden, frothy goodness! Oh, and the bratwurst! These bratwursts are the real deal, grilled to perfection and bursting with meat juice. I guess you could say that the pflavor is pfabulous! This is the second year in a row to visit, and the layout of the pfestival this year was nearly a photocopy of last year's event. But hey, if it ain't broke, don't pfix it, right? All-in-all, Deutschen Pfest in Pfluger Park is an annual option for anyone looking to indulge in some German-themed pfun, beers, food, games, rides, vendors, and some pfantastic music. So prost to Deutschen Pfest!

What started as a simple festival for a small community has turned into an overpriced, overcrowded…read moreand more like an Austin outing. Every craft is more and more commercialized, than the local talent gets swallowed up or forgotten. If you come, come early (to find accessible parking) and best after you have already eaten and comfy shoes. More something I may return for once every two years. Not every year.zbudget leaves that out of reach and tooo crowded.

This was an awesome festival we had so much fun and the food was great. I just want to say to the…read morevendor with the green and fry wings I can't wait until next year. The Peterson brother was great and we love seeing them live. We enjoyed walking around meeting people and seeing friends and family. l loved that they had a section just for the kids with a stage too. It was so cute seeing the dance team this was great! I just hate that we miss the pumpkin painting. The weather was excellent and it was just nice to be outside walking around looking at cars at the car show. This was the best festival I have been to this year. You go Elgin! I can't wait until next year.

Been putting off writing my 800th Yelp review, because I wanted it to be for something "special."…read moreSearched through my 186 "drafts" (yuppers...mostly three liners and such) and decided why not chat about the Austin Beer and Bacon Fest...absolutely two of my very favorite things and it was a stellar event! So, here goes... In a land far far away and all the way back in January, Edible Austin decided to host their 4th annual boozy foodie heavenly get together. Never one to deny a bite of bac or a chug o' brew, I bought tix for the hubs and I as soon as the posting went up. Absolutely worth every cent of 50 bucks p/p! Greeted by really friendly folks at this years venue - Brazos Hall. Got wristband and walked to front table to pick up our sample glasses and forks for bites. Brazos Hall was the perfect venue with just the right amount of attendees. The event was sold out, and I was happy to see EA didn't over-sell as is often the case. Plenty of room to peruse around and not bump elbows and no long lines for the many beers and/or bacon inspired dishes offered throughout. Beer samples were 2oz pours (a silly TABC thing), but it was easy to get your fill by simply going from one table to the next and make rounds, stopping by food reps here and there in-between. Beers on-site inc, but were not limited to, TwistedX, Hops & Grain, Live Oak, Austin Eastciders.....major shout out to all the local ATX craft beers I love so much. There was also a large list of local food vendors offering up some pretty tasty and creative bites. Amy's Ice Cream (yes, beer flavored), fancy smanshy Pink Avocado catering (one of the best of the afternoon; Panna Cotta Pecan Bacon Crumble w/ Bourbon Cherries ), VOX Table (yummy sweet "Elvis" concoction), and my personal fav of the day was Baton Creole's Chicken Fried Bacon and Pecan Waffle (omgoodness - so so good!)...plus more. Overall: What a great way to spend a Saturday! At first I thought 3 hours was cutting it kind of short; however, it ended up being the perfect amount of time to indulge in everything offered (esp. since seating was not available). 5 hard stars! Highly recommend. I know where I'll be after the fastly approaching New Year. ;) Cheers!

So, first things first, it's a *beer* and *bacon* festival. It's hard to get better than that, but…read morethe food was amazing and while the beer didn't quite live up to the food, it was a pretty good cross section of the Austin beer scene. I think the best thing I had was a bacon and beer sausage on a pretzel crisp accompanied by a beer infused goat cheese from Frank. I will definitely be going there to figure out what else they do. Hoover Cooking had a phenomenal roasted pork belly over grits with what I think was a honey sauce. There were 3 different bacon-wrapped figs and I liked Swift's Attic for the most interesting which was super peppery and Bacon (the restaurant) for the best traditional one even if it was saltier than I would have liked. My one regret is that I didn't take more and better notes to know where to go after the event. I'm going to have to poke around at the listed restaurants' menus to see what jogs my memory. For reference, these were the participating restaurants: Abel's North Grill and Tap House Amy's Ice Cream Bacon Barlata Celtic Seafare Cipollina Frank Greenhouse Craft Food Hillside Farmacy/Eden East Hoover's Kerbey Lane Lamberts Lenoir Liberty Tavern Little Barrel and Brown Micklethwait BBQ Noble Pig NO VA Kitchen & Bar OMG Cheesecakery Otto's German Bistro Pink Avocado Salt & Time Searsucker Snack Bar Swift's Attic The Bonneville The Seedling Truck The Turtle Restaurant TRACE St. Phillip Zed's And these were the participating breweries: Circle Brewing Co. Independence Brewing Co. Infamous Brewing Co. Pedernales Brewing Company Real Ale Brewing Company Rogness Brewing Company Shiner Brewery St. Arnold Brewery South Austin Brewing Co.

What a blast! This is what comes to mind when I think of small town festivities. The entire…read moredowntown area shuts down and up go tents with a number of local artisans and other craft producers, selling everything to engraved stones to local honey! The obligatory face painting and caricatures are represented and the streets are buzzing with people of all ages. Beer, wine, and water stands are placed strategically and the local American Legion has opened their doors to the public. There is no shortage of food here. There is a "Food Court" street with a number of food stands selling anything from smoked turkey legs (droooool) to roasted corn and even Jamaican food. This festival also doubles as a BBQ competition. If you walk along the Eastern boundaries, you will see lines of classic cars and a number of smoke pits of the BBQ competitors. The best part...they are all offering samples on a donation basis (the BBQ competitors...not the classic cars). The term 'sample' is misleading, as they are handing out full meals for the most part. Let me tell ya...there was some great meat coming form these pits. Three stages with a constant parade of bands ranging from Southern Rock to Bluegrass. So, make sure to wear your dancing pants! The crowd is friendly, the BBQ is smoky, and the beer is cold. This is definitely worth the return trip next year! Oh! I almost forgot. For the kiddos (and so inclined adults) there are carnival rides and games!

I have to say I was really disappointed in this festival after traveling from NY just to see it. I…read morewas excited to see and be a part of it but it wasn't what I expected. The wrestling was the best past of it. I would def recommend for that as it is pretty entertaining. The downfall is that you paid $30 for your ticket and they give you 10 tickets for 10 "free" tequila shots but each shot is literally 1/2 an inch. The lines to get these shots are crazy long and there's no space to get through. The terrifying part of this "TACO" festival is that there were only 4 taco trucks. One truck only sold fish tacos, the second truck overpriced tacos of 2 tacos for $10, the third truck had no name, placards or signs so no one knew what they were selling but it looked like they had food. The fourth and more popular truck sold only steak tacos and fries. You got 4 3" tacos for $8 and it hardly had any meat on them. The steak fries I do recommend tho. The Mariachi was horrible and they didn't rehearse at all. The people sitting next to them couldn't hear them because they were competing against the loud speakers inside Fair Market and the generators of the food trucks. As for beer selection there was a stand of beers there with Dos XX and a couple more. I was expecting a large selection of beers but that wasn't the case. I think this festival could be better and hopefully they improve it next year.

From the website, maps of various parking areas, food vendors, 50+ performances and timing, it was…read moreall top notch and really well organized. Ended up spending $70 on food though but had to try it all (also I know which restaurant has the best mango lassi)

I love going to rodeo, and the actual rodeo is nice and had good shows. But I have babies and…read moredecided to skip this year and only do the fairground and carnival... Let me start with the $20 parking fee, that hurts. Then it's a really long walk to the carnival entrance, another $10 for access to the fairground, and then another however much for rides. During spring break it was $25 for kids during the day (half off) and the make you pay extra for the paper wristband so $27. So you're already $67 in and haven't even done anything yet. The carnival looks old, all the kids ride are just old old old. And most of them your toddler can't ride unless you're with him, so buy another wristband for yourself! And the people working it look like they wish they could be anywhere but there. The food was normal carnival food but extra gross. And expensive. Overall we had a good time because our kids don't know any different, and we love to dress up and go to rodeo. The petting zoo was a cute attraction for the kids, and we love walking the exposition hall. Is it the best rodeo? No. Could it use a good upgrade for the price? Yes. Will I go again next year because that's all we got? Yes.

Got to live out my Yellowstone dreams here!…read more The rodeo itself is spectacular :) It was $45 a pop for standing room. The amount of events was astounding, though, you do feel a little bad for the little cattle getting wrestled or roped to the ground. Alas, life of a cowboy! The carnival & fair are nice - just your old basic fair with big stuffed animals, hard-to-win games, rides with questionable safety factors, and artery clogging foods. Was it a good experience? Yes. Would I go again? This was probably a one time thing for me.

The Brushy Creek Farmers Market is a new fledgling market in Round Rock that could use some…read moresupport. I rate this place a 3 because there is some work to be done to get this market ramped up and really stocked with goodies. I visited during the weekly Saturday 9 am to 1 pm hours to find a small handful of vendors. There were several arts and crafts stands, a masseuse, and a couple of jelly/preserves sellers. There were a few produce vendors, but selection was pretty limited. I did get some nice locally grown squash. I'm not sure how much the limited selection had to do with the horrific summer we've had or if it was the newness of the market. My favorite vendor was Richardson Farms. They were offering free range eggs, chicken, pork products (including fresh uncured bacon), and grass fed beef. The eggs and pork we bought were reasonably priced and freaking delicious. This isn't yet a major farmer's market, so some visitors might be a bit disappointed with the selection. It is my hope that this one will pick up momentum and draw more shoppers and vendors.

My own private farmers market....that's what this felt like. It's super small still and not too…read morecrowded and I had the opportunity to sample everything and to visit with all the cool vendors and their pooches. There was only about 9 vendors there but there was enough stuff to make a few meals all around. Fresh baked breads and organic pastas, fresh veggies such as squash, maters, taters, and onions, jellies, salsas, farm raised meats, and even cupcakes for dessert! Not to mention some jewelry, honey and pralines. Living out in the hinterlands of Cedar Park, I was super stoked to find out about this (thanks Chris S!). I haven't found any CSA's to deliver to my house, but I can now order from some of these folks online and then pick up on Saturdays here. And it beats the hell outta getting up early Saturdays and driving all the way to San Antonio (aka Sunset Valley). Richardson Farms provides grass fed beef and pork and chicken, and another stall had what's called "design your dine" with pre-frozen fresh organic dinners that you just thaw out and cook and they say each one is only about 500 calories. Came home with some zukes, some pasta, a coupla pork chops and some fanfreakintasticly fresh pico de gallo from Kala's Kuisine, which apparently has won 2 years in a row now at the Hot Sauce Festival (and I can see why). I would encourage all my fellow Northerners to check this out.....but I still wanna keep it my own private farmers market. Enigma.