$18 general admin ticket + $2 fees for early bird admission to attend Houston's iconic art festival…read moreon a beautiful Saturday afternoon is a definite win. The festival hosts 300+ art vendors showcasing various forms of art from across the country. You're bound to discover something you love and it's fun seeing which vendors have returned from the previous year. It's a great time for pretty much anyone: family, friends, couples, solo, young, old. All are welcome and can feel comfortable. Not only is there art on display for sale but to enjoy and participate in as well. Musical art in the form of live bands, culinary art in the form of interactive tasting experiences from top chefs and even fun art activities for both adults and kiddos. I was able to catch Anonymous Cafe owner Patricia Pantazopoulos's Chef Table exhibit and had the priviledge of tasting a generous spanakopita and Katina's EKMECK Kataifi sample. The spanakopita was hands down the best I've ever had and the delectable Kataifi was to die for. I will be making my way to the cafe very soon for more. It was fun checking out the emerging artist's work. The functional art by Mary Beth McGinnis was awesome. Digital photography by Andrew Valdez Mosedale and Clifton Henri. The clay art, mixed media and textiles. Etc. There was so much to see and enjoy. It would take me forever to list it all. I also love seeing the Pink Bow Foundation every year. RIP Madison Dubiski. They offer a much appreciated respite from the often brutal Houston heat. Great location, art and entertainment for all.

First off ticketing is a mess, plus too expensive. Parking at the garage for 1.5 hrs was 22.00,…read moreeach entry ticket was 22.00. If you're really into weird scary skeleton art, you're in luck. Otherwise it's a waste of time and money. Everything is expensive, too expensive for what it is. Used to have beautiful artwork ( I know it's subjective but come on..) Just not the same anymore...one artist that I really loved has indicated to me that it's just not artist friendly anymore and that's why she no longer gets a booth. We were really disappointed. The only highlight was a drum group that was playing.

Take a festival. Add beer. Add music. It's going to be a good time. The reason I can't give Houston…read moreBeer Festival more than two stars is because they made some significant changes compared to last year which has had a huge impact on the customer experience. This year had only one band that I was interested in seeing, last year there were 7-8. I'm sure some of this is personal preference but definitely seems like the quality of the artists went down. When the highlight of the day is listening to awful hip hop from former reality star Riff Raff...you know you have a problem. The highlight of beer fest is the opportunity to try a new beers from the great selection of breweries. But this is where you get screwed. Last year, you could get unlimited samples for free (which basically meant you could get drunk by going from brewery to brewery). You then were also given two drink tickets for full beers and could buy additional beer tickets. You really got some good bang for your buck here. This year, you are given 12 sample tickets with the price of admission and each sample is one ticket. No more free samples. To make matters worse, sampling got cut off at 4 P.M. and from then until 10 P.M., you could only buy a full beer for 5 tickets. This means you're paying $7 for less than a full beer since your serving cup is not full size. Basically, this means going from getting a great deal last year to a shitty deal this year. I understand last year's set-up may not have made enough of a profit for the festival and vendors. But completely screwing us over this year is not fair. There has to be a happy medium to be found here.

Junk. Total, disorganized junk. Arrived at 3pm to find a line that snaked around 3 city blocks…read more I was finally inside about 2 hours later. No one knew what they were doing, and it showed clear as day. I think only two vendors had bottled water--always a good idea when drinking a lot in the summer heat--and one of them was out by 5 pm. The website advertised a $25 entrance fee that magically became $30 after visitors had the pleasure of spending an hour or two in 90+ degree weather waiting for entry. I'm glad I bought advance tickets, not that it made getting in any faster. And whoever decided on a mid-June festival date should be kept far, far away from any decision-making responsibilities next year. This entire fiasco was poorly conceived and even more poorly executed. About the only positive things I can say are: (1) the local breweries showed off some impressive beer; and (2) Houstonians deserve a lot of credit for not rioting over the entrance situation. You'd be better served going to the Flying Saucer or Ginger Man. I won't be in for next year, even though I liked the variety of beer. And c'mon...why were local brews and widely-available things like Sierra Nevada going with bottle pours? The whole thing was unreasonably amateurish.

I know it is only August, but I figure I needed to review one of my favorite Halloween time events!…read moreIt's an event that should be marked on your calendars the day the event is over to attend the next year. It is the best "Zombie" associated event. The price is very low to be a part of a Zombie March through downtown. After the march there is always some kind of amazing band. 2 years ago they had spazmatics! 95% of the people dress up, and they go all out. Bring your cameras! I will dressing up and marching this year.

This was my first time coming to the Greek Festival. I was excited to try it when I saw all the…read morebanners attached to the gates promoting it as I drove along Montrose the past few weeks. I paid $10 at the entrance and got a wristband. Not everyone was given one. My friend came a few minutes after me and didn't have one. You can pay there in cash or card or do a $20 dinner plate, pastry box and ticket combo online. It was very crowded, but the lines for food like the dinner plate, souvlaki, and pastries moved quickly. The same for beverages like the Greek coffee, wine, water, tea and lemonade. Honestly, the food was just ok, and it was overpriced. For $15, you get one large skewer with meat and onions. It's $2 for one pita bread that was dry and had no flavor. It was another $2 for a small container of tzatziki sauce. I thought the beef wasn't marinated as well as other Mediterranean chains like Niko Nikos or restaurants. It was mostly tender but lacked flavor. The tiropita and spanakopita were $3 each. I thought the tiropita (puff cheese pastry) tasted bitter. I ate half of it. My favorite was the spanakopita. For desserts, it was also $3 each, and I got the baklava and kourambiedes. Both were good but not worth $3 for one tiny piece. The kourambiedes is similar to the snowball cookies or Italian wedding cookies. That was my favorite pastry. My friend had the $20 plate that included the pastitsio, a tiny keftedes (Greek meatball) cut in half, one dolmades that was more meat forward than rice, and kind of soggy tiropita and spanakopita because it was enclosed in a styrofoam container while hot. Bummer. There's a lot of tall standing tables, tables and chairs along the closed streets, and some covered table and chair areas. Some people chose to sit in the grass or steps, wherever they could find a space. We found a space at the end of one of the tables. People seemed happy and were with friends or family. We missed the shows but saw people dressed in traditional attire. The gift shop was fairly big with religious Greek Orthodox imagery, handmade rugs, handmade pottery, jewelry, olive oil, and other Greek herbs, figs and knickknacks from Agora. There were a ton of olive trees for $35, and I saw many people walking around with one. I wanted one and was on the fence, but my friend convinced me, so I took the time to look for a nice one. I like how they gave paper instructions on olive tree care. Now I'm in search for a rustic pot. I'm glad I finally got to check out the festival but wish the food was better and not overpriced. I would come back with friends but probably eat before and just order a few things like the spanakopita and kourambiedes and see a show.

They had all the classics but ran out of tzatziki sauce. The pita bread was terrible. Not sure…read morewhere they sourced that from but don't waste your money. Having all the shopping in one room was way too crowded and not enjoyable. I did not buy anything because you cannot really look at the items with time and receive help from the vendor if you have any questions. I won't be attending this function again.

I went to the one in Discovery Green. the parking is $30 and the festival is boring. I wasted my…read moremoney on parking for less than 10 min and came back out. do not go.

I advise you to ban the shaved ice vendor because paying 5 bucks for a scoop of half-melted garbage…read morevanilla ice cream on top of a full cup of ice and some measly fruits is thievery. Didn't evne put any condensed milk or any sweetener for that matter (don't you dare tell me the ice cream was the "sweetener".) I didn't experience any of the chaotic lines that these people mentioned but I could totally see it happening. There was really nothing you could actually do at the festival other than walk around and eat at the vendors or just watch the performances. We were there when the performances weren't that exciting so I guess shame on us for being there at the wrong time (I believe evening had the more exciting ones). Kudos to your samsung VR thing though, that was worth a star. Anyways, never are my friends and I ever coming again. Surprised this event even had a page that I could make a review on too.. 1/10, never coming again.

Puppies for Breakfast started in 2010 in my backyard with 20+ friends and family and their dogs. 2…read moreyears after that backyard party, we hosted our first big festival and are now considered one of the largest dog festivals in the country. On April 11th we will be celebrating 10 years of dog festivals in this great city. As the organizer / creator, I can honestly say that Puppies for Breakfast is one of the best dog events and parties that you and your pets will experience.

Went to this event in 2019 with my pup and had a great time meeting other pups, people, and dog…read morevendors! Highly recommend checking it out!

This was my first time going and I had a blast. I only found out about this event the week before…read moreso VIP was sold out by the time I bought my ticket, but that was okay. It started at noon but I got there at 3pm. Water Works Park is a cute, enclosed outdoors venue with a spacious, well-manicured lawn area and an elevated graveled trail around the perimeter. There is also a pretty large stage. The margarita booths and food vendors were up on the trail, while the the retail vendors were on the lawn. There were two sections of margarita booths, one for margaritas on the rocks, and another for frozen margaritas. Since I started sweating as soon as I climbed out of my car, I stuck to frozen margaritas. The ticket came with a complimentary margarita and a souvenir cup. You could only buy drinks with tickets, which were sold in groups of 5 and worth $2 each. None of the lines were too long of ridiculous for any of the drinks that I got which was a #winning occurrence for me. The margaritas came in either 8 or 10oz cups (I don't know exactly) which was a pretty good size for someone like me who doesn't drink that often. I tried three different flavors. Green apple, raspberry fusion, and the Henny-rita. Each of them were delicious but that Henny-rita was the most dangerous. I couldn't taste the liquor at all but baayyybehhh did I feel it! There was music playing the entire time I was there and I loved it. There was Brazilian music with dancers, the Bayou City Brass Band, a line dance hour, and Reggae. I was on my feet, dancing and sweating out my liquor and having a great time. Everyone was just having fun which was so nice. There were several generations of people there, from 20s to 60s, and there was nothing but joy and good times. Lastly, there was a good range of cuisines from the food vendors. I ended up getting Thai because the line for the taqueria tacos was RIDIC and the wait was even worse! They must've been grinding the corn to make masa for the tortillas on the spot because baby I don't get why the wait was so crazy. But anyway, I slid right over to the Thai booth where there was no line, had a plate made and handed to me within two minutes. I didn't even know what to get, I just knew I needed to eat something. The woman at the booth decided for me and I ain't mad at her. I had Lao sausage, sticky jasmine rice, and some sort of fried spring roll which reminded me of lumpia but I'm not sure if it's called that in Thailand or not. The food was GOODT! I ate every bite and lowkey wanted seconds. I'll definitely be back when they come around next year!

I've been going since 2015 and it's always a nonstop party with good drinks, good food, good music,…read moreand people whose only worry is an empty cup.

We had a contract with Aura systems and the venue we rented for my daughter's wedding needed proof…read moreof insurance from Aura Systems. We tried contacting them for months through phone calls, emails, social media, texts and Miguel never responded. Needless to say, my daughter was not able to have cold sparklers at her wedding because Miguel never responded nor showed up.

We used Aura systems for a June 7 wedding and they were very responsive. I was really happy they…read moreallowed small order equipment rentals and allow pick up or delivery options. A lot of places only do large events and don't allow pick up. I used delivery option and they texted approx time and kept up with update texts. I will definitely use them again.

This was the second year we attended this festival. It was our understanding that the entrance fee…read morethis year was $10 for early birds and $20 at the door; however, our friends purchased tickets at the door for $10. Also, I posted a question on their FB page inquiring about whether the event was rain or shine and no one ever responded to my knowledge. This year, lots of vendors had samples which was nice and they closed the streets down. They even had BBQ, gourmet tamales, and Puerto Rican food. We will likely return for future festival, but it would be nice if the entrance fee was cheaper since we end up spending a lot inside.

This past weekend was the annual Via Colori. This year the weather was perfect for daybeers,…read morebriskly sashaying in the sunshine while gesturing emphatically with daybeers, and supporting a good cause. Via Colori brings all-volunteer artists together to display chalk art by talented professional artists, emerging artists from the local high schools, and the younger ones that want to decorate a square. Proceeds from the festival benefit The Center for Hearing and Speech. In past years this event could raise $300,000+ in one weekend. Tickets were $10 a pop and had in/out privileges so you could take a break from art to visit one of the other nearby parks or restaurants and briskly sashay back into the festival whilst flashing the fashionable purple wristband to let people know you are a man about town with a mighty fine hat and matching wristband to boot. More than 200 artists found their place on the streets surrounding City Hall to work their magic with the chalks. There were some common themes like Aladdin which was very popular, as well as one Simpsons related, and several Batmen and/or Spidermen. Yelp's mural was Gizmo from the Gremlins which is always a festive throwback to classic late night (in more ways than just the one) cinema. Depending on when you visited you could see artists starting from scratch or further along with shading and final touches. $6 beers were available at the beerman's vendor stand so anything less than $10 beers at festivals means you need at least two, because nothing is worse than having to attend a social function on $10 beer night when you could have been at home with the King's ransom of Natty Light for the same price and you would have had less stares being sans pantaloons than you would out at a bar, unless it is /that/ kind of a bar. Always worth a visit to the annual Via Colori to support a good cause - there is nothing else like this in Houston.

Wonderful FREE festival! This two day festival takes place on the streets surrounding Houston City…read moreHall. You can park close in a garage or luck out with street parking. We went the second day because of the weather and in hopes that more of the art would be completed. There are kids from middle school and high school age doing some amazing work, but the majority of art is done by adults. Each square is sponsored by some organization and then an artist does their chalk drawings in the square. Some are done as a group effort and some individually. There are artists from around the world and many have a sign saying their name and their hometown. Some of the artists make their pieces interactive and you can stand on them and take photos. As you wander around, there are vendors giving away freebies like Kind granola bars, etc... There were also a bunch of food trucks where you could grab lunch. There is even a kids area where for a donation, kids can decorate a small square of the street. It's a fun and beautiful FREE festival. Definitely worth going to.