Festival In the Park

This festival just continues to grow each year! I genuinely love checking out Festival in the Park every single year, because there's always something new to see. There's probably hundreds of vendors at this point, from food, drinks, desserts, artists, charities, jewelry. I mean there's SO much to see at this festival! My favorite part about it is the live music. My friends and I always bring a blanket and just come lay out there and enjoy the live band. This year it was actually the same singer as last year and she was great!!! Love her voice and she always sings upbeat songs everyone knows. It's always a whole vibe. We grab food and bring our own cooler and just pick a spot up on the hill and enjoy. That's exactly what we did this year too. For food I couldn't decide what I wanted so I kinda settled for a gyro and it was pretty good, all things considered. The fries we great though! Nice to have so many food options available though. I'll continue to come to this festival year after year!! Definitely a lifetime fan.

I enjoy FITP every year. The variety of vendors lets me purchase items I can't find in my weekly journeys. It's great to find something I've never seen before. I stopped by a cookie vendor, deliciousness! However, the food lines are typically ridiculously long. Not my speed. There should be a vendor who sells water only for one price.Parking is a task and requires a lot of patience. It may help to catch a ride and skip parking altogether.

Don't use the turkey leg vendor when you come in , they put fraud charges on my account !!!Other than that we had a great time listening to Carmen Tate and the chain Fleetwood Mac tribute band . WeHad two kids in tow and one adult with autism , i wish there were more sensory friendly things for the older kid w autism to do . Pros : band , cool things to see Cons: debit card rip off (use cash ) , long walk , expensive parking , not enough sensory friendly things for older kids with autism to do

True Story: I've never been to Festival In the Park until 2019. I've always gotten stuck in the East Blvd traffic for it every year, but I think it's probably better to go into the festival instead of sitting in traffic.I met some friends and we actually walked from my place in Southend cause I had a feeling parking/driving would be a nightmare. They did have parking "close" to freedom for $10 but it was a good morning for a walk.Got there right when the festival opened. The smell of kettlecorn was pretty intoxicating, but it was fun to walk around and visit all the vendors, artists, and listen to some music at the main stage. It started getting crowded around lunch time, so I made my purchases (after making a couple trips around). Food: fair-style, festival food here: turkey legs, fried everything, lemonade for miles. Ended up getting some fried oreos as a snack and then visiting the food vendor selling empanadas - yum!Also got to talk to some of the artists when the festival was just opening up (and it was slower). Some of them come from long distances to be there and show... New York (state), Florida, Georgia..... I didn't realize this festival drew a big out-of-state artist crowd.Overall, a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Family friendly - something for everyone. Also a great way to showcase our very own Freedom Park!

This is one of my favorite Charlotte festivals. They also put on the King's Drive Artwork in the spring. It usually takes place towards the end of September. It happens Friday night, and all day Saturday and Sunday. Parking is available at a few off-site lots, but they charge you $10 per car and then shuttle you to the park. This year we went on Friday night. It was actually really nice compared to Saturday/Sunday. It was a lot less crowded and not nearly as hot. It does get harder to see the art once it gets dark out but the artists have lights. I do wish they had better food options. There are a couple of food trucks, but most of it is just carnival food. This year I found an arepas food truck which was pretty good. They also have love music at two different stages. There are a ton of artists that surround the pond. If you've never been to Festival in the Park, I definitely recommend checking it out!

It's like a fair... but instead, substitute the adult rides with a lake that you can walk around. Let me start over.Festival in the park is a fantastic place where tons of vendors get together and offer up their best handmade unique crafts, art, services, you name it. For instance, this year, The Lady and I purchased this really cool geode candle thing as well as some honey from Cloister. It's fantastic to see the faces behind the businesses and get to hear everybody's stories. In addition, there's lots of art, photography, always live music going on, and all of the carnival food you could want. I got a turkey leg this year and found out that my semi-not-really-vegetarian fiancee is way better at destroying these than I am. I was straight up shown up. Anyways, there are always lots and lots of people there, but it's never been super ridiculous in my opinion. There are actual carnival rides and animals for the kiddos, and they do a good job of keeping that separate. They also have complimentary bike parking, since The Lady and I opted out of the stress of trying to find a place to park. Can't wait to go again next year :)

It was a beautiful day for the park, but poor options when it came to parking. Hopefully, it will be better next time. I will definitely go again...

Packed to the max on most days in good weather. Large area for kids.Nice artwork, decent food. Something I'd go to every other year, but I don't really spend any money there. Best park is the stage with the young teen bands. That's always fun to watch kids/young adults take the stage and jam!

It was fun love all of the different people and food options! The kids had fun playing the games and rides

This festival needs to be reviewed from the other end - from the insider/participant end. This year was my first to participate as an artist and I can responsibly state that this was the worst festival I have participated in. The organization is massive but lacks in so many ways. They do not restrict visitors to the park during our times for set up and break down and the tight alleys and pathways are extremely stressful to negotiate while visitors are there - we need to move vehicles, park in impossibly tight spots, take down large pieces of equipment and having crowds around us is just dangerous. The "lake side" of the festival is just awful, the pathways are dirt, gravel and dust and the crowds shuffling all day stir up such mess that it takes half day just to keep things clean, not to mention I had to wear a mask to protect my lungs. That side also has the food trucks and the artists intermingled and the noise and smells from the trucks make it pretty tough to talk to customers who are already distracted by the food. The management favors returning artist and fulfills all their requests while newcomers get the worst placement and treatment. They have a policy of "no dogs" but despite the dozens of security personnel, no one enforces it and the dogs just make it so much more complicated. Not to mention that the festival does not provide reliable internet so many vendors could not use their card readers and take credit payments. In summary, this was the ugliest, dirtiest, dustiest and noisiest environment I had worked at in the hardest of conditions with inadequate profit. Do not recommend.