Crave Food And Music Festival

We had a great time here! We came with a pretty large preset budget, and good thing because there was a lot to try, and at pretty pricey prices for the portions. There's a wide selection of food, and if you like tacos and pizza there's vendors upon vendors for you. We did get to try some pretty unique things, with Turkish coffee being at the top of this list. It was really neat seeing them warm it up in the hot sand. My husband said it was a really unique drink. We also got to try some pho, some Cajun food, barbecue, nachos, and more.The festival was well-run and well-organized. The app made it easy to track how many crave-bucks you had left. The parking situation was intuitive and ran smoothly, making it easy to get in and out. Great job to the organizers, I hope to come back next year!

We are craft fair junkies so it's not fair to compare it to Woodland Arts Fair or similar events, but it could have been better. We were there from 11-4, heard one band (so-so) and a family with a banjo singing a song or two. That was it for the music. "Craft beer" was a few vendors with cans; where's the draft? Some good jewelry and women's fashions; the food was one step above junk food. You have to buy their "Crave Bucks" to buy food, what's with that? You can't get any money back if you buy too much; annoying and unnecessary. Great crowd,and friendly, helpful volunteeers. Lex Police are the best.

Good local food, live music & August Saturdays in Lexington? I'm definitely a fan.I'd heard from friends that Crave is a super fun event and I'm glad it worked out with my schedule this year that I was finally able to go!Out at Masterson Station, parking is free, but it is $8 for admission which I thought was a little steep for this event. Granted there was live music and games for kids set up- I think even paying 4 or 5 dollars would seem more reasonable to me. We were given a map of the festival with our tickets which listed all the events for both days and showed the general areas (zone 1, zone 2, etc) in which the different food vendors were located. In order to get food from the festival you need to buy crave dollars which are dollar for dollar. The booth suggest that each adult would need about $30, but my boyfriend and I had more than enough food for $15 each. We did a lap around the fairgrounds first to survey our options & see what there was to avoid making any hasty decisions. I realize this sounds obvious but I really liked how you were able to sample a lot of different foods from a variety of places. Especially if you come with an eating-partner, you can get a lot of things and split them to really increase the items you're able to try.Loved this event and think it will continue to grow every year! One thing I'd like to see is more stations for water as it was pretty hot out- I only saw one ant it was when we were leaving.I would suggest doing what we did to avoid long lines and crowds- make it a lunch/dinner and go around 3:30/4- by the time we left at 7 it was getting crazy packed. All in all a very fun time!

I loved my time here as a volunteer and as a patron after. Everything I tried was amazing and fresh. Sadly, I couldn't tell you the names of the places from which I ate and I didn't get as many photos as I'd like bc of working but it was a real good time. My only criticism was the layout. In the dark, it was confusing to know which direction to go to see everyone and it was very spread out so I feel/know that I missed seeing booths I know I would've enjoyed.From the volunteer side, not much to complain about, everyone knew where I needed to be. We were checked on consistently. We always were stocked with beer. Our only issue was directing people where to get Crave bucks to buy our beer with because we did not have a cash drawer. They gave us a number to contact and reach anyone with any questions or concerns about the festival.The weather was perfect and the crowd was steady. Music and food were amazing what more could you ask for?!

Crave is always a great event! The variety of vendors and musicians increases every year. There is an admission fee ($8), then you purchase "Crave Bucks" to buy food and drink in the festival. Each food vendor is supposed to offer items for $2, $3, or $5. However you'll find some that have $1 items and even saw another this year with $8. The fun in going is to sample food from a bunch of different places. If you plan to eat and have a few drinks it does get a little pricey but we make a day of it and enjoy the music between eats and drinks.

Another great Crave Lexington! Good beer, great food and fun people. The live music makes it fun too.

This is for the 2017 year. This year there was an 8 dollar cover charge per adult in addition to the crave bucks you already have to purchase. I did not think the 8 dollars was worth it. I know they tried to incorporate more things this year such as bands and activities, but I always came for the food. If they want to do a music festival I think they should do it separate. They also took away the voting for your favorite restaurants this year. I always liked how we could give feed back on some local restaurants that are trying to attract visitors. For instance, I really liked Skewers. They are a mediterranean restaurant and have the best food of the day! There hummus and garlic spread I could eat for a whole meal and their lamb was cooked to perfection. If you didn't get a chance to try it I really recommend it! I plan on going to their store front in the near future.The other place I enjoyed was Girls, Girls, Girls.They both gave you good portions for the crave bucks, something I felt like more restaurants at Crave did in the past.Crave recommends $30 dollars per adult, but if you are not drinking or just have one drink $15 Crave bucks is more then enough per person if you ask me. Unless you plan on being there all day for more then one meal.Dogs are not allowed and you are directed to take them to a daycare set up near by. This year there seemed to be less vendors and less new local restaurants to try. They ones that did come out I enjoyed and am happy I got to try them out!Not sure if I would go back next year.

A deal with Coca-Cola restricts every other vendor from having liquid unless it's booze. So no tea, no coffee, no lemonade, despite having actual coffee vendors here selling dry beans and ground coffee. No ice for bottled coke products so just warm bottles of crap.When this festival began, you could sample little bites of food from tons of excellent chefs. Now, they simply bring their usual full meals and you pay full price. The food is good...it's just not what I would call a food festival. Go for the great music and cocktails.

Food was reasonable and pretty good but the drinks were extremely pricy and I feel it could've been set up better

Crave is a great idea in theory. We went for a few years when it started but it became more about shopping vendors than food so we had stopped for a while. We took a look at the website this year and decided to give it another try because it seemed more organized. It had a map and actual food vendors listed. Overall there are both pros and cons. Crave is great because it allows you to try a variety of unique items. It also allows you to support local vendors and for the most part the quality of the food is good. I did like the idea of using the app to pay the vendors instead of actual tickets because you don't have to keep up with them. That being said, that is where some negatives begin. Using the app to pay is great but they charge a processing fee every time you add money to your account. The money is also not refundable so it is hard to determine how much to put on your account. We ended up having to add three different amounts so we were charged a processing fee 3x. When we went previously there were $1, $3, $5, and maybe $8 options. I understand inflation but most of the places started at $5 and we saw some up to $12. You have to pay to get into the event and you have to pay for the food so it gets expensive quick. In addition, the consistency in portion size was non existent. Some places had a healthy portion for $5 while other vendors just offered a tiny cup for $5. It would have been nice if all of the menus were clearly visible. Sometimes you couldn't see the menu unless you stood over the shoulders of others in line. It got to the point where we wouldn't even go to a place unless the menu was clearly visible. Since it is a food event obviously a lot of people are eating. Unfortunately, they just had two tiny tints for seating. The seating for the exhibit area was tiny too. We wanted to watch some food demonstrations but didn't want to stand in the sun so we skipped them. Also, exit signage would have been beneficial for those who were participating in the car show. When we were leaving we got scolded for going the wrong way. If their would have been signage that wouldn't have been an issue. Overall, the value vs the cost is just not worth attending the event. I suggest looking up local food trucks instead.