Rockridge Out & About

After seeing the Raiders and the 49ers win .-Just Win Baby . It was time for ROA . I jumped in the Weekend Whip cranked some Black Eyed Peas and rolled to Rockridge . I was able to park on a side street 2 blocks away from the Festival. I street Hiked to ROA and started Wandering the Festival. I was Pleased to see Plenty of People , Plenty of Food Trucks and Booths , Beer Tents and Live Entertainment. I was entranced by Paul's Paella Booth and Got a Seafood Paella from them that was quite Yummy. I then found the Beer tent and got a Adams Black Lager Ale. The Festival is quite Big . Well worth attending . I really like the 57th Street Gallery Stage with the Live Jazz Band . I noticed a lot of Restaurants I haven't been to . Ill remedy that over time LOL.The ROA is a great way to feature the Rockridge Area and Local businesses.

REVIEWER # 11My first time at Rockridge Out and About and I have to say it was a great lively event! I first heard about this event from Yelp and seen that it was on Sunday October 9th, 2016 from Noon to 6PM. The event took over the whole College Ave Street in Oakland. Here is my verdict of the event: Let start with the pros first:-There were maps and info guides that helped participants in understanding where everything was located. There was a live music and dancing section and kids and community zone section. -The event was literally next to the Rockridge Bart Station and since I drove I was nerves about parking but there were tons of parking at the station and even on the street.-There were great games and festivities for children! It was so nice to see families all come together during this day. There was even a Circus Show that was from 1PM, 3PM & 5PM. -They had drank..I mean drink...Alcohol of course people! Okay, keep calm folks! Let's not all get excited at the same time! But yes, there was wine, beer, margarita and delicious cocktails. I have to admit the prices were reasonable. Some of my favorite tasty drinks that they offered were: Pok Pok Som Cocktail-Market Hall Foods seemed to have tons of different vendors that were there. It was a nice line up of food that included: Caprese Cheese Skewers $3, Dolce Latte Gorgonzola Cone $3 and We the Minis that sold delicious cookies and cupcakes.-There was also a limited amount of food trucks before that I have never seen such as: Ice Cream Bars & Ice Cream Sandwiches. -Great lively band and performances that occurred throughout the whole event such as: Namaste Mindfulness Lounge @ Manila, Oakland Youth Chorus @Taft, Kinetic Arts Center Circus StageCircus Spire Youth Troupe @Lawton, Market Hall Picnic & Dance @BART Station Plaza, Jazz Showcase @Chabot.-Community vendors included: Market Hall Cookbook Exchange- Where you bring a book, exchange a book or buy a book all the money or books benefit the Rockridge Public Library.Now...Moving on to the cons...-Okay...I'll admit...I'm a phatyy and I love food. I truly enjoyed the prices of the vendors that were there but I wish there was more food vendors! I came literally for the food and was a little sad to see that they didn't have that many options. -I also would like to have the event become a two day event. However, I totally understand this was a neighborhood event. Verdict?I would definitely come back again. Yes, this was my first time at this event and I have to say I enjoyed myself for the short time. I love that this is a designed for the community to come out and have a great time! The games for the children and the way that Market Hall designed the layout was nice!I'm looking forward to next year 2017!REVIEW 161/196

This event had such a happy, open vibe and lots of people showed up to enjoy the beautiful weather, free entertainment, and food from local restaurants. The best way I can describe the event is a First Friday/Street Fair hybrid. Everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially the kids who got to paint/decorate pumpkins, ride the "mini" carnival rides, and hop around in the giant pumpkin and superhero themed bounce houses. It. Was. Adorable. Can I be 6 years old again?Dog-friendly, variety of local businesses, and lots of food offerings. Parking was a breeze - lots of open spaces in the Rockridge BART lots (which you can still access even though College Ave is closed during the event) and as an added bonus, Trader Joe's wasn't busy around 2pm on a Saturday since most people around were there for the festival. Definitely worth swinging by if you get a chance in the years to come.

2nd yr to Rockridge Out & About Sun 10/9/11. From Union City Bart on Sundays gotta transfer at 19th St & take Pittsburg/Bay Point train. Got there kinda late.Spin the Wheel at Market Hall. Got a Grab Bag w/ Ancho Chicken Rub. Another ticket got a Magnet. Stood in line again the Market Hall Red Bag.Wanted the Gift Certificate but it's too hard to win.Wood Tavern - bought a $7 pastrami sandwich. Very good & filling. With a beer it's $10. Cash only. Window only, restaurant wasn't open. Southie's next door was packed.Food demo - tried a Spinach quiche & some chocolates from Bittersweet Cafe.Trader Joe's had samples of soda drank, peanut butter pretzels, & Jo-Jos Halloween cookie. Lots of food vendors & some food trucks. Worth going every yr!

A great day to be out and about in this area. Lots of fun places and people to hang out with. I had ice cream after months and so enjoyed it.

I loved this festival! There's way too many festivals in the bay and I've been to many of them so I wasn't expecting much. It was very family and kid friendly.. Non-pretentious... just good food, free fashion show/dance/cooking demos, fun crafty stuff for kids and hula hooping, local artists and musicians selling their stuff... They also had free valet parking from East Bay Bike Coalition! Yay for them!Most of the foods were from Market Hall... the food wasn't too expensive compared to a lot of other festivals i've been to... we made the mistake of stuffing ourselves, because we went over to the other side and there was MORE FOOD! From restaurants on College Ave. as well as other Oakland restaurants: Lush Gelato, Ohgane on telegraph...Surprisingly, this festival wasn't crowded .. no lines for anything... perhaps it was too hot, but it was a really nice day and it was cool to see the neighborhood come out to enjoy each other's company.. There were plenty of tables and seating right under the BART station... which was smart cause it was SO HOT.It's definitely a festival you can bring your kid/grandma/aunt/friend to. There's something for everyone!

Bike or BART here as it's just North and South of the Rockridge station! Parking I'd imagine is not that bad since they opened parking lot of the middle school nearby with small fee. Plenty of street parking if you're willing to walk. The food offering was a bit overpriced but overall reasonable. Got the chocolate pudding pops on this hot day for $2 from the Market Hall. Craft vendors for items such as Rockridge local clothing and jewelry were also on deck. Great way to showcase really local stores without having to go into everyone of them. Not as big or crowded as the East Real Fest but you can definitely spend a hour here for entertainment.

Reason for visit: To get out. And about.Visit date: October 9, 2011First time? Indeed. And will be back next year.I love local festivals! Rockridge Out & About did not fail. First, it was beautiful and sunny outside - perfect weather for a festival. It was also larger than I expected. Booths spanned from the Safeway on College to maybe three or four blocks South of Rockridge BART. There was a great selection of food items, lots of local crafters/artists, music and other entertainment, and much more. Also a plus -- the businesses along the road that were open usually had a special sale going on. A great event if you're strolling alone, with friends or with the whole family.For lunch I stopped by the Hapuku Fish Market food booth. See my Hapuku review here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/hapuku-fish-shop-oakland#hrid:-ATeYm4F1O2lI9lKG0o5DA

Lame street fair. Alameda county fair food concessions (corn dogs ?) along with mini kiddie rides from Stockton. Carney folks that go along with it, The Rockridge Market food concessions were the things that you would expect and probably the highlight. I do not understand the appeal of this type of event. It borders on trashy. What they need next is a Mexican circus.I attended a street fair like this in Stockholm recently that was better funded and actually spent all day at it. It is more than likely hard to find sponsors with deep pockets willing to contribute to this type of event because they are so numerous. In addition, there are so many of these in Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco these days that many have lost their vitality and originality.It is really not worth attending.

Went to this festival today for the first time and had a really good time. I thought it was not like the typical festivals that happen all the time. It was all the local small business booths AND also some of the usual crafts booths but it wasn't filled with the usual food booths. They also gave good portions for the food as well. The bf and I got a sausage sandwich from Marin Sun Farms and the Pulled Pork Sandwich from The Pasta Shop both for $7 each. Good portions and very tasty. I also liked that they have a bunch of different areas such as wellness and a kids section. Super cute festival and it was in a really good convienent and right off the bart. Very organized!