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Hit That Donut!
The only problem with the hole in the middle is that I get less donut.
Long Grove Strawberry Festival
Categories: Local Flavor Food Specialty Food Fruits & Veggies Local Flavor, Fruits & Veggies [Edit]
Long Grove, IL 60049(847) 634-0888
- Price Range:
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$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
12 reviews for Long Grove Strawberry Festival
12 reviews in English
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Review from Howard C.
10/28/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Just a wonderful time in Long Grove. We bring the kid and one of the dogs and wander and lay out the blanket and relax in front of some live music. Great assortment of different local food and bands. We will be coming for years to come.
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Review from Jeff F.
Des Plaines, IL
11/15/2011
I don't get it. This festival is the same exact thing as Apple Festival. Thus, it warrants the exact same review.
I have to echo others' reviews of the same kind of festival. And, as others have pointed out, save yourself the headache of parking, crowds, and long lines. There's nothing in Long Grove's stores you can't get during non-festival days.
Unfortunately for Long Grove, most of the buildings at the main intersection are vacant. Long Grove is more depressing-looking than it is interesting.
The only reason I can't give the Festival(s) a one star review is because of the salsa tent. I don't remember the name of the place off the top of my head, but they've got some worthwhile products. They're a four-star review in and of themselves, but you can get their products without having to go to Long Grove's Festival(s).
You'll notice most of the pictures in this article of Yelp are of the carnival-like food vendors, not the actual city vendors. Telling. Very telling.
If you actually have some kind of sick infatuation with opening your wallet for very little payoff, let me know. I'll gladly take your money, let you park in front of my house, and pay me to wait two hours on my driveway for a donut.
I'll even warm it up in the microwave for you! -
Review from Ericka A.
6/27/2011
I know people were expecting to be able to frolic in a field of strawberries when they heard about this festival, but I guess I just wasn't as disillusioned as some. We have a similar thing back home and it has little to do with the fruit the festival is named after. But who doesn't like an excuse to party? And there is just no way to leave the cute little historic downtown village of Long Grove without a smile on your face and warm fuzzies in your soul. However, I do agree with Alana T. that they are severely lacking in strawberry-themed foods.
As far as actual strawberry treats go, I saw some chocolate covered strawberry kabobs, cider donuts with bits of strawberry in them, some strawberry lemonade, Bob Chinn's Mai Tais (the sky parted and angels sang when I drank it) and a stand selling boxes of fruits. That was it. I have a feeling there was more, but not much more. You probably could have named it The Long Grove "check out our cute little town, eat a ton of local vendors' foods that have nothing to do with strawberries, pay way more money than you should for a burger that's been kept in water and then have the girl roll her eyes and act annoyed when you ask her to grill it a little more, and get a box of $5 strawberries to make it feel like you truly indulged in strawberries" Festival and it would have been more accurate. But I digress...
My friend and I showed up around 11am and the parking situation was already kind of hectic. I didn't want to pay $5 to park, but I wasn't given much of a choice. You have two choices - the bank or the church. I'm not a huge fan of giving my money to churches, but I'm even less of a fan of getting ticketed or towed if I park in a questionable spot. So the festival is "free" but you're probably going to pay the $5 for parking and then they ask for a $2 suggested donation at the entrance. Unlike the Morton Grove 4th of July Festival's "suggested" donation, this one is actually left to your discrepancy.
I'm a fan of Long Grove. It's beautiful. Not as huge a fan of the festival as I could have been, but I had heard rumors that it would be crowded and not very fruity. Now I know what to expect for Chocolate Festival and Apple Festival. Because when you keep your expectations low, no one gets hurt.Listed in: Festivals, Hit That Donut!
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Review from Alana T.
Chicago, IL
6/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
This was the BIGGEST SEND OFF OF MY LIFE! Real talk. I found this event in the Yelp events and was super excited. If you know me, you know I'm an avid Food Network viewer and i remember seeing all those food festivals on there, whatever the festival was about, EVERYTHING was overtaken by said subject; garlic, peaches, oranges, ginger.
Well, hmph! We drove 40miles and an hour in traffic from the city to get to Long Grove. When we get there, we're like, ohhh, great, we're here. Let's go for it. Found a great parking spot, after which, walked to the festival. Umm, Where the hell are the strawberries? All I see is strawberry daiquiris, strawberry conoli and a strawberry salsa (which was tasty). But that was IT! Seriously? I feel like this was a SORRY SORRY attempt to get folks out there so the little businesses could get some excess money. We didn't stay, it just wasn't worth our time. Just upset my niece and cousin were so disappointed with this foolery. Never again, Long Grove, up your game. Turn to food network to get some pointers.
HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT! I'm sad about this. -
Review from Jennifer C.
Schaumburg, IL
6/27/2011
Went on Saturday and it was ok. It was basically free to get in (optional $2 donation), we paid $5 to park at a church. Hubby and I split a strawberry donut which was a $1 and a strawberry lemonade which was $2. I felt that a lot of the food available was just generic concessions stuff that you find at all festivals in Illinois. I was expecting to see a lot more strawberry stuff. Strawberry milkshakes everywhere, savory dishes with strawberries, strawberry salads, etc. This festival has potential they just need to kick it up a few notches.
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Review from Y M.
Chicago, IL
7/18/2008 2 photos
My idea of a huge, crowded festival is the Taste of Chicago. So when I went to the Long Grove Strawberry Festival, it was a piece of cake. There's nothing wrong with it being popular. Good for Long Grove!
It's not really about the strawberries, though. It's just a fun, outdoor festival to take your families to. They have face painting and kiddie rides, live music, and plenty of food. Treat yourself to a strawberry daiquiri and some chocolate-covered strawberries. Just enjoy the fest for what it is.Listed in: Beyond the city
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Review from Ling L.
6/22/2008
Ah, the power of advertising, and the cute little Village of Long Grove.
We discovered Long Grove last Thanksgiving while exploring our new home of Illinois. A research of LG on the Web found they have at least 3 festivals a year, and one of them's about strawberries. Who doesn't love strawberries?!
For 2 weeks leading to the strawberry fest weekend, ads posted in local newspaper were touting it nonstop.
Now, I'm not a festival-goer. Typically, it's the same spiel -- rides, art booths of things I don't need, funnel cakes. And crowds! So, what prompted me to drag the husband and dog to this? Simply, the strawberries.
Sad to say we walked away with a $5 jar of sugar-free strawberry jam from a Geneva cannery booth, and no strawberries. Like Amaliya said, there were only 2 booths that sell them. I could find better tasting ones at supermarkets. The ones we tried were not sweet, miniscule and waterlogged. As for the food, we settled on the shish kebab platter that after standing in line for 5 minutes, it was hard to walk away without paying $10 for it. We could have eaten at one of the restaurants for that price (I think).
The biggest hit in the offerings appear to be the Apple Haus, where there's an endless line forming for strawberry apple pie and other apple concoctions.
Since the Apple Haus is a staple in LG, we gave the line a miss and would return at a slower time to take in LG and the shops. Hopefully, the price may return to normal from the festival-gouging rates.
As for parking, we easily found a $5 parking at the Long Grove Community Church ground near the festival entrance and it included 2 bottled water. Thanks! -
Review from Carolyn L.
Palatine, IL
12/6/2010
I went to Long Grove's Strawberry Festival this summer. Despite the large crowd, we found a great parking spot and our dog, Oliver, was even welcome! I always love to go to the Strawberry Fest for the chocolate covered strawberries from Long Grove Confectionery and strawberry donuts from Long Grove Apple Haus. They didn't disappoint this year! Although the chocolate covered strawberries were slightly overpriced (6 for $21), the combination of dark chocolate and juicy in-season strawberries made them worth the price. The weather was beautiful and the event was very kid-friendly. Make sure to check it out next summer!
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Review from Alice M.
3/2/2008
While I agree that Long Grove can't (or shouldn't be able to) hold the amount of people who come to my itty bitty hometown (and parking SUCKS), I have to give Strawberry Fest more props.. the chocolate-covered strawberries from the LG confectionary, and the fresh sugary, strawberry doughnuts are to diiiiiiiie for! Although a bit overpriced, I look forward to Strawberry Fest every year!! It's not exciting, but it's sooo delicious and I can't help but crave it until the next year.. mmm doughnuts..
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Review from Amaliya L.
Chicago, IL
6/22/2008
We visited Long Grove just this past Friday for their annual Strawberry Festival. I have to admit that I was a little taken back by how crowded it was. Parking was atrocious. We drove around the lot for 20 minutes before we could find an open spot. I have never seen Long Grove this jam packed. I do want to give a shout out to the entitled prissy teenager that cut me off twice and stole my parking spot from the other side of the road even though it was on my side and I had my blinkers on. In another life, or if I did not have my son with me, rest assured, I would have slashed your tires.
The festival featured a kid's attraction area. All at a hefty price. Tickets were 50 cents each and most rides cost 5 tickets. They had a spinning apple, a mini carousel, a train, a blow up clown filled with balloons, a jumping castle, and huge blowup slide. It's expensive because there is no way that your child will only go on each ride once. I didn't think that any of the attractions were that great, kinda seemed dirty. They also had a balloon artist performing...but it was a total turn off that he had placed a giant box beside him with 8 inch letters that boldly screamed "Tips Please!". I know that everyone has to make a living,but if you're already paid to perform, that's a little bit of an overkill. We opted to buy balloons at a stand instead.
They did have pony rides for only $4. A lot cleaner than most...unless you are unfortunate to walk up right after one of them has urinated..and the ammonia hits you like a sledgehammer. While at the pony rides, we ran into fellow yelpers Gisele and her husband and met each others kids. That was really cool and unexpected.
They had a really cheesy band on stage performing covers. I felt so sad inside for them because I really think that they thought that they rocked. You can imitate Dave Matthews all you want..but it's been done..outside of street festivals or bad weddings, you aren't going to make it anywhere.
I'm not sure why they make such a big deal about the strawberry festival. There was really only a small section of strawberry goods available. You could buy them by the pints, purchase strawberry donuts, etc..but it wasn't all about strawberries at all.
My little one had a blast, and for that I would return. But I have to admit that some of these kinds of things really leave alot to be desired. Long Grove is an excellent place to visit with the girls, or with older relatives/ friends on any other given day. -
Review from Mike O.
3/28/2007
Back in the late 90s and up until about 2001, this was a little-known, local small-town gathering to celebrate strawberry season, sell crafts, and enjoy an icy lemonade. A few outsiders like us would come and enjoy the scenery, look at art, antique cars and try strawberry goodies or fresh-made, salty-sweet kettle popcorn. Then the festival made it to the Tribune's "Things to do" list one Saturday several years ago, and Bang! Now everyone, their mother, kids, grandkids, uncles, etc. wants to go. While it's a beautiful town, Long Grove simply cannot hold all the people who come. Cars are parked awkwardly along the major roads a good distance away, the streets and shops are overfilled, and the porta-potties are filled to the top or overflowing, since nobody expected the inrush of tourists. We will not return since it's too much of a hassle just to get into the town. There are other fun summer festivals out there to be discovered.
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Review from E W.
Chicagoland, IL
6/25/2010 1 photo
We like this festival, but there is a shortage of parking lots. This problem became worse recently since they grassed over a lot of the public parking lot. It is best to attend this festival on Friday instead of the weekend to avoid the crowds. My preschool / kindergarten aged kids enjoyed this festival. There are a lot of booths setup with games for kids. They also enjoyed the music and the strawberry donuts.
