Memphis Italian Festival — Local services in Memphis

We visited the "festival" for the first time this year. Given the costly entry fee, I was certain this would be a good time. We were sad to discover that there is almost nothing to do. A ten minute walk around the grounds was sufficient to see everything. Food was nasty with very few selections. They really have no right charging an entry fee coupled with really expensive food prices. It would be different if there were a midway, or actual shops, but this was definitely not that! Only a playground for little kids and some homemade games like spin the wheel to get a piece of plastic (toy). There were a handful of shops selling tshirts and soap. The only good I can say is that they booked good bands, but after arriving there at 5pm, we were too hot (nowhere to sit and no shade unless you're lucky enough to get a chiar under the one tent provided), and too bored to stick around until 9pm to hear them play. I guess the church just wants money. Very...

I was sort of skeptical. I'd never been before but there was a good bit to do if you're going for the food and cooking demonstrations. If you go before 2 pm the admission is free and the shuttles drive you to and fro the general parking which is a nice free touch. It would've been nice if there were more places to eat there however. Just mainly pizza, gyros, and sandwiches with one pasta dish to actually buy or so. All of it is goodish. The gyro was a bit greasy and was pre-made so all the veggies had wilted, which was a bummer considering the price. But the food demos were quite spectacular. The only other issue is that the majority of the campus is primarily for food cooking competitors so it's actually a lot less to do there than it seems. Also the art area doesn't accept tickets which you use tickets to buy everything else. So all in all I spent about twenty on tickets for two people and bought something from one of those art...

Apparently we should have read the first couple of reviews here from last years “festival”. Luckily 2 of 3 from our group had free active duty military entry and we “only” spent $20 for entry. We were at a loss regarding the entry free as it literally only gave you access to the festival. There were maybe 10 vendor booths available to look at. We typically like to support vendors but after feeling like we just got robbed at the ticket stand, were in no mood to spend more money. We walked past the 3-4 food stands that you had to buy tickets for instead of just being able to purchase with cash. They also lost our business. We left the “festival” after about 20 minutes, which was honestly too long to be there and looked for a local Italian restaurant to get some food for lunch. Regular visitors BEWARE! This is geared much more for restaurants competing and probably their families...