Bodega Seafood, Art & Wine Festival

Fun afternoon. Vendors and Artist were a bit over priced. Still a fun afternoon trying wine, eating oysters, and looking at Art

Regarding the 2015 Festival… Hot, dusty, disorganized, poorly laid out, over crowded and over priced with only a token amount of seafood present. A congested, carnival mid-​way type atmosphere with long ill defined lines. This event screams for a change in venue and some professional organization. Save yourself some time, money and aggravation by going to the local fish market, cooking a nice dinner at home and putting on some mood music to suit your taste.

This was my second time to go to the event. I was there with 6 friends on Saturday. We enjoyed the arts and crafts; bought a few things. We scattered among the food booths to get lunch and shared a table with some lovely people. We opted not to do the wine and beer tasting, but there was quite a crowd! We will be back.

I’ve attended this event several times over the last 20 years. They’ve got many vendors selling many different products from $ 10 up to the hundreds or even thousands. Lots of art for sale. They have music at a nice tent close to the beer and wine tasting. They have had an entertainer «Jack Sparerib» out of San Francisco. He’s dresses like Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow. He does corny pirate jokes, some juggling and a little magic, The problem is you sit on bales of straw in the sun. Even though you are near the coast it is still hot when sitting in the sun.
They have lots of food booths. We had the chicken teriyaki with garlic fries, an order of deep fried zucchini, and since we near the ocean we order an artichoke with bay shrimp. I have to say the chicken was the best and the shrimp was the worst. The shrimp tasted frozen and old. The have a tented area for sitting while eating, but you are in a pasture so the ground is VERY uneven. You have to be careful when sitting or walking.
As with many festivals you paid to get in. This one charges $ 15 to get in. If you want to partake in the wine and beer tasting you pay another $ 15. This can be an expensive day if you also want to get something to eat and buy from any of the vendors.

We go every year; this year (2014) our tickets were total of $ 20 plus a small fee for two seniors online, and we also paid for the wine tasting (six tastes each were just right for us; one vendor punched over an already-​punched hole for my husband, which was good since I’m the driver) and for food. Lots of varied wines to choose from, and probably beer as well (I wouldn’t know). You park for free in a field, and it’s very dusty, so wear practical shoes. Your printed-​at-​home tickets are not tickets — you swap them for regular tickets in a line to the side before entering; this was confusing and would have been annoying if it had been more crowded. I like the music (oldies at one end, more avant garde at the other) and the art. The entertainment is also a cut above the usual. We still need to get to the seafood part — there were oysters, but we were more tempted by the lamb burgers and too full afterwards for more. It’s not terribly commercialized, and the feeling is relaxed but still energetic. Sometimes it’s windy, so come prepared.

Went Saturday and had good weather. It was very crowded but manageable. People were friendly and seemed to be having a good time. I enjoyed looking at the arts and crafts. The beer and wine tasting was fun and crowded. Always love checking out the food booth. My only suggestion would be to have the salmon where it can be more easily seen.

Old friends from Sonoma Co. Invited us back to the area for a visit. Free parking. Charge $ 5 per car and allow free admission. We parked, looked in past the walls, left and enjoyed a beautiful day at the Bay. I am embarrassed for Sonoma County to allow such. a rip off. The SoCo CVB should not allow this to happen.

Bodega Bay! What can I say? We were on our way to our fabulous campground at Wrights Beach! (I will review this one at another time)
The Seafood, Art and Wine Festival.
Stopped here on the way to camping at around noon time. The parking was crazy. we parked close to the hilltop. It was 15 dollars to enter which was fine with us. We were more interested in what types of wine they had to offer us so we could take it back to our campsite. We paid another 15 dollars to wine taste. (Yes, we had a designated driver) the ticket covered 7 tastes. Some company’s didn’t even care about punching wholes in our tickets. They basically just kept pouring. Yay!
After a couple of drinks we were ready to savor the food they had to offer. They did have a decent variety of seafood. We chose the French fried crabs and seafood artichoke. Yummy! After a delicious snack, low and behold! ALL HAIL TAINTED LOVE! We were thrown back into the 80’s. we were right in the very front of the stage like some love sick groupies! All in all we had a great time here. The arts were very interesting to look at and the people working the festival were all pretty cool. See you next year!

This is a local event. It’s a fundraiser for the wonderful Bodega Volunteer Firefighters. It seems to work quite well. My advice is keep it local. If you are in the area come to it. If you are From very far away don’t drive, don’t come a long distance to get to this festival. The people I saw yesterday were there just to have fun and they did. There was a good selection of food. The entertainment was outstanding. But I think the festival was only enjoyed by locals.

I would say if you were to attend this festival, make it about the journey, not the destination-​if that makes any sense.
It does cost money to get in, $ 15 at the door or $ 12 if you purchase tickets online ahead of the weekend. Considering that it’s paid entry, I was hoping for more art vendors and a larger overall venue. Having never spent serious time in the town of Bodega or Bodega Bay, I found this festival an excuse to spend the day up here.
The drive up from the East Bay took about 90 minutes, and again, it was all about enjoying the ride up the 101, taking our time through Valley Ford and just soaking in the scenery. Parking at the festival is free but the ride in to the lot is bumpy and quite honestly nauseating-​I legitimately felt sick to my stomach.
The art itself was interesting-​they had some photographers there who I have not previously seen at other Northern California art festivals. Nothing that stood out especially, but it was fun to browse. However, we were able to take one lap through the art tents in less than an hour. I think they definitely need more artists for future events.
As for the food, we didn’t partake-​although I heard it’s supposed to be a really big deal-​literally every store we went in to the rest of the day asked us if we ate at the festival.
All in all, it seemed like a nice, family friendly local event. If you are going to spend the day in the area, bopping around the coast, visiting the Sonoma County beaches and poking in to some of the cute little shops in the town of Bodega, then yes, it might be worth going to once to check out. If you are going up there specifically for the festival and nothing else, then I would advise to skip it. The festival by itself is not worth traveling to from out of the area.

There is seafood at this seafood festival?
We drove two hours from the east bay. The drive through the north bay was pretty and driving through the countryside was nice. The problem was the festival itself. It cost $ 15 to enter per person and $ 15 for beer/​wine tasting. The festival is in an open grass field and the ground is very uneven. I think I saw a couple of people eat it (not sure if its because of the booze or the uneven ground). The good thing about the tastings was that they give you 6 tastings and a nice wine/​beer glass or a mug.
There were only like 4 booths with seafood. There weren’t many selections of food and I ended up picking up some clam chowder off-​site. Overall…$ 120 spent on food, wine, admission, and a «meh» time. I don’t think I’ll be coming back.
If you come just for this festival, I’d recommend planning something else in the Point Reyes or Bodega Bay area.

Just returned from visiting the Aug 24, 25 2013 festival which is a two hour drive for us after reading about it on the web. On the plus side, it was well organized, the people were friendly, the parking was plentiful and there were lots of vendors. On the negative side it is $ 15 a head to get in and then they want another $ 15 a head to taste wine/​beer. I could have gone to any carnival anywhere to chow down on carnival food so the food was nothing special either. And I could have tasted wine in much more pleasant venues for less. While it is good that this raises $ for the local volunteer fire department, the whole day was pretty much an expensive bust for us. I would definitly NOT go again.

This a fun small town gathering of local and out-​of-​town artisans, musicians and food enthusiasts. We are fans of good small festivals and this one worked for us. It is not a corporate sponsored event, but a local fund raiser — a grass roots kinda thing. The fund raiser for the local Fire Dept and a coastal environmental group makes it a worthy cause/​event. It has been going on for 19 years apparently, it has grown and grown and is still growing. The local entertainment was a lot of fun. People were smiling and dancing away to three stages with totally different acts and musicians — mind you these were not stars but «stars not yet discovered».
The seafood was very well represented here. We enjoyed the cedar planked salmon and a Caribbean conch dish with rice and beans, plaintains, and a slaw kinda salad — all very tasty. We also tried some crab cake tacos and BBQ’ed oysters. The list goes on and on. The lines were usually short (4 –7) people at the most. We never ventured into the beer and wine tent.
We had fun for a few hours here and decided to travel to the coast five miles away and enjoy the beautiful area of Bodega Bay and Tomales Bay for the rest of our day.

It was ok. Hoping for more food options. Parking was EZ. Didn’t see any cow pies. $ 15 entry was over priced for what u got. Not much for kids. In the past they have had alot more. If you had an afternoon to do nothing, it would be a relaxing afternoon. Head to the beach after so you can walk along the water. Burn off those calories. Just make sure the kids leave what they find at the beach and not in the car:)

My friends and I drove 1.5 hours anticipating mouth watering and delicious seafood. Come to find out that most of the food booths were generic-​not too special– food booths with a seafood item. The best booth there though was the cedar planked salmon booth and the mini donut booth. They did have a beer and wine tasting tent where they featured some microbrews and wines in the local Sonoma area. Overall, I had fun and got a glass beer mug out of it. But it was very disappointing because of the lack of «Seafood». They should rename it to «See Food».

I had no idea this festival existed until we checked into the Bodega Bay Lodge the day before, and let me tell ya’, I’m glad we went, it was a lot of fun.
So the secret to having fun at festivals is who you go with, not just what the festival offers you. If you go with a schmuck, you’re not gonna’ have a good time. The food, music and vendors here were all a nice mix, and without question our favorite food was the cedar smoked salmon combo… yummy!
It was fun to just wander around, eat, drink, have some laughs and browse everything that was up for sale. Sure, some of it was uninteresting, other stuff was amusing, and some it was pretty cool — just like if you were wandering around in any part of San Francisco.
What was cool about this event was that it was a small local festival where everybody came out to have a good time. The vibe was fun, and even if it’s probably not something I’m going to tell people to drive to next year, if you’re in the area and it’s happening, do yourself a favor and go check it out. Leave any snootiness back in the hotel, and just come to have a good time. It’s worth the price of admittance and a couple hours.
Huge kudos to all the firefighters and locals for pitching in to make this an event that kids really seemed to enjoy!

Since we’ve been together, boyfriend and I make this an annual trip. This was our third year… and by far — like really far, as far as to the North Pole from the South Pole — this was the worst festival I’ve ever been two. In fact, the only reason it’s getting two stars is for the delicious papusa I had at one of the stands.
Each year, this party gets more expensive, more crowded and has shittier entertainment. Three years ago they had Marcia Ball as a headliner and now we’re back to Pride and Joy? Excuse me, but no thanks!
The parking lot sucks and has ginormous pot holes that will eat your car if it’s smaller than four doors. There is cow shit EVERYWHERE. Remember people, this is a «ranch.» The wind starts to blow — hard — about 2:00 and then you’ll have hay and dirt in your eyes and you’ll be ready to leave.
Probably with a stomach ache from all the crappy food you ate.
Will I go back next year? Of course. It’s tradition. But I won’t: eat BBQ oysters again, will definitely NOT be buying the glass and tastes and will likely stop by, make my donation (LOVE charity events), have boyfriend buy me a pretty piece of jewelry like he always does and then blow this stupid fest and head out to the Bodega Coastal Birdwalk about a mile up the road.

We drove over yesterday from our home in Walnut Creek to the Bodega Seafood (?), Art & Wine Festival in Bodega.
When we saw «Seafood» in the description we thought there would be interesting choices, buy nay! Only two of the mostly deep-​fried concession choices had shrimp on a stick. Everything was covered in garlic, transfats and deep-​fried. My arteries hurt just smelling it. I ended up having the salmon burger (a canned salmon-​like meatloaf patty) that was served with warm cole slaw-​which I immediately threw away-​too scared to touch.
The music was lousy, the vendors the same as every other «festival», the wine was mostly hot on a hot day, and nothing you couldn’t buy at Safeway. Lots of drunks, many with their children in tow. Windy conditions leaving grit in your teeth. Getting out of the one-​lane exit at 3PM was painful as herds of people were leaving. Poor planning, execution and layout all the way around!
One lady saw me cringe while sipping one wine-​she laughed and said-«Kind of like a really bad friend’s BBQ, huh?» She nailed that!
As beautiful as the area is, I feel like I lost a day of my life.

My friend and I volunteered today and then were able to enjoy the festival… I personally thought it was great well balanced festival. Music on multiple stages was good… Pride and Joy rocks, so that was a bonus for sure… this band makes you dance. trust me.
I enjoyed the venders, there were some very expensive items and some affordable things, but all in all a good mix of items and fun to walk through and check out.
Wine tasting was fun, and i dont think the price was out of line, as someone else thought…
I liked the variety of food. I had very delicious deef fried key lime calamari… yummo…my friend had ahi tuna wrapped in bacon. wow that was excellent too.
I cant wait for next year… and remember this was a fundraiser…
so loosen up your pocketbook, and just have fun.

A nice drive into the countryside on a sunny weekend, micro-​brews & local wines, and good wholesome cooking. Who could ask for more?
It’s not too hard getting here, and the free parking is in a grassy field. It’s not as hot, dusty & dirty as the Gilroy Garlic Festival, and you won’t feel the crush of thousands of nasty peeps. It was warm, but you were greeted by a cool breeze from time to time.
Cost of entry was only $ 12, cheap compared to some other area festivals. Bring cash b/​c the ATM was having issues, not sure if they ever got it fixed. For $ 15 you get either a wine or beer glass which you can keep and 6 drink tokens. If you’re patient and chat up the peeps pouring the beers you’ll get full glass freebies.
The food ranged from some simple Mexican dishes, to corndogs (it’s a fair, duh), to local flavor seafood, and even some tasty German style brats. I had to go for the $ 6 Nurnberger Beerwurst b/​c it was made w/​chives, coriander, and cumin. It was HUGE too! Full of flavor and juicy, I was totally satisfied.
They had some local crafts booths, some cheesy and others which weren’t as cheesy. Live music on the main stage, and a smaller stage near the beer & wine tent. The small stage had a creepy violin playing dude w/​crazy hair, dressed all in white, w/​no shoes. Uhh yeah… He was really animated and moved around way too much for playing the violin solo. Looked kinda like Krank from City of Lost Children, not good.
I’ll come back next year and enjoy another warm sunny Saturday in Bodega, while getting drunk of course.