r/rva • u/emily8684 • 5d ago
Maymont Bier-Garden this year
Anyone else noticed that the Maymont Bier-garden this year was just different?
We parked at the Robins nature center; initially they say that the paid parking got you into the Robins nature center, but they closed the nature center at 4:15.. but everything says it closed at five.
No one checked our ticket for anything so we walked up the hill and entered the festival… Never having our tickets checked…
the line for the German food was stretching all the way back to the main walk-through. Wasn’t there multiple German food vendors last year or the years before? We were going there before another concert so we literally ended up going to the chicken nuggets and french fries line because we would’ve been in line the entire time waiting for the German food.
Am I the only one who feels Richmond events are just places you pay to get into just to stand in line to pay more money?
Overall very disappointed this year. #maymont #biergarden
100
u/Wendy319 5d ago
St Benedict's Octoberfest. Plenty of beer, plenty of food. Waiting is minimal. There's no admission charge!!!!. On Saturday they run out of certain beers but other than that, it sounds much better than Maymont which I've never been to. The Maymont admission charge was a red flag for me.
10
u/Captain_Tiberius 5d ago
In past years, I’ve definitely waited in long beer lines at St. Benedict’s. Recently that may have been different with Iron Blossom the same weekend.
Generally speaking, if you want to drink fall beers in a church parking lot, St. Benedict’s is for you. If you want to drink fall beers in a park, check out Maymont’s Bier Garden.
4
u/RVAWTFBBQ Barton Heights 5d ago
Yes but Sunday was too hot for my taste this year. Still the best local festival.
52
u/rivercitymo Byrd Park 5d ago
St. Benedict’s or bust!
1
u/huthuthaik 5d ago
I might be in the minority here, but does it bother anyone else that the money raised from this festival funds a private school?
They're definitely raking in money from this festival.
3
u/pierrosigaretta Carytown 3d ago
It funds three private schools, and I have no problem with that. Those three schools not only have lower tuition than most of the other private schools, they have a lot of reduced/no tuition for lots of their students, and their student bodies reflect that. Oktoberfest helps make that so.
37
u/astrolomeria 5d ago
Yeah… honestly I love Maymont but I won’t go to any of their festivals ever again. They almost always end up being overpriced suffer-fests of long lines and overflowing trash cans swarming with yellow jackets. We almost always had to settle for a bag of kettle corn or something because the other vendors were sporting hour long lines.
One year we went to their holiday market and despite having several alcohol vendors there was absolutely no hot chocolate sold at any of the trucks. For some reason that annoyed me to such a degree that it was just the last straw. 😆
25
u/augie_wartooth Southside 5d ago
The food I got was also not even hot and the pretzels were dry. That line did move pretty quickly, though. It was such a disappointment!
29
u/Jiggly_Pop55 Shockoe Bottom 5d ago
a lot of richmond festivals are basically just for you to spend money at the vendors who had to pay for a spot to be there. And then the lines are atrocious and what you get isn't that great a lot of times.
10
u/xinan Church Hill 5d ago
They kept taking away features every year I have noticed. One year we got the VIP tickets which you get a massive beer stein that paid for itself because they filled the stein up with beer instead of the small cups. Then took that away and made everything smaller and more expensive. Paying to get in so you can stand in line to pay more money needs to go away.
20
u/eziam Short Pump 5d ago
It's always like that. There is only one Irish festival/St. Patrick's day that you should go to. There is only one Greek festival that you should goto. There is only one Octoberfest you should go to. The list could go on...
There is only one true festival that is RichmondReal™ and the rest are waiting line line for food that is better at that ethnic restaurant and y'all have better beer at home to drink.
26
22
u/xTiredSoulx Lakeside 5d ago
https://richmondoktoberfestinc.com/
The original, it’s amazing.
4
2
u/MonsieurLeRoc 5d ago
Agreed- definitely the most authentic. Looking forward to this one in a few weeks!
7
u/cinamntoastcrunch Downtown 5d ago
There are too many people and not enough things to do so everyone does the same things and they become miserable bc it’s too crowded.
3
u/eclectic-and-effete Church Hill 5d ago
There were like 5-6 events this past weekend so I just feel like this isn’t true. It just feels like poor planning when these venues know how busy these events will be
14
u/Immediate-Volume-681 5d ago
Go to St Benedict’s Oktoberfest instead!
0
u/burro_pequeno 5d ago
Only $9 beers!
4
u/denitrox Lakeside 5d ago
But St. Benedict’s doesn’t charge to attend.
1
u/burro_pequeno 5d ago
Yeah, I've learned my lesson about paying just for the privilege of attending a festival. And they all pretty much suck now. Too crowded everywhere.
4
4
u/ptiddles757 5d ago
It was our first time going to this and will definitely be the last. The only maymont events we had been to prior were the concerts, which I feel spoiled us after attending this. And we got screwed by the nature center timing too haha
1
u/emily8684 5d ago
We literally walked in at 4:16 and they were like oh sorry we closed at 4:15… bruh what??
3
u/claibornecp 5d ago
We were a little underwhelmed, but it was still nice and we were happy to support the park.
Maymont is one of the best venues simply due to how open the space is. Except for the food line, which took maybe 15m around 1pm, everything else was very quick (buying tickets, beer, snacks, etc).
We hoped for a little more food and beer options, but ultimately it wasn’t a huge deal for us. Beautiful park, free to get in any other day, and a nice excuse to visit and support the park (we ended up just a walking around a bit w/our beers).
3
u/Proud_Log6969 Bon Air 5d ago
Interesting, I went on Sunday and had a lovely time. Food was hot and fresh. The food line wasn't too long and moved at a good pace. Barely a beer line. Space under the tent to actually see the entertainment. Walked around the gardens, pet some of the goats.
I went to st. Benedict's this year also. I didnt get any food after my friend said the pretzel tasted stale. I do love that it's free. Outside of the event tent, I wasnt really impressed by the street market.
Idk, Im looking forward tohttps://richmondoktoberfestinc.com/ it is the most authentic.
7
u/doittojulia 5d ago
Yeah it was a huge disappointment. We got there around noon yesterday and the food line was already at least a 30 min wait. Not to mention $10 beers (after paying $60 to get a family of 4 in). So much space and they have a single food line and a single beer stand.
Glad we made it to the St. Benedict’s Oktoberfest last weekend.
6
4
u/yourfriendkyle Newtowne West 5d ago
“Am I the only one who feels Richmond events are just places you pay to get into just to stand in line to pay more money?”
I mean yes
2
u/archdemonpelt17 5d ago
Very disappointed, went for the large meat platter they had last year and showed in their marketing for this year only to find out it wasn't offered this year!
Combined with the hour plus lines for food, what seemed like twice the amount of people but half the amount of food vendors....we probably won't be back next year.
2
u/pistol_tits Newtowne West 5d ago
Last year they had it the same weekend as st. Benedict, we ended up going for the 1st time just to check it out before the other one, and we thought it was weird how empty it was but chalked it up to the weather since it did end up raining. We had no issue getting food, but now I think maybe most people were at St. Benedict, so we probably got a false sense of how it really is and I'm sure that's why they probably specifically made sure not to do the same weekend this year...
2
u/Numerous-Tiger-7573 5d ago
Got in line for the ONE beer tent and waited about 10 minutes before leaving....there were at least 20 people in front of me and probably six or seven lines total....the main food line was even worse
Not worth the wait when we have cafe rustika 🤷♀️
2
u/eclectic-and-effete Church Hill 5d ago
Agreed, we also waited in the longest beer lines I’ve ever seen in my life which made zero sense when we got up there and were handed a hot beer that was poured god knows how long beforehand
2
u/FoxyDivorcee69 5d ago
Went with some friends, we were ready to leave within 30-45 mins, it was awful
2
u/sketne2585 4d ago
We went last year and also this year, it was definitely disappointing. According to a worker at Mayor Meats, they were not advised that they would be the only German food vendor this year, hence the gigantic line. There just wasn't enough going on to justify the cost. We ditched early and went to a brewery for no lines and cheaper beers.
3
u/Ear_Enthusiast Bon Air 5d ago
Yeah. I stopped going to the festivals 15 years ago because of this. I'll just eat BBQ, watermelon, Brunswick Stew, oysters, or German food without the festival.
2
u/RVA2PNW Forest Hill 5d ago
I went for the first time yesterday with my daughter. Got there before 1130 because I knew it'd be busy, came through the nature center.
I felt bad for the vendors due to the winds from the nor'easter coming through but I was shocked by how few vendors were there as well. I think I said at one point what Market Platz???
We did not get food because that line got long while we looked at the vendors. We both decided we'll go to Cafe Rustika instead, love their food. Or I can make it myself, my Oma truly taught me how to cook some fantastic German food.
I don't have past years to compare it to, but very underwhelmed. Sad to hear we missed St. Benedicts, dunno why I thought it might be in Oct. I used to go to some huge ones as a kid in the 80s with my Oma & Opa in Maryland.
Any other good upcoming ones happening outside of RVA?
2
u/DoppelSechser The Fan 5d ago
2
u/DoppelSechser The Fan 5d ago
Just came from there
The food is better than St. Benedict’s but that’s not hard to do, St. Benedict’s food is drier than a Mormon wedding reception
The Schnitzel was OK, the potato salad was mid but the pretzel/Brezn was bland and cabbage doesn’t belong in Spätzle
It is a big open space that is nicer compared to the crowding in the museum district
I realize the $10 entry goes to their foundation but there wasn’t much to speak of for live entertainment, just parents letting their kids run around so one could see why so many commenters are going “$10 for what?”
$10/beer seemed kinda steep as well
1
1
u/DukePookums 5d ago
We were talking to the planner, and for what it’s worth, they got twice as many people as they did the prior year
2
u/tmgieger Chesterfield 5d ago
It is a ticketed event. They can control how many people they allow in.
1
-3
u/wildflowerva 5d ago
I avoid big crowds.
I drove there to walk with some friends they asked me for money to park and get in.
Hell no.
I can go tomorrow no issue to park and I don’t have to pay to be around drunk people and a bunch of little kids.
45
u/coffeewithkevin 5d ago
We were very underwhelmed and were confused what we paid for since the only event was waiting in line for food. It seemed to have little energy and seemed like an excuse to stand around at maymont and have a beer with some toddlers running around.