Indy Wine & Food Festival

We went to the Indianapolis Wine & Food Festival last weekend as my brother was running a stall selling his wine-based pasta sauces and marinades (www.miloswholeworld.com) and Jack was helping him. Entrance is not free, $25 if you are wine tasting and $10 if you are not (with which you get free soft drinks). Kids are free, however, under 5, which is better than some festivals. They finagled us a ticket but there was little to hold the kids' attention as it was almost all wine-tasting booths. Plus they were running out of the drinks by later in the afternoon when we got there.

There was a Kids Zone, but I was pretty disappointed with that. Don't want to knock it too much since it might have been more exciting earlier in the day but the folks there were pretty much zoned out and there was very little to do. They did have karaoke going for the six-year-old girl crowd (think lots of Miley Cyrus). There was a mom playing a game of bean bag toss with her son and after watching a while we butt in so the boys could play. The woman's son was great playing with them, picking up their bags and giving them back and they had fun doing that for a while.

My brother also had trouble with the health department not letting him serve bread for dipping or use electricity to warm his sauces, despite his having made his request clear on his application. Still, it was the right crowd (especially after people had already been doing a bit of wine tasting!) and he did well.

Since we saved $ on admission, we tried an alligator hot dog, but ended up having to get a turkey one for the boys and they loved the slushy type ice treat I got them. They had fun just running around on the grass. So all in all an iffy recommendation for kids in Indianapolis. Explaining the tipsy people and broken bottles to the kids is a challenge, but if you want to go anyway for yourself it's worth checking out next time it's in town.

http://www.vintageindiana.com/