The El Vee
  • Food
  • Drinks
  • Events
  • Music
  • Previews
  • Opinion
  • Food
  • Drinks
  • Events
  • Music
  • Previews
  • Opinion

The El Vee

Category:

Reviews

    EventsOpinionReviews

    Review: Loopapalooza

    by theelvee_w2oe3m September 29, 2010February 8, 2011

    A few weekends ago Bethlehem held a curious new event:  Loopapalooza.  What the hell is that, you ask?  I wondered the same.  Well, the Loop is a bus that runs around Northside and Southside Bethlehem and picks people up and drops them off to and from the Sands Casino.  Good in theory, but I rarely see it being used.  The parking garage at the casino is such that there’s no real need to park anywhere else with the exception of special events where the casino gets jammed (usually car giveaway night). 

    Next year Musikfest is making some huge changes.  Those changes include adding a significant new venue at the Artsquest Center at the Sands Casino, replacing their old Riverplace venue.  Musikfest as everyone knew it is dead, and the new concert venue won’t be the only thing heading down to the new Southside area.  Talks of shutting down the legendarily crowded Main Street are abound, and moving venues to the Southside is an easy way to do that.  I highly doubt Americaplatz will be making a return in the future.  What would be a good way to study the effects of crowds on LANTA’s mass transit system?  Hold an event beforehand to see!  I don’t know if this was the main drive behind Loopapalooza, but it’s a good test regardless.

    LANTA’s metro system costs $3 for an all day pass.  That means you can get anywhere in the valley on their bus system for a whole day on $3.  That includes the Loop bus.  Loopapalooza was an event designed as kind of a pub crawl across the entirety of Bethlehem with a bus to take you from stop to stop.  Again, great in theory, absolutely horrendous in execution resulting in an organizational mess and a ripoff.  The event cost $15 to participate in.  They were touting early tickets for $10.  So I decided to purchase tickets early online and was slapped with a $2 service fee per ticket.  Still, $3 off.  The confirmation email provided no instructions on how to check in or get a wristband.  I was told by a Twitter buddy that you could check in at any of the “towns” they had set up through Bethlehem.  So upon arriving in the Southside I went up to one of the tables and asked to check in.  I was instructed that I needed something to show that I purchased a ticket.  So much for an easy check-in process.  Luckily I had an iPhone where I could just pull up the email I was sent, otherwise I would’ve been right screwed.

    Next, to make things even worse, people who bought $15 tickets the day of the event were given free beer mugs that you could get refilled for a special price at participating restaurants.  People that bought tickets beforehand had to pay $3 for that mug.  So I paid $10 for an advance ticket, paid $2 in fees, and now had to pay $3 for my mug, resulting in spending $15 anyways. 

    So what do you get for all of this $15?  Pretty much nothing.  A few bucks off here and there at different venues (which there wasn’t a complete list of anywhere.)  I think the only thing that I got taken off anything I purchased was $1.50 off of a burrito at Hello Burrito.  I would’ve rather had the $1.50 go to them than the Downtown Bethlehem Association.  It seemed there was a big ploy to get college kids to participate, as there was Lehigh and Moravian “towns”  From what I saw there wasn’t many college kids participating.  Actually, there wasn’t many people participating in general.  I saw a few wristbands here and there, but nothing compared to what should’ve been big bus-fulls of people being shuffled around.  Instead it seemed like a giant flop.

    Next year it needs to be cheaper, offer more to participants, and be advertised better.  I saw signage everywhere for the event, but the signs stuck along the road were so small they were unreadable.  The map on the website sucks.  The website in general sucks.  A list of participating businesses and discounts needs to be available.  Perhaps they need to hire an outside consultant to run this thing.  They need to do something, because I certainly don’t see myself participating in anything like this again.  It was an overpriced atrocity.

    At least the parking meters were enjoying themselves

    For more infortmation check out myloopapalooza.com

    September 29, 2010February 8, 2011
    0 FacebookTwitter
  • EventsFoodReviews

    Review: Taste of the Valley

    by theelvee_w2oe3m September 28, 2010September 28, 2010
    September 28, 2010September 28, 2010

    This year’s Taste of the Valley was the second iteration of the popular event that debuted last year from the great folks over at the Lehigh Valley chapter of Buy Fresh Buy Local. This year a few things went different, smoother, and generally nicer.

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitter
  • EventsFoodReviews

    The Great Allentown Fair

    by theelvee_w2oe3m September 16, 2010
    September 16, 2010

    The Allentown Fair is a special sort of place. It’s not Musikfest…there’s no drunks. There’s also generally at least one or two more relevant musical acts there. But it’s got roosters, rabbits, some extremely odd mixes of people, and pumpkins that weigh over 1000lbs.

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitter
  • DrinksEventsFoodReviews

    Review: The Valley’s First Bourbon Festival

    by theelvee_w2oe3m September 10, 2010September 10, 2010
    September 10, 2010September 10, 2010

    Philly’s got one, as do a lot of other places across the nation and now the Lehigh Valley finally got into the action. Yes, our very own whiskey festival, complete with not only loads of bourbon, but bourbon cask aged beer as well. I posted about this event before it happened and it didn’t disappoint.

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitter
  • EventsFoodOpinionReviews

    LVHN’s Summer Festival

    by theelvee_w2oe3m August 30, 2010August 30, 2010
    August 30, 2010August 30, 2010

    Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Summer Festival went down on August 18-21. I hadn’t attended since I was a kid so I headed over with a companion to see what it was all about.

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitter
  • DrinksEventsFoodReviews

    One Man’s Thoughts On Musikfest

    by theelvee_w2oe3m August 26, 2010August 27, 2010
    August 26, 2010August 27, 2010

    Now that (I hope) everyone’s Musikfest hangovers have been cured, the horses are back in their stables, and downtown is back to normal I figured I’d reflect on this year’s festivities, share some photos, and a few concert reviews.

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitter
  • EventsFoodPreviewsReviews

    Review: Hookah Turka

    by theelvee_w2oe3m March 29, 2010February 10, 2011
    March 29, 2010February 10, 2011

    There’s a new hookah lounge in town and it goes by the name of Hookah Turka. Supposed to open during Musikfest 2009 and delayed due to city of Bethlehem zoning regulations, the business finally opened its doors the weekend of March 12th with (from what I hear) a great opening weekend featuring a DJ and a belly dancer.

    Read more
    1 FacebookTwitter
  • DrinksFoodReviews

    Review: Rock n’ Joe

    by theelvee_w2oe3m February 2, 2010January 19, 2011
    February 2, 2010January 19, 2011

    These days for a cafe to be successful on the north side of Bethlehem, it has to stand out in some way or it’s going to fail. It’s been happening frequently, seeing the closings of Hava Java and the Five Star Cafe. So when I heard a new cafe opened up in the epicenter of all the failed cafe locations, I said to myself, “Do they really think they have what it takes to make it there?”

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitter
  • DrinksFoodReviews

    Review: Robata of Tokyo

    by theelvee_w2oe3m December 23, 2009January 19, 2011
    December 23, 2009January 19, 2011

    Robata of Tokyo is a fairly well-known Japanese sushi restaurant situated a stone’s throw from the iconic PP&L building in downtown Allentown. Not only does it provide for a nice, relaxed atmosphere, the food is prepared particularly well, however the atmosphere may be lacking a few qualities.

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitter
  • DrinksFoodReviews

    Review: Starfish Brasserie

    by theelvee_w2oe3m December 2, 2009January 19, 2011
    December 2, 2009January 19, 2011

    The Starfish Brasserie is smack dab in downtown Bethlehem and is just one of the fine restaurants that can be found in the area. Starfish, as well as Edge and Apollo Grille are what I have always considered to be the triangle of upscale dining in Bethlehem, yet for some reason I never made the trip. After seeing on Starfish’s Twitter that they were doing a special $45, 3 course meal with wine pairings for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness, I decided it would be the perfect time to visit.

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitter
  • 1
  • …
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8

Categories

  • Art
  • Drinks
  • Events
  • Food
  • Music
  • Opinion
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Email

@2017 - PenciDesign. All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by PenciDesign