Taste buds, like flower buds and best buddies, will not blossom without sufficient watering. Help your mouth bloom and your friends achieve enormity with today's Groupon: for $20, you get two days of unlimited wine tastings, cooking demonstrations, and performances, plus a souvenir wine glass and T-shirt, at the Great Grapes! wine, arts, and food festival in Reston, Virginia (a $35 value). The festival takes place on Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, from noon to 6 p.m. at the Reston Town Center.
At the two-day Great Grapes! festival, patrons can sample more than 200 wine varieties from 20 local wineries. Throughout the festival, live demonstrations by food and wine wizards, including Bo Palker of Vinifera Wine Bar & Bistro and Lauren DeSantis, host of the TV show Capital Cooking, provide inspiration for culinary matchups and dating competitions. Bring lawn chairs or extreme stilts to enjoy the main stage’s flurry of live musicians, including School of Rock scholars, the New Orleans–style party-starting Junkyard Saints, and the funk and soul collective 8 Omhs Band.
An impressive assortment of exhibitors will introduce grape aficionados to culinary gadgets, and local arts and crafts selections can add character to a home, vehicle, or underground bunker. Children younger than 12 years old or convincingly attired adults receive free admission to the festival, where they can frolic in a kid-friendly crafts and activities area.
Tysons Fall Harvest
It may be the inaugural year of Tysons Fall Harvest, but it already has the docket to rival any well-established fall festival. This family-friendly event will keep kids entertained with plenty of activities, from pony rides and petting zoos to a hay maze and pumpkin carving. Those who need to brush up on their carving skills can sit in on demonstrations from master pumpkin carvers or head to the craft corner to paint or just hug a gourd that escaped.
Even without kids in tow, adults will have plenty to do, including visiting the wine and beer garden for unlimited samples when they purchase a tasting glass, as well as shopping a marketplace with pumpkins and fall decor. They might even consider dropping by Rocknoceros's set at the live-music stage; they might be a kids' band, but their acclaim has landed them gigs at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and the Kennedy Center. A portion of the Harvest's proceeds will benefit the Spirit of Hope Children's Foundation.
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