+1. Hipsters have discovered craft beer, which has kind of killed the festivals for me.

Still occasionally go to a homebrew gathering, but those don't quite rise to the level of a "festival" and the quality of beer tends to be all over the board.

Probably the closest we get is a medium-sized art fair.

I've never done the big music festivals where everybody takes psychedelic drugs and sleeps in mud for 3 days. I suppose I'd do a classical music festival if I was in the right place at the right time for it. But I'd want, you know, a hotel room... ;)

I remember them being a lot more fun in my 20's.

Edinburgh prices go up 3x and more for the festival period. Awkward because I have some business and social things to do there during that period but it's too much to stay overnight and the traffic is awful.

However, I do enjoy the festival buzz.

I find that the festivals in Europe are much more organized and the people are less idiotic. I think people here in the States leave their brains at home when they have to go into public events or situations (festivals, airports, theme parks, cruises, buffets)

also often smaller populations

and lot less 'commercialization'

I like the food festival at Disney World, because it's a lot easier to get a table in the restaurants. The Sundance Film festival isn't worth the effort.

All the good festivals start small then grow in popularity. At some point it becomes too much. The trick is to catch them on the way up. Just starting to get a buzz but not yet oversubscribed. Usually by the time you've heard about it, it's too late, unless you have some local knowledge.

Or some start to decline and they can be OK on the way back down too.

Oh, and I like stumbling upon various food festivals in China. Last year's visit to Nanjing was particularly serendipitous because there was a Xinjiang-focused event going on, replete with dancing and qiegao.

Japan has some good random ones too, such as those held by the West Shinjuku station exit or in the upper floors of various department stores.

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I go every year to MerleFest in late April - a four day "Americana" music festival in western North Carolina. There are crowds, but $230 for a reserved seat at 4 days of music avoids the worst of the crowding.

The National Storytelling Festival every October in Tennessee is modestly crowded but still very enjoyable.

I've given up on New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Festival - always a great line up but very crowded and intolerably hot.

Mud and camping out? No, I do not go anywhere that does not have a real bed and flush toilets!

good info onlyairfare !

I quite fancy a cruise festival like Cayamo.

I guess it would cost 10x or 20x Merlefest though.

I like the way the promotional video shows lots of crusty old folk in the music audience but when they get to beach volleyball, it's all fit young bodies. That's probably the crew!

I go up to Orkney Folk Festival pretty much every year but a group of us have a house in Stromness booked up to a year in advance. It's almost impossible to find accommodation otherwise.

Been to Goodwood (festival of speed) two times. Don't fancy Glastonbury, way too crowded, but I've done Rock am Ring (Germany) and Roskilde (Denmark). Also been to a couple of smaller festivals, and for the last few years we've stuck to 'Langeland', a small festival on a Danish island selling around 25K tickets. We're not there for the music any more; it's a chance for old friends to hang out for a week and get drunk, smelly and a bit silly. We took the boat there last year, and might do the same again this year - it's quite handy having a floating gin palace available.

Well, festivals are really about bringing bunch of people with similar interests together, so an uncrowded fair would kind of be a failure, wouldn't it?

I regularly got to MakerFaire. I am in California right now as a matter of fact - they have big ones in May in San Mateo and Sept in New York. Kind of imagine a more family friendly version of Burning Man crossed with a robotics and 3d printing.

Cloudship, crowds of hundreds of thousands are NOT required :D