National Hamburger Festival

It had been a few years since I’ve visited the National Hamburger Festival, but when we discovered our tickets to the Akron Civic Theater included admission, we decided to have dinner after the early show. It was fun to wander the street to see the activity, and we decided on a vendor to get burgers. Waited in line for a while only to discover that we needed food tickets to buy our food. (Insert *grumble* here). We almost gave up & went home when we saw a big line to buy food tickets. But, to save our evening out, we waited. With no idea how many $ 1 tickets to buy, I bought $ 20 worth, thinking that would be plenty. I spent 14 on 2 burgers, and didn’t have enough for 2 gelatos. So, price-​wise, it was a bit expensive, even with my free admission.
On to the food — I tried Menches «King James Burger» which was fantastic! Pepperjack cheese, jalapeño peppers, crispy onions, bacon, and Rajin’ Cajun sauce. My date requested a gluten-​free cheeseburger wrapped in lettuce. They gave her a cheeseburger in a paper tray & sent her to the condiment line, where, because it was late in the festival, they were low on lettuce, but we made it work. She did enjoy the burger. We ate at a picnic table in Lock 3 & enjoyed people watching. For dessert, we went to Honey Gourmet for gelatos. I ordered one for her & asked what I could get for 2 tickets. The proprietor was kind enough to simply give us two, which earned him a tip. We found seats in the shade in a tent.
Overall, a nice dinner out after a show, with people watching and all. I was disappointed that the food ticket procedure wasn’t clear to us, and that the prices were a bit higher than I would normally pay. At least some it goes to a good cause.

Did not enjoy this event. The prices were outrageous and a lot of places only give you half a burger just to taste it. And you have to pay to get in, then buy tickets for food. The lines for the vendors were super long. I waited in line for 30 minutes and got half a burger for $ 4 and it was cold and disgusting. There’s gotta be a better way to do this. Great concept, poorly done.

Finally, a festival in Akron that is well done. Get it?
Admission is $ 5/​person. You can also purchase tickets for $ 1 each, and tickets can be used for burgers, fries, and drinks. There are vendors both up and down Main Street and inside Lock 3 Park. There are even vendors from California and Texas who come to Akron every year to show the world why people love them in their hometowns.
I remember getting a deep-​fried burger here one time, as well as a spicy jalapeño burger. I would not recommend a deep-​fried burger; however, the average burger here is nothing short of incredible.
They have bands perform here as well as a «best burger» competition. One year they even had a mock trail debating who invented the hamburger. Not surprisingly, one of the top contenders, the Menches Brothers, were from Akron.
Overall, this is easily my favorite Downtown Akron festival.

This is the first time we came to this festival. The reason for the 4 stars was because of where the seating was located. To sit down to eat you had to walk to either end to find a place to sit. I disagree with the last review about Bob’s and the Smoke house, Bob’s meat tasted so much better. The Smokehouse ‘s burger tasted like a premade one from the grocery store and I didn’t taste any smoke flavor .
They had a live band playing which was nice. Today (Sunday) parking was free in the garage which was also nice. It was a enjoyable road trip from Grove City to Alron.

Here’s how this festival works… $ 5/​person for admission– kids under 8 are free. After you pay, then you have to buy tickets for food and drinks. Burgers range from $ 5-​$ 9, drinks from $ 2-​$ 6, plus there are fries, cupcakes, funnel cakes, gelato, etc.
They were about to crown the winner of the Baby Burger contest so maybe that was fun for some. All of the jumpy things down on the field were probably fun for the kiddos.
So, the vendors were supposed to have a healthy option amongst their greasy meat varieties. Don’t get me wrong, I went for a greasy burger but I also wanted to take home a veggie option for my daughter. First three places I checked were «sold out» at 12:30! They had to have sold out last night or didn’t really have any to offer. I think some vendors added the healthy option to comply, but I am skeptical on whether some of them really even had them to begin with.
No, on to what we did have… We split one burger from Bob’s and I am glad I can remove my bookmark for a future visit! It was boring and skimpy, especially for $ 5. We also split one from Smoke for $ 7. It had fried jalapeños which were delicious. The pinkness of it scared me, but it was very good, warm & smoky. We also had a root beer shaved ice from Main Street Soda worth every 400 pennies. We both suffered from brain freeze in the hot sun.
I am glad all proceeds benefit Akron Children’s Hospital. They have done a wonderful job of taking care of my kids for 16 years.