I made it there last weekend, if you couldn't tell by the FB photo updates. All in all, it's a nice little festival, but I agree that it is missing some piece of pizzaz that would let it live up to it's name. Not sure what else I'd want them to do though, between the nice weather, interesting food, and neat shows I had a good enough time.
After running around to catch up on all the changes to the park, I saw the balancing show in the riverfront playhouse. It's a nice show with a crazy ending that had me cringing (in a good way) until it was over. Then I saw the Flamenco Kings, which was a decent spectacle, but like Swoosh says, pretty repetative. I also wonder how "real" it is... I'm about 95% sure their shoes hardly make any noise and the whole tap-dancing effect is faked. Obviously they have some neat choreography and musical skills though. Plus they are eye candy for the ladies.
The show I really liked was the Earth Harp. That is quite a performance and spectacle, and all the musicians involved are very talented. That's the thing to see if you are going to this festival.
As for the food that they are making a big deal about... some of it is good, some of it is so-so. I had an alligator kebab which was very tasty... for what little morsel they gave me. It was served on a bed of what I suspect was Uncle Ben's rice. Nothing else, and only one small kebab, unlike what is shown on the menu when you order... for $12.50. It was a nice delicacy though.
I also had the apple cinnamon bacon grilled cheese thing which was nice. Terry recommended the milk shake concoctions that are in the festival barn. Apparently they blend brownies and ice cream and other things into a shake and serve it in a mason jar. I stuck with some ice cream though - it was pointed out to me that the ice cream stand across from Red Gold serves a really nice blueberry soft serve so I had to try that out.
Outlaw Run is running smooth and quiet on it's new poly wheels. Hope they don't wear down and get rough though.. OR is not a ride that can tolerate much roughness with how aggressive it is already.
Flooded Mine is looking great. Still some gun issues here and there, but overall it has been thoroughly cleaned and lots of effects are working that haven't in awhile. It was pointed out to me that when you want to push the PTB into working on FM, you don't want to make a complaint, as they will simply see it as the ride being a problem - whereas if you praise the ride and encourage them to work on it they will see it in a different light. They aren't going to invest in a ride that causes complaints when they can just rip it out and replace it with something new, if you get my drift.