Decades ago when this festival was up and coming, and I lived in Tempe, I would go to this street fair as we called it then two or three times while it was going on. Today I went with a friend. The festival has grown by blocks now. It's pretty big, I think they claim 400 vendors! That has to include the food vendors.
I had my fry bread taco. It was super good and $9 bucks. I looked for something to buy but left with nothing. The things I liked most were huge home items and big ticket prices. I saw a few handbags of interest but not within my budget either. It use to be that this festival would have jewelry, matted photography and pottery a college student could afford. That's still my budget this year, unfortunately - but such priced things could not be located here this year. So I'm disappointed with the festival offerings.
Parking covered & uncovered was $10 if you could not find free street parking. There wasn't enough ice cream vendors in my opinion but there was plenty of food vendors and the neighboring eateries were also busy and offering variety.
The entertainment was very limited. I hope they will seek more entertainment in the future especially since they claim its one of the top 20 street festivals in the country. Otherwise there isn't much to stick around for unless you have deep pockets or want creative ideas.