I did this one the first 2 years, and it's far-and-away my favorite ride of the year. I'm planning on either the 23 or the 42-mile route this year, depending on whether my husband decides to ride with me. Here's my recap from last year (the music link doesn't work anymore).
As you can probably tell from the recap, I love this ride. The scenery is lovely, the route is challenging (for me, anyway), and it's extremely well supported. I've never stayed for the meal/festival afterward, so I can't speak to that. The poker run is fun...though I never even got close to winning either year.