Hey David,
Glad to help you out with this issue as well!
Let me start by saying that sp_get_venue is deprecated and should use tribe_get_venue instead. Also use tribe_get_address instead of sp_get_address. Regarding the categories in text format you can add the snippet below to your theme’s (or child theme’s) functions.php file:
if ( class_exists('Tribe__Events__Main') ){
/* get event category names in text format */
function tribe_get_text_categories ( $event_id = null ) {
if ( is_null( $event_id ) ) {
$event_id = get_the_ID();
}
$event_cats = '';
$term_list = wp_get_post_terms( $event_id, Tribe__Events__Main::TAXONOMY );
foreach( $term_list as $term_single ) {
$event_cats .= $term_single->name . ', ';
}
return rtrim($event_cats, ', ');
}
}
Once the code is in place you can call the function in the template: echo tribe_get_text_categories ();.
Please give a try and let me know if it works for you,
Best,
Nico