With great food, music, chef demonstrations, contests, and more food, these festivals are a fun and affordable activity to enjoy with family and friends. Grown across the U.S, there are festivals devoted to garlic planned in every corner of the country.
Here are a few of the garlicky highlights to whet your appetite:
Delray Beach Garlic Fest – February 13 – 15, 2009, Delray Beach, Florida. In its tenth year, the Delray Beach Garlic Festival offers food, music and fun to suit many tastes. Along Gourmet Alley you can try dishes ranging from Grilled Garlic Argentine BBQ to Garlic, Spinach & Artichoke Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms. Cooking demonstrations and competitions are also a main attraction (they even have a special Valentine’s Day demonstration featuring Chocolate Mousse with Garlic Ice cream).
Gilroy Garlic Festival - July 24 – 26, 2009, Gilroy, California. The mother of all garlic festivals, the Gilroy Garlic Festival started in 1979 and grew in attendance to 107,000 happy garlic eaters in 2008. Plan to enjoy Garlic Ice Cream with Cantaloupe, Cajun Crawdads and Garlic Fried Green Tomatoes, and Garlic Almonds (among other amazing treats). From gourmet nibbles, to recipe contests and cooking demonstrations, to the crowning of Miss Gilroy Garlic, this is a must attend for anyone travelling in California in July.
Glorious Garlic Festival – August 1 & 2, 2009, Penn Yan, New York. In its 17th year hosted at the Fox Run Vineyards, the Glorious Garlic Festival serves up some great garlicky fare. Last year’s cooking demonstrations included recipes by local chefs for Apricot, Black Bean and Garlic Scape Salsa, and Skordalia (a garlic mashed potato dish). Go for the food vendors, the cooking demonstrations and to learn a bit more about garlic.
The World’s Twelfth Annual Elephant Garlic Festival – August 7 – 9, North Plains, Oregon. Although technically not garlic in the traditional Allium sativum sense, this celebration of its milder cousin goes by the motto that “fun stinks!” With food merchants, arts and craft vendors, a garlic festival road race, a garlic festival car show, and a “Smelly King & Queen”, the Elephant Garlic Festival holds its own in this list of 2009 garlic festivals.
Hudson Valley Garlic Festival - September 26 – 27, 2009, Saugerties, New York. Boasting over 24,800 attendees in 2008, the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival weekend is full of sights, sounds and aromas; visit the Garlic Marketplace, Garlic Food Alley, watch a cooking demonstration or listen to music. As for the food, you can feast on many specialties, including: venison sausage, deep fried pickles, garlic soup, garlic sauerkraut, garlic chocolate, and of course, garlic bread. If it can be cooked with garlic, you can pretty much find it at the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival.
Virginia Wine and Garlic Festival – October 11 & 12, 2009, Amherst, Virginia. What goes better with garlic than a great glass of wine and a little music? Check out the Virginia Wine & Garlic Festival at Rebec Vineyards for garlic contests like the Monster Garlic Hunt and the Rebec Garlic Cook-off, or try garlicky goat kabobs with basmati rice (and much more), or be sure to buy some garlic stuffed olives and garlic jalapeno pepper jam to take home with you.
Many more festivals are planned around the country. Look for garlic festivals near you and you’re almost sure to find one someplace you’d like to visit. Just leave Fido at home, most if not all of these festivals are “pet-free” events. Have some fun!
Source: DestinationFood.com.
Deborah Wojcicki - Debbie lives in New England and is an avid herb gardener, foodie and dog lover. In addition to Suite 101, Debbie has been published in The ...
