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Vermont Garlic Festival this weekend

18 years ago

The Vermont Stinks - Garlic & Herb Festival is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday 10-5. I am planning on attending it Saturday for the first time. It isn't as huge as the one in Saugerties New York, but the timing seems much better, and it is closer to home. Maybe I will even meet a forum member there!

Here is a link that might be useful: Vermont Garlic Festival

Comments (4)

gardenlad
18 years ago
So, John, how was the festival?
UncleJohn
Original Author
18 years ago
The festival was decent, small but decent. There were probably 40-50 vendors there, maybe a dozen with seed stock. German White was the most common variety available, but as I already grow German Extra Hardy, I did not grab any. Whit I did end up getting was:

Hungarian - which I have never heard of, but had decent size and looked nice

Temptress - not huge, but well presented, and I liked the farm

Israeli - mainly for novelty; they were smallish, and I since discovered that Israeli is among those that Filaree is discontinuing because it does not do well for them

Elmer's Topset - I bought this one because they looked decent and the growers were very nice. They were given the original bulbs by their neighbor (Elmer) about fifteen years ago, and it has thrived to the point where they no longer grow any other kind of garlic. They do not know the true strain, but think it might be Purple Glazer. To my uneducated eye, I can't tell if it looks like my Purple Glzaers or not. I will probably grow them adjacent to each other next year to try and figure it out.

It was nice to go to a festival with farms who had very similar climates, I am glad that I went. Several vendors said they prefer the lower key atmosphere, but next year I will probably go the the Saugerties, New York festival which is 6-10 time the size, I am told. That is a 3.5 hour drive, and with gas prices where they are, and with plenty of seed stock for this fall, I am not going this Fall.
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I picked up several varieties at the Vermont Garlic Festival for which I cannot find descriptions at any of the online stores I frequent. Does anyone know of an online encyclopedia of garlic types and descriptions. I am looking for descriptions for Bulgarian, Israeli (Filaree used to grow this, but is stopping after this year and no longer has a description), Temptress, and Elmer's Topset (this is of unknown origin named after the neighbor who gave them the seedstock, possibly Purple Glazer). Thanks...
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OK, first-hand report. I love the Garlic Festival. It is one of my favorite annual events. Weather was good this weekend, so the festival attracted roughly 50,000 persons. The entertainment is excellent, with musicians on several stages, and even Morris dancers near one of the entrances. There are plenty of other fun activities, but of course we go for the garlic. The marketplace is the main event. In addition to the dozens of growers from New York, I saw growers from Virginia, Ohio and Ontario. I expect there were also growers from Pennsylvania and Vermont, as there have been in the past, but I tried to zip through the marketplace. I came home with three pounds of purple shallots, four pounds of Mediterranean softneck garlic, and a pound each of the hardneck varieties Danube Rose, Italian Red, and a numbered variety whose number eludes me for the moment. These get added to the Italian Purple Stripe, German White, Marino, and Mediterranean Softneck I have left from my garden. My wife bought some more ornamental alliums from Ulster County Cooperative Extension. As mentioned in another thread, I'll be planting garlic and shallots sometime in October (or early November), sometime after frost, after tomatoes and peppers have been pulled up. The crafts tent is very good, and an excellent way to occupy the younger family members while going from booth to booth buying garlic. The crafts tent asks for a suggested donation of only a dollar per child. Other children's activities include a climbing wall and a bounce house and big slide. With tens of thousands of visitors, food lines could be long, but I got some kachori and mango lassi from Chataka. Heck even if lines weren't an issue this might be what I'd want to eat. My wife got a garlicky pork sandwich, and my daughter got a hot dog from a boy scout troup. So now we need to wait nearly 52 weeks until the next Garlic Festival, but the allium year progresses. I need to make space for garlic, and plant and mulch garlic. In spring I get to watch the garlic grow. The scapes appear at about the time the weather turns warm. Garlic gets harvested in July, cures a bit and gets eaten. Then it's time to buy tickets for the 2005 Hudson Valley Garlic Festival.
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gardenlad
18 years ago
Probably for the best that your first festival was a smaller one, John. Saugerties can be a real zoo.

Sounds like you had a great time, though.

Can you tell us more about the Hungarian? Hard or softneck? Any color to it? Etc. My wife is of Hungarian extraction, and it might be fun to grow it for her.
UncleJohn
Original Author
18 years ago
Garden Lad - The Bulgarian is a hardneck. The five bulbs I purchased were quite large (averaging 2.25"), the wrappers are pretty intact, and I can't see much color behind them, other than a little purple striping on one of them. I might be willing to trade for one bulb, or else I can try digging up contact info for the farm I purchased them from.

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