Garlic fest a sensory overload

(There must be tons of garlic for sale at the festival!)

There's one food festival in the Hudson Valley you can smell before you even pull into the parking lot — that's the annual Hudson Valley Garlic Festival.

Now in its 20th year, the festival takes over Cantine Field in Saugerties the last weekend in September.

Its humble beginnings are all due to Pat Reppert, fondly referred to as the Goddess of Garlic, who decided to have a garlic dinner party at her home on Shale Hill Farm in Saugerties 19 years ago. Thinking only about 40 people would turn out for the event, Pat was surprised when hundreds turned up at her doorstop, eager to imbibe on the "stinking rose."

The "dinner party" grew by the hundreds in the few years that followed, with pre-sale tickets selling out a month before the event.

That's when Pat, pictured to the right in a great photo by Carmen Troesser/The Journal News, decided to get some help and turned to the Kiwanis Club of Saugerties, pitching the notion this could become the garlic festival of the East Coast. Proceeds from the eating extravaganza are turned back into the community (admission is $7 at the gate; $5 in advance) and there are now hundreds of vendors, exhibitors, workshops, music and more to feed the body and the mind.

Garlic-infused delicacies run the gamut from chocolate-covered garlic caramels from Oliver Kita in Rhinebeck to Guido's Garlic Ice Cream.

The festival is held rain or shine, so my husband and I decided to go Sunday, umbrella and tote bags in hand.

Here are some of the scenes from this year's fete:

In case your nose couldn't lead you to Cantine Field, this giant garlic bulb balloon hovered high in the skies over the fields in Saugerties, showing the way.

I was out of honey so we made a beeline over to Swarmbustin' Honey to see what the folks from Pennsylvania had for sale.

They brought some of their workers with them, honey bees, that is, and they weren't on leashes, so M braved the buzzed-out tasting area to sample the honey. We couldn't decide among the clover, half and half and the fall flower honeys, but after tasting them all, M said the fall flower was the most flavorful, so we bought a quart of that. The vendor said it was made from mostly Japanese bamboo flowers.

I knew I had to get over to Gary's Pickles from Middletown, because the last time we went to the festival, we got there a bit late and the pickles were all sold out — and we're talking barrels of pickles. While I waited on line, I took some photos. I had my mind set on some of the Hot & Spicy and the Full Sour pickles.

That's Dennis McKeon of Garys' Pickles serving up some of the goods. I think the pickle juice was starting to get to him!

There were all kinds of products for sale at the festival. As long garlic was one of the ingredients, vendors could sell their wares. This Garlic Ginger Chutney from Chutney * Masala was really tasty.

There were at least three pesto vendors there; this one was Whole in the Wall, which made me think of the passing of actor Paul Newman this weekend and his charity, Hole in the Wall Camp.

The pesto folks claim to have the "Best Pesto in the Universe." It was really good, especially the "double shot" of garlic pesto. I really like Buddha Pesto out of Bearsville, too. They use "free range" basil to make their pesto, which "enlightens your taste buds." Hey, you'd get a little loopy, too, if you were hawking samples to thousands of people over the weekend!

That's Big John and Muriel, aka Mr. and Mrs. Garlic, posing with one of the festival-goers. You've got to love Big John's hat!

This was a pretty piece of garlic art at one of the booths.

After all that noshing, we started to get really hungry, so we headed over to the Vegetarian Oasis for something substantial. The festival is totally vegetarian-friendly, and in case you weren't sure what foods were vegetarian, the program had a separate page for Vegetarian Food "at a Glance."
I have to say we were disappointed New World Home Cooking didn't have a booth this year. That is usually our first stop— we make Ric Orlando's blackened string beans and garlic smashed potatoes our appetizers for the day. Ric was there giving a chef lecture in the tent, but there was no sign of his booth — hope you come back next year, Ric!

We opted for the whole wheat quesadilla from the Vegetarian Oasis, complete with lavish helpings of hot sauce on the side.

After we finished the quesadilla, we were drawn to one of the performance tents after hearing Renee Bailey singing with Revel at Midnight. They were really good! The hay bales were packed with folks sitting and watching; others got up to dance between the bales — all good fun, for sure.

There was lots of garlic-themed clothing for sale, such as these T-shirts that "Reeks of Charm!"

A Native-American musician was playing a beautiful flute in this booth that had some really nice T-shirts with a message.

There was even garlic-bulb jewelry for sale — now what fashionable lady wouldn't like to have a pair of these baubles dangling from her ears?

Stages were set up all around the festival. On our way out, we came across the sounds of Captain Squeeze and the Zydeco Moshers, who were playing a killer rendition of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Cold Shot." We had to stop and listen for a while.

The stage was near the garlic growers, so we had to stop by to buy some more of the bulbs. This garlic sported many prize-winning ribbons from the Altamont State Fair.

The Antolini Plantation growers from Syracuse have the proud distinction of being vendors for all 20 years of the garlic festival. That's pretty impressive.

In case you missed this great local event, mark your calendars for next year and save the last weekend in September to sample your way through garlic heaven.