Want some gum?
Posted on 07/24/2009 12:07:27 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Pack your breath mints. The 31st annual Garlic Fest has kicked off in Gilroy which will be home this weekend to 10 tons of garlic beef, 4 tons of garlic pasta, another 4 of garlic calamari, a couple tons of garlic scampi, loads of garlic frog legs, several slices of garlic watermelon, tubs of garlic ice cream and loaves upon loaves of garlic bread.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to show up at Christmas Hill park to take in the aroma that will be wafting throughout the town. We're not kidding. You can smell the garlic as you head south on 101 towards Gilroy. Plan accordingly. The traffic on the way to the festival - uh, stinks. www.gilroygarlicfestival.com
Nuts! Missed it again.
sniff sniff.. not yet .. but the winds should be wafting the odor this direction soon.
Boiled cabbage.
I don’t go any more because there are just too many folks. When I used to go, this was one of THE BEST food festivals ever
Stinkiest food fair because neo-pagan hippies from the Bay who forgo deodorant, bathing, laundry detergent, etc. will be serving the cuisine, no?
Want some gum?
IMO garlic smells great! (this coming from someone who just ordered a lb. of limburger :)
Keep your ears pealed for a song called “Garlic Bread” by Gary & Larry.
It’s an instrumental from the late 1950s or early 1960s, like Tequila. Except instead of shouting the song title, a man just lets out a “breath” of garlic mouth and the music sounds more like Barry Gordy’s Money...
Hear a sample of the mp3 on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=garlic+bread
Agree.
You ain’t smelled nothing stinky until you’ve smelled “stinky tofu”.
They should hold this at Purdue University, good ol’ P.U.!
I saw a film documentary on it that was shot in the 1970s. I saw this short film within the last 2 years.
It’s a long running festival.
I went for the first ten years. Then the crowds just got ridiculous. For a ‘small town’ affair it draws hundreds of thousands. Unfortunately, the space available is not that great and between sweaty bodies and belching beer drinkers, it just lost its charm. Same thing happened with the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. Went for the first 8 years. Great pies and contests, some local artists, lots of fresh produce. Like a small country fair used to be. Now it is a freaking zoo.
Ah well, I guess I am getting cranky as I get older
Didn’t they have a biker problem for a while ?
Gilroy, CA - the only city in the world where you can marinate a steak by holding it out your car window.
I’m just up the road in San Jose, but I’m skipping town for the weekend.
We went the first year we lived in the Bay Area, back in about 2001, because everyone told us that you have to go at least once. I will echo those who said that the crowds are just WAY too huge. We were stuck in a traffic jam on southbound 101 for at least an hour, creeping into a parking lot. Then, we had to wait in line for one of the numerous tour busses that they were using as shuttles from the parking lot to the actual festival itself.
The festival was fun, but nothing too special. A typical small town festival with food booths, arts and crafts booths, some rides, and such, all with a garlic theme. It was just much LARGER than most small town festivals. More of everything. Including people. We had garlic ice cream for the first and last time (basicly seemed to be vanilla ice cream with garlic juice poured in as an extra ingredient while they were making it - yuck!!).
All in all, it was fun, but for the reasons stated above, once was enough.
We have not yet been to the Pumpkin Festival in Half Moon Bay that someone mentioned above. I suppose we will have to try that some year. But getting into Half Moon Bay is a LOT more crowded than getting into Gilroy because there are basicly only two ways into town. So, we may wait a few MORE years before we attempt that one!!
Gilroy is not even close to San Francisco.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.