It’s mid-summer, and that means garlic, lots and lots of garlic. The Gilroy Garlic Festival opens its doors and exhales July 27 – 29 for what’s billed as “the Ultimate Food Fair.”
Sited an hour-and-a-half south of San Francisco, gastronomy and garlic meld for a breathtaking (literally) weekend expected to draw some 100,000 garlic devotees. Many of them will pay a visit to Gourmet Alley, home of superb scampi, calamari, stuffed mushrooms, pepper steak sandwiches, pasta with pesto and the like – essentially all foods that benefit from the succulent, smelly herb.
Friday the 27th the Cook-Off Stage is the setting for the “So You Think You Can Cook with Garlic” extravaganza. Saturday’s “Great Garlic Cook-off” is similarly sizzling, as the South Bay air mingles with the unmistakable aroma of gobs of garlic. All this leads up to the biggie: The Sunday, July 27 “Garlic Showdown,” where professional chefs get to show the crowd how to wring the most from a clove of garlic.
Of all the senses this coming weekend the olfactory reigns, but the aural isn’t far behind. There’s music for just about every taste, served up from a trio of stages. Country artists Dustin Lynch will be at Gilroy. There’s a bodacious Elvis tribute set for the festival as well.
Where there’s a festival of this size there are bound to be arts and crafts booths. This year, Gilroy will sport a bunch. More than 100 artists and craftspeople from throughout the country plan to peddle their wares at the South Bay shindig.
If you’re wondering what to do with the kids, being ‘em. There’s a Children’s Area.
(Image: jillmotts)
