Stratford Garlic Festival

[Zana]

2011 Stratford Garlic Festival
Saturday September 11, 2011 9am - 4pm
Sunday September 12, 2011 11am-3pm
Admission $5 per day
Children Under 5 Free

at the old Stratford Fairgrounds (20 Glastonbury Drive, Stratford, Ontario, CANADA)

featuring....

Sonia Day, Toronto Star Gardening Columnist and Author
Bryan Mailey, Garlic Grower
Rose Murray, Chef and Author
Daryll Fletcher, Chef D TV
Warren Ham, August's Harvest
Leslie Beck, RD, Canada's Leading Nutritionist
Karen Stickel, The Silver Spatula
Ted Maczka, (The Fish Lake Garlic Man)
Emily Richards, Cookbook Author
Carrie Wreford, Bradshaws
The Upside of Maybe, Musicians
Strings 'N Traps, Musicians
Festival City Big Band, Musicians
Kirstie Carter, Musician
and lots more....

Especially interesting:

Saturday Night - "Glorious Garlic Dining Experience - The Festival Edition"
A Gourmet garlic dinner - featuring food by Food At Your Fingertips; wines by Pelee Island Winery, entertainment by Strings 'N Traps; and a silent auction. Advance tickets only.

Sunday Afternoon - Garlic Chef Competition - This is a ticketed event - $5 on a first-come basis!
- Garlic Braiding Workshop - Make your own garlic braid! Ticketed Event limited to 10 Participants

plus a number of renown chefs and garlic experts!

New this year, they're offering bus tours to the garlic festival from Toronto, Bowmanville, Oshawa and Pickering Ontario.

www.stratfordgarlicfestival.com

Presented by the Kiwanis Club of Stratford, Ontario, CANADA

There are supposed to be info / seminars on growing, cooking, vendors, artisans and of course, eating (taste testing) different varieties. Plus musical entertainment and play area for kids and a food court. And did I mention food samples????

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm planning on spending the better part of the weekend there! Yummmmmm....I promise not to breathe on anybody when I come home....ok....maybe just not too hard. LOL

Zana

PS - For those of you who might want to combine garlic with theatre, the possibilities are great in Stratford, the home of The Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The Stratford Shakespeare Festival ( www.stratfordfestival.ca ) has the following playing that weekend:
Friday, September 9th
930am Meet the Festival
2pm Camelot
2pm The Grapes of Wrath
8pm The Merry Wives of Windsor
8pm Jesus Christ Superstar (limited tickets available as I write this)
8pm Shakespear's Will (Closing Night!)
Saturday, September 10th
930am TO Direct (luxury coach from Toronto direct to the Stratford Festival)
11am KW Direct (luxury coach from Kitchener-Waterloo direct to the Stratford Festival)
2pm The Misanthrope
2pm Jesus Christ Superstar
2pm Titus Andronicus
2pm The Little Years
8pm Camelot
8pm The Homecoming
8pm Hosanna
Sunday, September 11th
2pm Twelfth Night
2pm The Grapes of Wrath
2pm Richard III
There are also purchased tours of the Festival, Garden, and Costume, Scenery & Props Warehouse

How to Get There -

By Train
VIA Rail runs daily from various locations, including Toronto and Windsor. Toll-free: 1.888.VIA.RAIL; Internet: www.viarail.ca.

U.S. patrons, please check Amtrak train schedule information to Toronto and London (visit www.amtrak.com or call 1.800.USA.RAIL). VIA Rail offers daily service from these destinations to Stratford.
By Air
Stratford Municipal Airport: For information on passenger services, call 519.272.0933; Internet: http://www.city.stratford.on.ca/site...ty_airport.asp. Canadian Customs information: 1.888.226.7277.

Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF) is located 45 minutes east of Stratford. Phone: 519.648.2256; toll-free: 1.866.648.2256; Internet: http://www.waterlooairport.ca.

London International Airport, (YXU) is located one hour south of Stratford. Phone: 519.452.4015; Internet: http://www.londonairport.on.ca.

By Shuttle
Ground transportation to Stratford is available from the Region of Waterloo International Airport, London Airport and Pearson International Airport in Toronto. Reserve through your travel agent or contact Stratford Airporter. Phone: 519.273.0057; toll-free: 1.888.549.8602; Internet: www.stratfordairporter.com.

[Zana]

Just bumping this thread forward as the festival is this weekend. Hope to see many of you there!

Zana

[Zana]

Ok...I'm home now....and am almost embarrassed to admit how much I bought today. I think I made a convert of one of my neighbours. She'd never been to a garlic festival before. But she was up to the challenge of taste testing all the goodies to be found there.

Got to taste allot of garlic varieties I hadn't before...yummmmm....incredible food....oooooooh yeah. Brought home 10 new cookbooks...ok new to me, but new all the same.....and then there are all the jams, jellies, chutney's, sauces, cheeses, garlic seed, garlic buds, and 2 bushels of tomatoes to make sauce....hmmmmmm....and as much as I'm scratching my head as to how I could spend so much, I don't regret it.

Even bought fudge with garlic, chilies, singapore or madras curry and pumpkin garlic....yummmmmmmmmmmm yummmmmmmmmmmm. Had the most incredible Bison burger with garlic chile squash relish and peach garlic salsa, as well as a garlic honey scone. Bought some pickled garlic eggs, pickled scapes, garlic and habanero pickles, garlic and jalapeno pickles, garlic and sea buckthorn jelly. Frankly....I could've overdosed on garlic today....and have died happy. LOL

Had to laugh....one of the vendors was trying to get me to try Armenian Garlic. But he was worried about the fact it might be too "hot" for me....lol. Told him that as an Armenian, I can't imagine too much garlic or too hot...so bring it on!

Am trying to limit my breathing on anybody who wasn't there. LOL Nahhhhhhhhh......not trying too hard.

Amazingly enough, didn't watch any of the presentations....sighhhhh....was too busy supporting the local economy

Did anybody else make it there? If you didn't too bad, you missed a great festival.

Time for a nap...and then to start prepping the tomatoes for the sauce.

Zana

PS ~ found out that there is a garlic festival scheduled for Sunday September 25th in Toronto at the Evergreen Brick Works. Its supposed to be the first annual one.
Here is the link: http://www.torontogarlicfestival.ca/

[tjg911]

sounds like a great time. what garlic did you buy and is it for planting or eating?

tom

[Zana]

Bought the following for both planting and eating (although some I didn't get allot to eat, more to plant):
Armenian
Asian Tempest
Brown Rose
Brown Saxon
Brown Saxony
Fish Lake 4
Floha
Georgian Crystal (Porcelain)
Hungarian Rose
Japanese
Khabar
Killarney Red
Metechi
Music
Pitarelli
Polish
Siberian

(Not sure if Brown Saxon and Brown Saxony are the same or not....might do a taste test to figure it out. LOL)

Zana

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by Zana

(Not sure if Brown Saxon and Brown Saxony are the same or not....might do a taste test to figure it out. LOL)

Zana

i was wondering the same thing. you have some great varieties there.

tom

[Zana]

Thanks, I went by taste test...and also picked up some of the same varieties I picked up 2 years ago (the last time I attended). Unfortunately I wasn't able to plant those I bought for seed then....although I did get to eat them...so wasn't a total waste. This time I taste tested everything I bought...and some I didn't buy. The most common one grown here in southern Ontario seems to be Music....which frankly didn't seem all that impressive to me. I'll grow it, or try to...but I have others I truly prefer.

Zana