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MN Garlic Festival's Stinky News

September 2008


NEWS FLASHES:
- 2008 Festival Report - the Numbers
- Cool Articles about the Festival
- Mayors Square Off


2008 Festival Report — the Numbers

This was our most successful festival yet!  We were blessed with excellent weather, and 1906 garlic lovers walked through the front gate. This is almost 2.5 times higher than last year!  It seems word is getting out that you can have a great time enjoying locally produced healthy foods and fine entertainment, while learning about the sustainable farming movement in MN.  

Our decision to combine the Chef Cooking Demos with the performances on the same stage was met with universal approval, as we ping-ponged nonstop between music, food, dance and magic. The chefs tantalized us with garlicky treats like Lori Valenziano's sausage, Lucia Watson's summer succatosh, Phillip Becht's milk roasted garlic, and Phil Werst's aioli (View several of the recipes!).  

The Mu Taiko Drummers thundered, Mariénne and the Shovel Girls sang more songs about garlic than are allowed in polite company, Star Michaelina wowed us with incredible illusions, and the Jawaahir dancers mesmerized us with mystical movement.  The Fjord Horse carriage carried fascinated riders; kids competed in games, made and played musical instruments, and built and flew kites;  fuzzy animals were petted;  lots of garlic was eaten and even more was carried home to happy kitchens.  A stinky time was had by all!

And, just in case you didn't get enough, here's a list of the festival garlic growers:

Coffman Garlic, Tom Coffman, 507-475-7005
Dakota Garlic
, Gene Raak, 507-442-3587
Joel Girardin,
507-263-5897
Hawk's Brain Garlic
, Susan Johnson,  651-388-7510
Living Song
, Jerry Ford, 320-543-3394
Sun Fresh Foods
, Paul & Karen Schmidt,  507-765-4782
Hixton Blue Collar Cafe/Earth Star Farms
, Nika Charles, 715-963-4031

A veritable cornucopia of local foods filled the booths, and though some of us were caught off guard by your overwhelming, but greatly appreciated demand, we did our best to keep up.  We've learned the delightful lesson that Minnesotans now realize the value of local, healthy and delicious foods, and we'll be more than ready next year!


Cool Articles about the Festival

Read a blog by Sue Doeden, Food Columnist at several papers in NW MN and ND: http://www.areavoices.com/sdoeden/ And there's the Bemidji Pioneer article with some VIDEOS of the festival at: http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/collections/index.cfm?collection=nowwerecookin  

Mayors Square Off

We were honored to have as our guests Howard Lake Mayor Richard Lammers and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.  Mayor Lammers participated in the opening ceremony—"throwing out the first bulb"—accompanied by the Howard Lake Royalty, and the two mayors met later in the day.

Following is an actual transcript of a conversation that did not occur between the two mayors, and which bears a striking resemblance to the kind of gratuitous tripe that the journalistic and editing staff of The Stinky News fabricate just to get a laugh:

Mayor Rybak (munching a garlic brat):  "Mayor Lammers, how did you get MN Garlic Festival here in your quaint LITTLE town?"

Mayor Lammers (squeezing baked garlic on pita bread): "Well, the fairgrounds are run by the county, so we couldn't stop them if we wanted to.  I'd say they kinda snuck in."

Rybak: "You must be very proud.  It's quite a boon for your LITTLE town."

Lammers:  "Hey, we've got over 1,800 people here that are so well behaved, we don't even need a stoplight."

Rybak:  "In Minneapolis, we've got 1,800 people who RUN stoplights every day."

Lammers:  "Yeah, well we've got our municipal liquor store and a bar in the same historic building that once housed the City Hall, library AND the police station."

Rybak:  "So what?  We've got more festivals than you can shake a stick at!"

Lammers:  "Oh yeah?  Well, we've got Wright County Fair, Good Neighbor Days, the Mule and Donkey Expo, AND Minnesota Garlic Festival."

Rybak (obviously flustered, spilling his fresh squeezed lemonade): "Uh . . . well . . ummm. . . YOUR TOWN STINKS!"

Lammers: "Oh, well thank you, Mayor!  I think that's the nicest thing I've heard all day."


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MN Garlic Festival is produced by the Crow River Chapter of Sustainable Farming Association of MN.

 

 


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