Life, Hyphenated: Traditions: Garlic Festival 2012

Many Garlic Cloves Were Harmed in the Making of This Festival

This past Labor Day holiday, we stepped out of our usual daily activities, packed an exorbitant amount of baby gear, clothing, and minor essentials, climbed into the car, cruised across the greeness of Michigan, coasted through the boring parts of Ohio (sorry Toledo, but it's true), enjoyed the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania, and finally made it thirteen hours later to our destination: Jess and Marcus' Apartment. And where, you ask, is this? Why it's just two short hours (or long hours if you have a tired infant traveling with you), from the one and only GARLIC FESTIVAL, of course!

A special note of pronunciation and dramatization: Whenever saying GARLIC FESTIVAL, you must pronounce it as if you have wicked-awesome garlic breath, otherwise it's no fun. Say it. Say it now. GARLIC FESTIVAL AHHHHHHHH. Good job.

Now, one thing you should know is that we are Professional GARLIC FESTIVALers. This was our third time attending, and we've learned a few things along the way. But first and foremost, I need to introduce the champions of this year's GARLIC FESTIVAL:

Action Shot of the Pro's: Brad, Quincy, Marcus, & Jess

As I was the photographer for most of the festival, this was one of the few normal shots taken:

Maggie, Garlic Festival 2012 Photographer

Why go to the GARLIC FESTIVAL, you ask? Because it's all about the food. Specifically, food laced (not-so-secretly) with garlic. Below is one of the more garlic-themed food stands. Fifty imaginary garlic points to whoever can guess how many times garlic appears in the photo!

Garlictastic.

First, we wandered around, scoping out the various food stands and attractions, and then we pounced. Our feast was comprised of an eclectic group of garlic goodness, though I have a confession: The pierogis and potato pancakes I devoured (before taking photographic evidence of their decadence) had no such garlic, but what it lacked in garlic, it made up in onion breath. Thankfully, Marcus donated some of the garlic sauce that came with his fries, so I wasn't thrown to the garlicless crowd. Here were some components of the feast:

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Coconut Shrimp, Side of Bottled Water

Freshly Squeezed Lemonade

Garlic Drenched French Fries

Garlic Chocolate Chip Cookie

Blueberry Lemonade

Corn on the Cob (first dipped in a vat of butter) with All the Fixin's

We unfortunately continued another tradition with the GARLIC FESTIVAL, which is to not try Garlic Ice Cream.

Will We Ever Love It? Sadly, I Don't Know.

This was our third year of seeking out the (in)famous treat, only to find it had been sold out. Maybe next year we will have the (good? bad?) fortune as to finally taste the elusive Garlic Ice Cream.

If you decide to attend any future GARLIC FESTIVALS, be sure to watch for this sign:

If you see it, RUN AWAY. Or, use the fact that you're nursing an infant, and it could spoil your milk supply, causing said infant to be fussy and irritable, to excuse yourself from any competition - as I did. If you aren't able to avoid Vinegar Shots, this is what you'll look like:

Cheers

Ready

Oh Em Gee, That's Awful.

Baaaaaawww, It Tastes Like Choking

Try Another?

Be sure to stop by the honey vendor for delicious honey.

Honey

And also try a sample of Garlic Honey, or Hot Garlic Honey - they were actually pretty good!

Garlic Honey

And, to close out this post about the GARLIC FESTIVAL, I thought I'd share some additional photos from the day. Thank you Jess & Marcus for an awesome weekend!