Our friend Winnie Finbar came to visit this past Friday and left on Monday, reeking of garlic. Winnie is a member of the Niagara Reformed Presbyterian Church, of which we were members while in Buffalo, and she's the one who first filled our heads with visions of the great Hudson Valley Garlic Festival. Her husband Dave, who died several months after we became members, took her there about five years ago, and they regaled us with its wonders. So, long story short, we invited her to join us in attendence this year, along with Pastor Jones and his wife Mitzi, good people all.
Thousands of people were there, milling around too many booths to visit in one day, all eating garlic or garlic-infused foods. I'm sure that even the zydeco band, bluegrass pluckers, and puppet show masters were garlic-related in some way.
We had a wonderful time.
In that case, I feel bad for royalty!
ReplyDeleteThe garlic festival looks SO much better than the wilderness festival. Yum yum yum for so many samples. Did they offer up recipes for build-a-belly and her faithful followers?
ReplyDeleteFestival season, I have discovered, is kind of unique to the northeast, and nowhere is it more zealously obvserved than western New York. I enjoy how most little towns have a festival of some sort. My favorites from Houghton days were the Wyoming Apple-Umpkin festival and the Cohocton Fall Foliage festival. My least favorite, was that pathetic excuse to put on a yard sale in Caneadea- the Indian Summer Festival.
ReplyDeleteI'm living vicariously through your blog.
No recipes, only yummy jarred and bottled sauces that we had to PAY for. Can you imagine the nerve! Suffice it to say, we enjoyed the samples, but came home with empty pockets. (That's not entirely true. John emptied a dozen toothpicks from sampling out of his sweatshirt after we got home...)
ReplyDeleteJosh,
Did you ever go to the Portageville Potato Festival? I went senior year (Sarah was there, too, I think), and it was wonderful. It was my excuse to ride on a rickety machine that almost toppled over and to buy some stick taffy. A very good day, all thanks to western New York's love affair with festivals.
I did not misspell "sticky."
ReplyDeleteStick taffy is a disappearing treat at New York festivals, it seems. It is highly superior to the saltwater taffy that is replacing it, though, in its shape and in its taste.
Favorite stick taffy flavors? I'm glad you asked...
Cinnamon (the best)
Spearmint
Chocolate
Peanut Butter
+ any other, really