Festival in Cantine Field, Saugerties on September 25-26 well worth the trip! Almost continuous musical entertainment, a nice cluster of craft booths, lots and lots of FOOD -- if you go away hungry, it's no one's fault but your own -- there's something for everyone -- as long as you love garlic, of course! (Best, IMHO, is the creamy garlic soup!)

Both soft-necked and hard-necked varieties of garlic are available in wreaths, bunches bags for decoration or cooking. Loose garlic cloves, available by the pound, are the most economical and perfect for planting. We prep the planting area beforehand, attend the festival on Saturday and plant on Sunday (or the very next dry day!)

C'mon up and have a very pleasant day -- don't forget a light jacket -- it's cooler here than in Central Jersey!

Hey, cccatcrazy, never tried the soup, but my vote was for the ravioli in creamy garlic basil sauce....mmmmmm.

We had fun when we went. It was a really nice day, great weather, lots to see and do. Even my four year old loved it! You have to go at least once.

We've been to the Gilroy Garlic Festival and the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival and think Hudson Valley wins hands down! You can find tons of varieties to plant from the garlic farmers, delicious food and interesting herbs and crafts. Well worth a trip.

Well worth the ride. there is music but it's an enhancment.
I'm from Saugerties and think it's the greatest. USA Said so Three years ago.

Boo. I'll be in California the weekend of the Saugerties fest.

Anything else in the area to plan for that's great this fall?

Just past were the Lenox, Mass. tomato festival, the Hudson Valley Wine Fest, and Taste of New Paltz (9/12). Here are a few others:

Eastern States Expo (9/17 - 10/3)

Saugerties garlic festival (9/25-26)

Virginia Wine & Garlic festival (10/9-10)

The New York Sheep and Wool festival (10/16-17)

Not to mention the Vermont and Maryland sheep and wool festivals, among many more.

The Valley Table, distributed free, is a good source for upcoming events.

Another wonderful outing to mark on the calendar for next year is the Dutchess County Fair in late August. An offbeat treat, around the same time, is the annual Blueberry Festival in the little town of Ellenville.

Also: the Hudson Valley Ramble, a series of outdoor events all over the region starting this weekend.

That sheep and wool festival is super - lots of handicrafts, spinning, weaving, knitting - supplies (not just wool yarn but other kinds of yarn, rovings for spinning, patterns, needles, wheels, spindles....) sheepskin slippers, gloves,clothing, steering wheel covers!! llamas, goats, rabbits, grilled lambchops from Adams (save room for lunch), sheep dog demonstration - don't miss it.

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents - The Warwick Applefest is lots of fun, too! http://www.warwickapplefest.com/ There are great crafts, delicious food, music and places to go apple picking. There's always a huge turnout so get there early.

There's a nice article in the New York Times about New York-grown garlic, with a mention of the Saugerties festival. (It will be published in Wednesday's print edition.)

Any first-hand reports from the festival, by the way?

OK, first-hand report. I love the Garlic Festival. It is one of my favorite annual events. Weather was good this weekend, so the festival attracted roughly 50,000 persons.

The entertainment is excellent, with musicians on several stages, and even Morris dancers near one of the entrances. There are plenty of other fun activities, but of course we go for the garlic.

The marketplace is the main event. In addition to the dozens of growers from New York, I saw growers from Virginia, Ohio and Ontario. I expect there were also growers from Pennsylvania and Vermont, as there have been in the past, but I tried to zip through the marketplace.

I came home with three pounds of purple shallots, four pounds of Mediterranean softneck garlic, and a pound each of the hardneck varieties Danube Rose, Italian Red, and a numbered variety whose number eludes me for the moment. These get added to the Italian Purple Stripe, German White, Marino, and Mediterranean Softneck I have left from my garden. My wife bought some more ornamental alliums from Ulster County Cooperative Extension.

As mentioned in another thread, I'll be planting garlic and shallots sometime in October (or early November), sometime after frost, after tomatoes and peppers have been pulled up.

The crafts tent is very good, and an excellent way to occupy the younger family members while going from booth to booth buying garlic. The crafts tent asks for a suggested donation of only a dollar per child. Other children's activities include a climbing wall and a bounce house and big slide.

With tens of thousands of visitors, food lines could be long, but I got some kachori and mango lassi from Chataka. Heck even if lines weren't an issue this might be what I'd want to eat. My wife got a garlicky pork sandwich, and my daughter got a hot dog from a boy scout troup.

So now we need to wait nearly 52 weeks until the next Garlic Festival, but the allium year progresses. I need to make space for garlic, and plant and mulch garlic. In spring I get to watch the garlic grow. The scapes appear at about the time the weather turns warm. Garlic gets harvested in July, cures a bit and gets eaten. Then it's time to buy tickets for the 2005 Hudson Valley Garlic Festival.

Thanks for the mouth-watering description, Steve.