Since moving to CA, I have repeatedly heard people raving about the Gilroy Garlic Festival, which take place every July. Trouble is, we have always been away on vacation … until this year! That’s right, this past weekend I had a chance to attend the Gilroy Garlic Festival; and I am thrilled to be able to share my experience and some photos I took with you all.
Gilroy, CA is known as the Garlic Capitol of the World. We always pass though Gilroy whenever we drive to Los Angeles. You can literally smell the garlic growing out in the fields-there is that much of it! But enough small talk, on to the festival details!
This festival is huge! There are cooking competitions, cooking demos, live music, a teen area and a children’s area, arts & crafts…and of course, Food! Lots of it! Here’s a small sample of some of the culinary delights that were available for purchase: Garlic Bread, Garlic Calamari, Garlic Scampi, Garlic Fries, Garlic Chicken Quesadillas, Fried Garlic, Garlic Chocolate, Garlic Sauteed Mussels, Garlic Jelly, Garlic Veggie Wrap, Garlic Frog Legs, Garlic Chicken Wings, Garlic Kettle Corn, and Garlic Ice Cream! And that’s not even counting the non-garlic food items!
There was a great turnout, everyone loves the Gilroy Garlic Festival!
Cooks hard at work getting peppers cooked for the Pepper Steak Sandwiches.
Wish I had one of these in the backyard! 😉
Lots of cooking demos.
All roads lead to Gourmet Alley!
I spy Garlic Fries!
Close-up of Garlic Fries!
After my hubby tasted the garlic fries, he turned to me and said, “Lots of Garlic!” Ummm, yes dear, that is why they call it a Garlic Festival! 😉
One of the official caps of the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
There were lots of other goodies to purchase besides all the tasty food, come on in and take a look:
I had never seen Garlic Peanuts before…
Got Garlic?
It was a pretty hot day, but no worries, the festival had plenty of shade trees available. They also had something I had never seen at a festival before… cooling stations, which they called Rain Rooms!
Yep, those are misters inside the Rain Room! My little one thought the Rain Room was the coolest thing ever, he enjoyed cooling off every chance he got!
Several vendors were giving out samples, they’re a great way to introduce people to your products. If there were one tip I could give to vendors, it would be have samples available for people to try. I am much more likely to purchase something if I have had a chance to try it first! 
Garlic Olive Oil samples
McDonald’s knows all about handing out samples- they were all set up and passing out their new McCafe Cherry Berry Chiller. Great way to cool down on a hot day!
Thanks for the Cherry Berry Chiller, it hit the spot!
Not to be outdone, the festival was also passing out samples…of Garlic Ice Cream! I was so amped to try it out. At first, it tasted like regular vanilla…but then it hit me, that garlic packs a punch!
My Garlic Ice Cream sample. They were handing these out by the handfuls, most people were given 3 or 4…I plead the 5th!
It was a beautiful day, and folks were enjoying themselves. There was a rock wall…
that was extremely popular and a zip line…
in the teen area that was also a big hit with everyone. You wanna see more food pics, don’t you?! Yeah, I knew it!
I had never seen ice cream, much less Garlic Ice Cream, served with cantaloupe before. But that’s exactly what they were doing. They would slice a cantaloupe in half, clean out the seeds and then put a scoop of ice cream in the hole. How cool is that?
Here’s a guy with his ice cream in a cantaloupe – I love this idea!
My mouth is on fire just looking at this photo of Garlic Chipotle Wings!
I enjoyed watching all the chefs cook.
Isn’t he cute?
Everywhere I looked, people were having fun, laughing and enjoying themselves. Like the folks below, jamming out to the band “Drive.”
Shake whatcha Momma gave ya!
In case you are wondering, the festival does sell alcoholic beverages… beer, wine, sangria, mimosas. I was quite happy with my Maui Wowie Smoothie, it was delicious!!!!
Bet you don’t see this everyday!!
I was pleased to see plenty of police presence at the festival. Anytime there is alcohol being served, there is always a chance that someone might get a little tipsy… and rowdy! I would’t advise it…
The festival was a blast and I would highly recommend you check it out of you are ever near Gilroy, CA in July. Even if you’re not near…make plans to attend & be there! I must give a shout-out to Mr. Peter Ciccarelli, Media Relations Chief. He personally welcomed me & my family to the festival and I could tell how much the Gilroy Garlic Festival means to him. I also want to give a shout-out to Jerrod Nichols, also with Media Relations.
Jerrod Nichols
Thank you both for helping make our first Garlic Festival so memorable. 😀
We’ll be back!!!
