THE WEDGE CO-OP LOCAL FOODS/LOCAL ARTS STAGE
Celebrity Chef Demos
Every hour, under the direction of our Chef Wrangler and Maven of Mmmm, Mary Jane Miller!
The Garlic Diva
Her Royal Pungentness, Allicin Alio, the reigning Garlic Diva of the Known Universe, the Vanquisher of Vampires, the Princess of Pesto, etc., etc., returns to the festival to perform songs about the King of Herbs and other gastronomical adventures, while giving practical tips on using garlic to improve your love life. Offstage, she is Kitty Karn, a Professor of Musical Theatre at Western Illinois University and veteran of the operatic and musical theatre stage. The Garlic Diva will be joined by the sensational songstress, Mariénne Kreitlow, composer of the top 10 hits about garlic.
Mu Community Taiko Drummers
The Mu Community Taiko Drummers (www.muperformingarts.org) return with their highly physical and riveting Japanese drumming. As zestful and potent as garlic itself, these enthusiastic and impressive players will thunder and shake the performance stage.
Stories from India
Zaraawar Mistry performs stories he heard during his childhood in India, such as Akbar and Birbal and Tales from the Panchatantra, interwoven with enticing questions and clever riddles. Greg Herriges enhances the stories with live accompaniment on the guitar, bouzouki and zither.
Celtic Music from Clairseach
Ann Heymann is a master of the Gaelic harp and leads the instrument’s revival today. With her husband and multi-instrumentalist/singer, Charlie, they are the entrancing duo, “Clairseach” (Gaelic for “Harp”). They appear in concerts and festivals throughout the world, including Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland; the Lorient Interceltic Festival in France; the National Folk Festival in Australia; and the Irish World Music Center. “In the hands of Ann Heymann, the legend comes to life.” -St. Paul Pioneer Press
The Narren
The Narren of New Ulm is an entire village of elaborately masked characters – funny, quirky and just a bit scary – each with their own personality and story. An old German festival tradition (“narren” means fool), think of them as the relatives everyone has but no one wants to own.
Minneapolis Police Pipe & Drum Corp
If all that great garlic hasn’t scared the vampires away, this should do it: Scottish bagpipes and drums at their finest!
WEDGE CO-OP STAGE SCHEDULE
10:30 The Garlic Diva
11:00 Chef Demo: Lori Valenziano of Lucia’s*
11:30 The Garlic Diva
12:00 Chef Demo: Bryan Morcom, Restaurant Alma
12:30 Stories from India
1:00 Chef Demo: Raghavan Iyer, Cookbook Author*
(1:37) Peculiar Pragmatic Promenade
2:00 Chef Demo: Joe Hatch-Surisook, Sen Yai Sen Lek*
2:30 Clairseach
3:00 Chef Demo: Marshall Paulsen, Birchwood Cafe
3:30 Clairseach
4:00 Chef Demo: Chris Sipiorski, Common Roots
4:30 The Narren
4:45 Mu Community Taiko Drummers
5:00 Chef Demo: Mary Jane Miller, author of MN Garlic Festival Cookbook
5:30 Mu Community Taiko Drummers
5:55 Minneapolis Pipe & Drum Corp closes the festival
*These chefs will sign copies of The Garlic Festival Cookbook after their demos.
THE KIDS STAGE
Mudboots Crew Marching Band
Just to prove that the Garlic Festival is still on the cutting edge of whackiness, we’ve recruited this merry band of mudboot wearing musicans and marchers from Western Minnesota. Read more about them below in PECULIAR PRAGMATIC PROMENADE.
Also: THE NARREN & STORIES FROM INDIA
Plus: A workshop preparing kids to participate in the PECULIAR PRAGMATIC PROMENADE!
And Old Time Games, like sack races, veggie bowling and more.
KIDS STAGE TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
10:05 Mudboots Crew Marching Band
10:30 Games
11:00 The Narren
11:30 Games
12:30 “Be In the Promenade” Workshop
(1:37) Peculiar Pragmatic Promenade
3:00 Games
4:00 Stories from India
5:00 Games
THE PECULIAR PRAGMATIC PROMENADE
YOU can be a part of the parade! Bring your costume, your act – can you juggle? Hula Hoop? Dance? – or just your peppy promenading self and join in! Meet at the twin silos at 1:20 p.m.
The Promenade proceeds at precisely 1:37 p.m. to perambulate the public party already in progress at the Festival.
THE MUDBOOTS CREW MARCHING BAND is our honorary Promenade Vanguard for 2011, and is made up entirely of farmers, farmhands and asylum escapees from the musical meccas of Milan and Montevideo, Minnesota; imagine a Mardi Gras parade crashing into a truckload of organic farm workers being driven to the hospital by a herd of ravenous foodies. They are a bunch of food-loving folk from west-central Minnesota sustainable farms. Front-woman and Head Mudbootee, Malena Handeen, rallies the band as they expound on the merits of living close to the earth; while inciting call-and response chanting, cheering and caterwauling from the crowd.
Also marching: Minneapolis Pipe and Drum Corps, The Narren, Mu Community Taiko Drummers, The Garlic Diva, The Garlic Princesses, and many more . . . and YOU!
OTHER EVENTS
Kite Making & Flying
2:00 – 4:00: Kids of all ages can build and decorate your on kite, and then go fly it! All under the direction of Dave Herzig, former director of The Minnesota Kite Society. Now, that’s what we call wind power!
Wine Tasting
Heartland Wine Trail is putting together one heck of a WINE TASTING for this year’s festival. Minnesota vineyards will serve up their very best, and you can sample it all for $6.00 (in addition to the $5 festival admissions). Tasting goes from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.