The Occasional Newsletter of Minnesota Garlic Festival
WWW.MNGARLICFEST.COM
HEADLINES:
March Bulblines*:
- GARLIC IS UP!
- POSTER DESIGN COMPETITION
- VENDOR FORMS ARE READY
- FESTIVAL ON FACEBOOK
- VOLUNTEER!
- ENTERTAINMENT PREVIEW
- GARLIC HEADS SPEAKING AT WESTONKA EVENT
- POEM OF THE MONTH
GARLIC IS UP!
“Sprout sightings” started coming in from around the state, but much like Bigfoot sightings many were unreliable and a little suspicious, not to mention hard to photograph. However, the March Madness snowstorm cut short the glorious sproutage. Not to worry, our Northern garlics can take freezing temperatures, even at this early age. Lindsay Rebhan took this picture from her garden though it looks a lot like one in Google Images – on March 21st.
POSTER DESIGN COMPETITION
Create a poster that best interprets and represents MN Garlic Festival (extra points if it’s scratch-and-sniff); win a cash prize and a you read it here first, folks a bunch of garlic! And, of course, your poster will be used to help promote the 6th Annual Festival!
Deadline is June 15th!
This is just an idea, but you may want to include on your poster the disclaimer: No vampires were harmed in the creation of this poster, but several fast-food patrons were slightly offended by it.
Learn more here:
www.sfa-mn.org/garlicfest/poster-competition
VENDOR FORMS ARE READY
Early-bird rates end July 2nd, so if you want to get the whole can of worms**, you’ll send in your application by then. Spring and summer get to be busy why not get this out of the way now? We keep the fees low because we’re all about getting local farmers, artisans and foods out there to the masses.
Click here:
www.sfa-mn.org/documents/vendor_app.pdf
FESTIVAL ON FACEBOOK
Join the fastidious flock of feverish festival faithfuls on our Facebook fan page:
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35210456237
VOLUNTEER!
You’ve had a Members Only jacket and a I Shot J.R. baseball cap – what could be better than getting one of those volunteers-only, bright red t-shirts with the festival logo on the front and “STAFF” on the back? If you wear it to a concert, you can sneak in backstage with no questions asked (“It’s OK, they’re on STAFF”); and if you wear it in a Target store, customers will think you work there***.
We need help, in all sorts of ways, so please contact:
Amelia Neaton, Volunteer Coordinator
ameliacscott
gmail
com
ENTERTAINMENT PREVIEW
In addition to some of our favorite performers (who just can’t seem to find a better gig that weekend), this year’s festival features two new acts and the return of The Garlic Diva! The preeminent Celtic group, Clairseach, will take the stage with their Irish, Scottish and Welsh tunes on Gaelic harp, wooden flute, whistles, cittern, guitar, percussion, accordion and concertina. Also premiering on the main stage are Zaraawar Mistry and Greg Herriges with Children’s stories and music from India. And we’re very excited about the return of The Garlic Diva, Kitty Karn, with her ego-inflationary and lusty songs of love and garlic.
GARLIC HEADS***** SPEAKING AT WESTONKA HORTICULTURE DAY
Festival Director, Jerry Ford, and Cafe Coordinator, Greg Reynolds, will be presenting at:
Westonka Horticulture Day
Saturday, April 2nd, in Mound, MN
Greg is the keynote speaker and doesn’t know what he’s talking about (well, it says in the program “topic to be announced” – perhaps: 13 Ways To Say Romanesco Without Really Trying).
Jerry’s presentation is called “Growing Great Northern Garlic,” and has a really cool slide show, but no pyrotechnics.
There are also sessions on apples, cat shaving******, chickens, composting, espalier, landscaping, mushrooms, ornamentals, shade plants, vegetables and winemaking.
POEM OF THE MONTH
Here’s a poem written in 2009 when a late snowstorm covered the garlic sprouts.
The garlic is underground,
like some seething cell of radicals,
insinuating deep roots,
waiting for the perfect moment to riot.
Put your ear to the groundswell,
eavesdropping, and hear snatches of incendiary phrases:
“Pesto,” “Pasta” “Salsa,”
“When do we strike?”
Not today,
snow still sequesters the soil,
as cloves bide their time.
6th Annual
MINNESOTA GARLIC FESTIVAL
Saturday, August 13th
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
McLeod County Fairgrounds in Hutchinson
www.mngarlicfest.com
* You see, it’s a pun on “head,” since, botanically speaking, a garlic “bulb” is actually a “head” (a garlic “clove”, botanically speaking, is technically a “bulb”), so “headline” becomes “bulbline.” OK, it’s not funny if we have to explain it.
** Yeah, it’s a mixed metaphor, but it’s funnier than “get the worm.”
*** This has actually happened to one of our full-time writing staff****, and at a Wal-mart, too, which is even odder, since their corporate color is blue. So, if it happens to you, and a customer asks “do you have groceries here?”, you can say, “Yeah, but they’re better at the local food co-op.”
**** Full disclosure: they aren’t really full-time. They aren’t really writers, either, except for one, and she’s more of a poet. And two of them choose to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
***** Another pun, right?
****** Learn what kind of paring knife is best for this delicate but deeply satisfying procedure.
MN Garlic Festival is produced by the Crow River Chapter of Sustainable Farming Association of MN