Minnesota Garlic Festival: Chef Stage Really Big Announcement

SFA of MN • June 4, 2023

 Reprinted with permission from the ever-delightful Stinky News. If you would like to subscribe to The Stinky News, please send an email to  garlicgrowers@sfa-mn.org   saying so.

You know those old romantic movies where the two lovers are running toward each other in slow motion, arms outstretched, across a field of flowers?  It’s kind of like that, but it’s a field of garlic.

The festival has wooed and won the magnificent  Minnesota Cooks  to produce the  Chef Demo Stage , with the incomparable Claudine Arndt as Chef Wrangler.  It’s been something of a  mutual admiration society between the two organizations for a few years, but as Claudine says, “It was hard to get close in a relationship with the festival because of the smell.  Then we figured out that if we ate a bunch of baked garlic with aioli topping and a pesto side, we didn’t notice it as much.”

Against our better judgement, we called Festival Director, Jerry Ford, for his comment. This  rarely  goes well.

Ford : “Whoa, like, comments are done by my Press Agent, dude. I’ll get her on the line for you.”

Then he made a clicking noise, starting humming something that was a pretty good imitation of on-hold music, made another clicking noise, and said in a falsetto voice:

Ford’s “Press Agent “: “This is my Press Agent. What do you need a comment on?”

Stinky News : “You’re not a Press Agent. You’re you.”

Ford : “You who?”

Stinky News : “ You  you, that’s who.”

Ford : “Right. I am me and you are you and we are all together.  Now, what did you need a comment on?”

Stinky News : “Whatever.  Just say something about the new Chef Wrangler.” 

Ford : “Yes, well, right.  I will now read a formal statement from Director Ford, who is he and not me (dropping out of falsetto voice):

‘Dude! Whoa! We got Minnesota Cooks, baby! Like, they do that  calendar thing ey so that you remember when to eat, and there’s that  book they wrote  that’s got lots of groovy pictures.  Yeah, no. And the  TV show  on that public whatever channel: it’s got all those cute animals and chefs, and, dig this: they used to do this chef stage gig at the State Fair, but now we got ’em. Boom!'”

 You can  atten   d the 2023 Minnesota Garlic Festival at the McLeod County Fairgrounds on Saturday, August 12. Learn more and purchase  advance tickets at www.mngarlicfest.com.