To present an annual fall festival in Saugerties that celebrates
the harvest season with its generous life-sustaining gifts and, particularly,
the natural health and food-enhancing benefits of garlic. Our commitment
is to reawaken this awareness and deep appreciation of the fruits
of the harvest through early harvest rituals, music, dance, delicious
food, camaraderie and fun. To enhance the community in which the festival
is held, through donation of all profits to address worthwhile community
needs.
History:
In 1989, Pat Reppert of Shale Hill Farm and Herb Gardens organized
the first Garlic Festival held in the Hudson Valley - and perhaps
on the East Coast. It was started as a promotional event for Reppert's
fledgling herb business and for New York State grown garlic. With
no paid publicity except through her newsletter, ''Notes from Shale
Hill Farm,'' an article in the local Kingston Freeman newspaper and
word of mouth, the attendance at the first festival far exceeded estimations.
In 1990, over 425 ''garlic lovers'' attended the event in Reppert's
herb gardens-quadrupling the previous year's attendance and stretching
the facilities at the farm to its limits. In 1991, tickets were pre-sold
to control the crowds and Reppert had over 1500 phone calls from people
who were scrambling to gain admission. At this point, she knew she
had something much bigger than she could handle, so she approached
the Kiwanis Club of Saugerties about adopting the festival.
In 1992, the Kiwanis Club of Saugerties held their first Garlic Festival
at Cantine Field in Saugerties, New York. The pre-festival crowd estimates
were 2,500 if the weather held. To everyone's surprise, despite considerable
rain, 5,000 people attended and had a great time. Again in 1993 it
rained, only in the morning, and attendance more than doubled to an
estimated crowd of 13,000. On the last Sunday of September 1994, the
weather finally cooperated and attendance took off to over 30,000.
The festival reached its attendance peak in 1995, when the turnout
was estimated at 40-45,000 garlic enthusiasts. Some logistics problems
resulted, including a Thruway traffic jam and Route 9W being blocked
for 11 miles or so. To control the crowds and in order to grow in
a more controlled fashion, a decision was made to expand the festival
to two days and to begin charging an entrance fee. As a result the
first two-day event was held in 1996. 1997's attendance was estimated
at 23,000. Good weather in both 1998 and 1999 saw attendance grow
to 32,500 and 34,000 respectively. The threat of rain for Saturday
and Sunday caused the 2000 Festival's attendance to drop to 19,800.
Excellent weather in 2001 and 2002 resulted in huge, enthusiastic
crowds of 39,500 and 46,500 respectively.
2003's festival was a rainy affair, with an amazingly large crowd
showing up on the drier of the two days, Saturday, and a good number
of brave souls showed up on Sunday, despite considerable rains and
a muddy Garlic Marketplace. The traffic that resulted on Saturday
taught us some lessons about traffic flow. In any event, 30,000 people
showed up during the weekend, to enjoy the festivities and to stock
up on their favorite herb.
There may be no such thing as a perfect festival, but we all felt
the 2004 festival came close. Great weather, great crowds (50,000 for
the combined Saturday and Sunday), and with
the combined efforts of the Kiwanis Club of Saugerties, Saugerties
Town Police, Saugerties Village Police, Greg Chorvas and his Cantine
Field team, and especially the New York State Police, traffic and
parking went amazingly smoothly. Good music, good food, good weather,
and of course all enhanced by garlic . . . you can't beat that!
The weather was cooperative in 2005, with a little rain early on
Sunday putting a glisten on what was otherwise a great weekend.
There were 5 stages of entertainment for the first time, the
garlic lectures moved out from their usual home in the Main
Pavilion, to a tent in the West Garlic Marketplace, and people
commented that they liked the change, as they could hear the
lecturers better. And there were more booths than ever, with a
grand total of 250 booths. The official crowd for 2005 was 46,000. The official attendance
numbers for the 2006 Hudson Valley Garlic Festival were 19,000 for Saturday and 17,000 for Sunday,
for a grand total of 36,000 garlic lovers. And that was with a little sprinkle of rain on both days!
For those of you who were there for the perfect weather of 2007's festival, you were either
a part of the 25,000 garlic lovers who showed up on Saturday or the 28,000 more who come through the gates on Sunday. As a result,
2007 was the largest party Pat Reppert and the Kiwanis Club have ever thrown in celebration of the garlic harvest
- a whopping 53,000 attendees!
In the tradition in which it was born, the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival™
continues to be a fun celebration of the harvest of what garlic aficionados
lovingly refer to as the ''stinking rose''.
