Living in the small town of Saugerties in upstate New York comes with all sorts of perks, one being it's the home of The Hudson Valley Garlic Festival. As with all small towns it's not what you know, it's who you know. So when a friend called me up and asked if my kids would be interested in working at the Garlic Festival, I thought, what the heck it sounds fun!
In 1989, Pat Reppert of Shale Hill Farm and Herb Gardens organized the first Garlic Festival held in the Hudson Valley. It was started to promote Repperts herb business and NYS grown garlic. Pat's newsletter the "Notes from Shale Hill Farms" was the only publicity aside from a local newspaper picking up the story. Through word of mouth the attendance of the first Garlic Festival far exceeded the estimations.
By 1990, over 425"garlic lovers" attended the event, and by 1991 tickets where pre-sold to try and control the crowds. Reppert had over 1,500 phone calls from crazy people trying to gain admission to the new popular festival. It was then that Pat " cried uncle" and approached the Saugerties Kiwanis Club for help in managing the festival.
in 1992, the Kiwanis Club of Saugerties held the first Garlic Festival at Cantine Field in Saugerties.
The word was out, and the numbers began to grow faster than the garlic. I like to think that the heightened attendance had something to do with the entrance of "The Clovettes". My daughters, Moorea, Hayley, and Hannah all worked the festival from 2003 till 2007, when sadly the board of directors did away with the clovettes for unknown reasons. The girls where a hit! They even got there picture in The New York Times. They dressed in homemade Garlic Clove outfits with garlic head crowns and garlic necklaces with sneakers on there feet. They walked the crowd with Mr and Mrs Garlic, they greeted the folks with big smile's and posed for 1000's of photos, this I am sure of.
As the years pass, the festival keeps growing, 2007 the last year of "The Clovettes" proved to be the largest garlic celebration ever with numbers reaching around 53,000. I'm convinced the people where coming out to see the beautiful "Clovettes!" Hail to the fallen Clovettes! I know they are busy growing up and going to school. Personally I miss seeing the cute Clovettes in there garlic sac dresses with there skinny stocking legs sticking out of the bottom and there little sneakers that got them through the mighty crowd, but all good things must come to an end. Reguarless, I'm sure I would have NO chance at getting back into those cute little outfits ever again.
The two day festival has had it's ups and downs, rain being the biggest hurdle.
In keeping with tradition in which it was born, the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival continues to be a fun celebration of the harvest of what garlic lovers all around the world lovingly refer to as the "Stinking Rose."
hvgf.org
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