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Interested in planning your own tomato-tasting event? Post your ideas and/or plans here!

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Old September 9, 2009   #1
Zana
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Default 2009 Stratford Garlic Festival

Saturday September 12, 2009
Open 9am-4pm
at the old Stratford Fairgrounds (20 Glastonbury Drive, Stratford, Ontario, CANADA)

featuring....

Elizabeth Baird, (Editor, Canadian Living)
Rose Murray, (Chef and Author)
Ted Maczka, (The Fish Lake Garlic Man)
Eli Ham, (Stratford Shakespearean Festival Actor)
Sara Bradford, (RHN)
and lots more....

plus a number of renown chefs and garlic experts!

www.stratfordgarlicfestival.com

Presented by the Kiwanis Club of Stratford, Ontario, CANADA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are supposed to be info / seminars on growing, cooking, vendors, artisans and of course, eating (taste testing) different varieties. Plus musical entertainment. And did mention food samples????

Especially interesting:

"To be Garlic ...or not to be Garlic?" a presentation on Shakespear and Garlic by Stratford Shakespearean Festival Actor, Eli Ham.

"The History of Garlic" by Bob Litke, Heirloom Garlic Grower and Expert, Professor of Philosophy, University of Waterloo

"All Tied Up" a garlic braiding demonstration by Al Cowan of Arranhill Garlic Farm.


I'm planning on spending the better part of the day there! Yummmmmm....I promise not to breathe on anybody when I come home....ok....maybe just not too hard. LOL

Zana
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Old September 9, 2009   #2
mdvpc
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Wish I was in your neck of the woods to go-sounds great.
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Old September 9, 2009   #3
user10
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Shakespeare,.....Garlic,....
It sounds fun :-)
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Old September 9, 2009   #4
remy
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Sounds like fun! I will be at the Niagara Falls Blues Festival(American side) though. My father has me being the hospitality coordinator for the entertainment. I got bumped up from t-shirt vendor to a higher position after his girlfriend and him attended the tomato party.
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Yes, we have a great party for WNY/Ontario tomato growers every year on Grand Island!
Owner of The Sample Seed Shop
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Old September 9, 2009   #5
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what an awesome combo! Wish we had known about it to be able to get AFFORDABLE airline tickets b/c we'd be all over it!
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Old September 10, 2009   #6
Zana
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Cheapest way is to fly into Buffalo and then drive from there. About 2 hours or so depending upon traffic and construction.....and speed traps from the border. Unless you want to drive up. But remember the exchange is in your favour. You should get about 1.10 Canadian for every US dollar right now. So that would help.

This will be their 3rd or 4th year. And its been growing steadily each year. Can't wait.
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Old September 10, 2009   #7
stormymater
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Do they have a website or a linkee you know of?
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Old September 10, 2009   #8
salix
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Ooohh! If I was only several thousand miles closer... Garlic, AND Hamlet - gotta be a great combo. Sounds like a fun event, hope you have a wonderful time.
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Old September 10, 2009   #9
Zana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stormymater View Post
Do they have a website or a linkee you know of?
www.stratfordgarlicfestival.com
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Old September 10, 2009   #10
Zana
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www.stratfordfestival.ca

Saturday's playbill at the four different stages at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival are:

Julius Caesar 2pm Avon Theatre (traditional proscenium arch stage) Ben Carlson, Geraint Wyn Davies
West Side Story 2pm Festival Theatre (Thrust Stage) with Paul Nolan and Chilina Kennedy
Three Sisters 2pm Tom Patterson Theatre (In 3/4 Round) with Dalal Badr, Irene Poole and
Lucy Peacock
Zastrozzi 2pm Studio Theatre (In 3/4 Round) with Rick Roberts

Cyranno de Bergerac 8pm Festival Theatre (Traditional Thrust Stage) with Com Feore in the starring role
Trespassers 8pm Studio Theatre (In 3/4 Round) with Joseph Ziegler, Lucy Peacock and Noah Reid

I do believe I'm going to try to snag some tix for Cyranno. Anything with Colm Feore is bound to be superb!
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Old September 12, 2009   #11
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Just got back from Stratford and the Garlic Festival. Spent the better part of a the day there - either working it for the Kiwanis Club or touring the booths and watching some of the presentations. I'm not sure I want to total up what I spent.

And then there were the garlic shooters - shots of garlic and water or juice...not quite sure, but dang those got addictive...hehehe...but have to be careful who I breathe on for the rest of the day. LOL

Got some great jellies, jams, sauces, salsas, garlic teas yes I did say Garlic Tea, and some indian spices (whole spices - consisting of cinnamon bark, cloves, green cardamon pods, star anise and black peppercorn; chai masala, tandoori masala and curry masala).

Since it started off overcast and cool, yours truly took a chance and wore a tshirt....but forgot the sunscreen. Ha! I'm no a lovely shade of pink after standing doing parking lot duty for 3 hours. I believe my aloe plant is going to get carved up a bit tonight.

I also got garlic seed for quite a few varieties. Finally hooked up with Bob Litke whom I've been here about from another lady I know who has just gotten into heirloom tomatoes. It was quite amusing since when I asked him if he knew Barbara F...he said your name doesn't start with a "Z" does it??? LOL So we've decided to do some trading as he really wants to get into growing more heirloom tomatoes and I'd like to try growing some garlic. He's got a huge collection, so we're going to arrange to meet up soon.

So all in all definitely was worth it. I think the other over 3500 people that went most likely thought so too! This was only their 3rd year doing it....and there will definitely be a 4th....only bigger by the sounds of it. The Kiwanis Club was already talking about how to grow it bigger and better for next year. The two local Kiwanis Clubs along with the local AKtion Club (Kiwanis for intellectually and physically challenged adults) pooled their manpower to put the Garlic Festival on. I think they did a superb job. And the bonus side of it is that the community benefits from it too.

I'll definitely be back next year.

PS....oh yeah, and while there, I found out about a tomato taste testing tomorrow...now if I can only figure out how to juggle a few things to get there...lol
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Old September 12, 2009   #12
Zana
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Ok....here's what I got in way of garlic for seed

Brown Saxony
Siberian
Killarney Red
Pitarelli
Georgian Crystal (Porcelain)
Floha
Khabar
Hungarian Rose
Brown Rose
Japanese
Asian Tempest
Musical? Music?
Fish Lake 4
Metechi

I admit I don't know much about the individual varieties, but if anybody can fill me with personal preferences/comments I'd appreciate it. Going to sample a few too.
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Old September 13, 2009   #13
habitat_gardener
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"garlic shooters"! Was that a way to taste different varieties of garlic, or just consume lots of garlic? Sounds like a great immune-system stimulant.
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Old September 13, 2009   #14
Zana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by habitat_gardener View Post
"garlic shooters"! Was that a way to taste different varieties of garlic, or just consume lots of garlic? Sounds like a great immune-system stimulant.
dunno....perhaps it was to keep the local vampire population at bay???? LOL But dang they were good. Just had to make sure that you were talking with a "like-consuming" group of people afterwards. LOL...I'm sure if I hadn't been I might have bowled over a few people. Heeheeheehee
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Old September 13, 2009   #15
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DH visibly shuddered when I told him about the garlic shooters - then he cut his eyes over to my bag o' garlic purchased for planting... but he didn't say a word LOL
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