Delray Beach
Garlic Festival 2008
Pictures from the '08 Delray Beach Garlic
Fest held February 10th at Historic Old School Square in Palm Beach Florida.
 Delray Beach Garlic Fest '08 |
 Historic Old School Square |
 Vendor Area |
| The 2008
Delray Beach Garlic Fest was the 9th occurrence of this annual event
dedicated to "the stinking rose". It was held in Downtown Delray Beach
in the Historic Old School Square (51 N. Swinton Ave.) from Friday February 8th to Sunday
Feb. 10th. On Friday the gates were open to the public from 5 pm to 10 pm. The event hours for Saturday and Sunday were from 11am to 10pm and 11am to 7pm respectively. Adult admission was $10 per person for each day. Those arriving after 5pm on Saturday for the Blues Traveler concert were charged $20 per person. A dollar from each ticket benefited "Project Thanksgiving" which provides Thanksgiving meals to needy families in the Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Indian River, Okeechobee, and Martin counties of Florida. We paid $5 for parking at the Old School Square parking garage but there was also free parking at the city hall lot and at the courthouse. |
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 Main Stage & VIP Seating |
 Musical Acts On Stage |
 Margarita Bar |
| Even from the very top of the parking garage, the smell of the most widely used and loved food was thick in the air. We had spent the morning building up an appetite while walking around the West Palm Beach RV Show and were more than ready for some tasty garlic infused dishes. | ||
 Pirate Products, Tiki Hut |
 Port O Pottys |
 Woman Singing On Stage |
| This "Best Stinkin' Party in Town" was staffed by more than five hundred volunteers from various local charitable organizations who support education and art programs for kids. Because of the efforts of all those volunteers nearly two hundred thousand dollars in cash grants have been given to nonprofit groups. Also more than two tons of food has been donated to the "Caring Kitchen" hot meal program in Delray Beach Florida. Some of the volunteer groups included the Atlantic High School Band Boosters, Boy Scout Troop 301, Morikami Park Elementary, Montessori Magnet, the Delray Destroyers Baseball Team, South Florida Dynamics and the Sunrise Kiwanis. | ||
 Mr. Garlic |
 Mushroom Varieties |
 Garlic University For Kids |
| Besides the wide variety of delicious food at the Boston Upperdeck's Gourmet Alley, the '08 Delray Beach Garlic Fest also featured children's rides, the Crane's Beach House Cloves & Vines wine garden, the Garlic Chef Stadium competition, the Oasis Bar, vendor booths, official garlic merchandise, Garlic University, various musical acts on the main stage and of course the legendary "Mr. Garlic" in his customary costume. | ||
 Gravity Storm Ride |
 Garlic Fest Tickets Booth |
 Carnival Midway Rides |
| In order to purchase a frozen margarita, beer, ice cream or any of the garlic inspired foods, we had to first buy Garlic Fest tickets for $1 each. Just to give you an idea of the prices at the festival, a sample of garlic ice cream cost one ticket, a draft beer cost 4 tickets, a margarita cost 6 tickets, a whole roasted garlic bulb cost 6 tickets, and the garlic pulled pork with rice and vegetables platter cost 8 tickets. In total we spent $5.00 to park, and $30 on tickets, two of which we gave away to a family as we left the event late in the afternoon. | ||
 Nacho Supreme, Steak Taco |
 Garlic Curry Chicken Kebabs |
 Upperdeck's Gourmet Alley |
| Above are some pictures of Gourmet Alley sponsored by Boston's Upperdeck that featured several of the secret garlic recipes from Master Chef Val Filice who founded the famous Gilroy Garlic Festival in Santa Clara County California. A few of the items on the menu this year included garlic chicken quesadilla, nacho supreme, steak taco, garlic roasted pork, Island Wings, roasted garlic vegetables, garlic curry chicken kebabs, garlic chicken pita, stuffed mushrooms, garlic crab cake, flaming garlic shrimp scampi, Gilroy garlic bread, garlic Portobello sandwich, Italian sausage, pork loin sandwich, grilled garlic Argentine BBQ, blackened garlic Mahi Mahi, garlic vegetable tempura, London broil, and a garlic marinated vegetable panini. | ||
 Crest Theatre Delray Beach |
 Hungry Garlic Fest Visitors |
 Garlic Vegetables & Rice |
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During the festival a competition was taking place in the Garlic Chef Stadium where top culinary professionals from restaurants across South Florida competed for the title of "Master Garlic Chef". The competitors this year were Frank Randazzo & Andrea Curto-Randazzo ('05-07 winners) from Talula in Miami Beach, Ernesto DeBlasi from Luna Rosa in Delray Beach, Paul Slover from Boston's Upperdeck, Andy Trousdale from LeBistro in Lighthouse Point, and Michael Harrison from Lolas in Hollywood. The teams had to compete against each other by using a mystery ingredient to create a salad, appetizer, and entree for the judges. Viking appliances sponsored the competition by providing gas ranges, grills, and refrigerators. |
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 Garlic Chicken Quesadillas |
 Garlic Pulled Pork Platter |
 G-Force Spinning Ride |
| After we had our
fill of all the garlic flavored delicacies, we walked over to the main stage
to check out the musical acts. The headlining band on Sunday evening was
Blues Traveler featuring front man John Popper. Some of the other performers
included Donna The Buffalo, Wish You Were Here (a Pink Floyd Tribute Band),
Crazy Fingers, Corey Dwyer, Steve Minotti, Cristin Kappiello, Amber Leigh,
The Fabulous Fleetwoods, The Funkabilly Playboys, The Wreckly J's, The
Caribbean Chillers (a Jimmy Buffet Tribute Band), and the Big Love Medicine
Show. The 2008 Delray Beach Garlic Fest was sponsored by Italian Rose Garlic Products, AT&T's The Real Yellow Pages, The Milagro Center, The Home Depot, Crane's Beach House, Southwest Airlines, Legacy Bank, The Palm Beach Post, Gater 98.7 FM, Kool 105.5 FM, Channel 12 News, Geico Insurance, Office Depot, The Florida Lottery, Sweet Leaf Tea, SCP Communications, Budweiser, Publix, Smartbox Portable Storage and City Limits of Delray Beach. If you're a fan of the stinking rose but you don't live in the South Florida area, fear not. There are garlic themed events taking place all over the USA and overseas. A few of the most notable are the original Gilroy Garlic Festival in California, the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties New York, the Southern Vermont Garlic & Herb Festival, the Cuba New York Garlic Festival, the Northwest Garlic Festival in Ocean Park Washington, the Pocono Garlic Festival, the Fairfield Garlic Fest, the Columbia River Garlic Festival, the Mohawk Valley Garlic Festival, the Minnesota Garlic Festival and the Feria Del Ajo in La Mancha Spain. |
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