Wichita garlic fest was such a hit, it’s expanded to two pungent, food-filled days
October is historically the season of celebrating beer and pumpkins and bierocks.
But as a couple of Wichita farmers learned last year when they put on Wichita’s first garlic festival, people are ready to celebrate the pungent bulb any time of year.
Orie’s Garlic Fest, put on by Orie’s Farm Fresh, returns this weekend for its second installment, and it was so popular last year that it’s grown to a two-day event with more garlicky food and more garlicky fun.
It also has moved to a new venue: Eberly Farm at 13111 W. 21st St.
“We learned a lot from our first one last year, and it has grown quite a bit,” said Megan Greenway, who along with her partner, Wes Johnson, put on the first festival at their urban farm near West 21st Street and 119th. “We’ve realized from the attendance and enthusiasm from vendors and people who came that it needed to be a two-day event and that we needed more space.”
This weekend’s festival lasts from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and will include garlic for sale, vendors, culinary demonstrations by local chefs and lots of food.
In fact, Greenway said, the festival will have far more to eat than it did last year, and vendors on site will be selling garlic-flavored everything, from typical garlic coleslaw and garlic bread to more unusual options like garlic hot chocolate, garlic limeades, garlic ice cream and garlic cookies.
Eberly Farms also will be selling its signature barbecue.
“There will definitely be more food,” Greenway said. “It was clear people were excited about food last year, and there wasn’t enough.”
For the most hard-core garlic fans, the organizers will be offering free raw garlic shots. They’ll have “garlic baristas” on site pressing cloves of garlic into a cup that they can suck down. It’s also acceptable for people to take the shot and sprinkle it on their food, Greenway said.
The event also will have lots of family-friendly activities, she said, including volleyball, horseshoes and corn hole. For an extra $15 ticket, people also can take hay rack rides, visit a petting farm and play paintball.
Among the local chefs who will put on demonstrations: Lincoln Scott from Beautiful Day Cafe at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Katharine Elder from Elderslie Farm at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, and Travis Russell from Public at the Brickyard at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Garlic fans also can buy different varieties of garlic grown by Orie’s Farm Fresh, including smoked garlic and black garlic as well as artisan garlic salts.
For a complete schedule of the two-day festival, visit the Orie’s Garlic Fest Facebook page.
Orie’s Garlic Fest
What: A two-day festival celebrating garlic that includes food, family activities, live music and cooking demonstrations
When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Eberly Farm, 13111 W. 21st St.
Admission: $10 adults, $5 children 13-17, free for 12 and under. Food is available for purchase, and a “premium activities” pass that includes paintball, hay rack rides and a petting farm, is $15
This story was originally published October 17, 2018 at 10:23 AM.