Gilroy Garlic Festival forecast: hot and delightfully pungent
If you’re heading to the Gilroy Garlic Festival next weekend Gilroy, California (it starts Friday, July 25 and continues through Sunday, July 27), you should dress for warm weather. The forecast is for temperatures in the 80s, and somehow it always feels more like the season I call “inferno” in Gilroy when you’re walking by the pryo chefs. Those are the guys who apparently use a little water, a little oil and, one person told me, a bit of vermouth to create those big flame-ups.
When you’re ready to cool off, take the 101 south to Salinas, 24 miles away. And make sure you dress for winter: Highs in Salinas, which author and native son John Steinbeck called the Valley of the World, are supposed to be in the 60s and 70s on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
These microclimates are part of the charm of this area and they’ll give you a greater appreciation for the agricultural diversity of California, the largest agricultural state in the nation. Yep, we don’t give California enough credit, but No. 2 and No. 3 Texas and Iowa do not, combined, make as much money from ag as we do in the Golden State. This little drive will explain part of the reason.
Garlic requires a Mediterranean climate. As you head south, you’ll begin to see (and smell, in the case of broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts) why lettuce is king. Even the soil is different.
We see these temp differences in our area (Woodland Hills versus Santa Monica on a hot day), but you just don’t realize how big a factor they can be in an industry that too few pay heed to.
Travel Editor Catharine Hamm talks about the 30th anniversary of the Gilroy Garlic Festival on “Good Food” on KCRW-FM (89.9) from 11 a.m. to noon on July 19.
— Catharine Hamm, Los Angeles Times Travel Editor
[Photo: Bill Strange]
6 Comments on “Gilroy Garlic Festival forecast: hot and delightfully pungent”
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July 19th, 2008 at 8:58 am
The Garlic Festival is one of the things I look forward to every year. But it doesn’t start until next Friday (July 25th) and runs through Sunday (July 27th).
Looks like this went up a week early!
July 21st, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Don’t use the breath mints if they have aspartame.
http://myaspartameexperiment.com
Thanks for letting me post.
PS: I highly recommend CA festivals. The artichoke festival is a golden memory for me.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
My question is can I bring my dog along with on the leash of course to walk around in the festival?
July 26th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
A whole festival devoted to garlic!? Incredible. Incredibly awesome, that is. Over here in New York City there have also been some garlic developments, as of late. Field garlic has been popping up in gardens and parks all over New York’s five boroughs, and those in the know have been foraging for it! Check out this segment of Kitchen Caravan to learn more about finding your very own garlic treasure.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:05 am
My family and I went to see the festival on Sunday. It looked pretty much as any other art & vine festivals that we’ve seen so many times in many places around. Only 2-3 booths really had something to do with the garlic theme. Not bad bu nothing really exiting.
July 20th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
No, they do not allow dogs and there is no place to keep your dog please do not torture your dog….