Press for 2008:
Mark your calendars for a scent-sational tenth anniversary celebration of The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival. Come find out what brings over 10,000 people to this phenomenal event for the whole family. The price stays low, yet the fun and beauty multiply each year! Delight in over 80 amazing art and agriculture booths; everything is made by hand or locally grown.  Support fabulous artists and farmers and strengthen regional economy, shopping locally on a gorgeous farm illuminated by fall foliage. Family friendly admission with something for everyone: savor the chef demos, fuel your life with a renewable energy workshop, or take a break with a massage in the healing arts tent. It will be hard to pull the kids away from the emus, duck-herding dogs and alpacas, but they’ll love pressing cider or garlic papermaking. After checking out the portable sawmill and a blacksmithing or weaving demonstration, relax to the sights and sounds of two solar powered stages that come alive with jazz and juggling, belly dance and bluegrass, storytelling and soul. Then gear up for the raw garlic eating contest-- if you can’t stomach it like the winners at 45 cloves, just enjoy one of the garlic growing workshops held every hour and take some home to plant. Definitely come hungry to enjoy the aromatic array of regionally produced, ethnic, and down home delights in the food courts, while the scent of roasted garlic from the wood-fired oven fills the air. What, no trash? Last year there were only two bags for over 10,000 folks; everything gets composted or recycled. And you won’t have to spend a buck to get a bottle of water—it flows freely for all.  There’s a buzz these days about being a food and energy “locavore;” it was even the newest addition to the 2007 Webster Dictionary.  The Festival is the place where the definition comes to life. 

New this year:
Expanded kid’s activities featuring garlic paper making. An Iron Chef contest! Two culinary artists get 20 bucks to purchase products from our very own vendors then whip up a garlic dish worthy of the taste buds of "local celebrity" judges. Our much- improved parking and expanded shuttle lot await you.  Bike, hike, parachute or ride the Magic Bus—the free biodiesel shuttle from nearby lots. Car free and carpoolers get a free raffle entry for great prizes.

Nobel Prize winner, The Dalai Lama says, “Festivals are the answer to peace around the world.”
Imagine. What the World Needs now is Love.  And art, food, community, beauty, fun.
Get it all at the Tenth Annual Garlic and Arts Festival, Saturday and Sunday September 20 and 21, 2008.
FestivalAdmission: $5.00 per day for adults, weekend pass $8.00, kids 12 and under free. Wheelchair accessible parking and restroom facility.  Follow your nose to beautiful historic Forster’s Farm, 60 Chestnut Hill Road, Orange, MA.  Visit www.garlicandarts.org for directions, pet policy, and past years highlights.  The 2008 schedule of vendors, music and performances, chef demos, activities, workshops, and all you need to come have a scent-sational time will be fully updated by July. 

The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival is a celebration of community organized by neighbors and Seeds of Solidarity Education Center, a non-profit organization. Supporters include the Forster/Stewart Family, North Quabbin Woods, North Quabbin Chamber of Commerce and the Massachusetts Cultural Council Agencies of Athol, Northfield, Orange, Warwick and Wendell.