Garlic Festivals in the United States

Garlic festival season in the United States runs from late July through mid-October, following the summer harvest, with one outlier in Florida each February. Most are volunteer-run fundraisers — Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, farmers’ markets, chambers of commerce and food-access nonprofits — and several are among the largest food festivals in their states. This directory is maintained by the Toronto Garlic Festival. Confirmed 2026 dates are listed below; where a festival has not yet announced, we’ve given the usual window. Always check the organizer’s website before you travel.

Last updated: July 2026. Spotted a festival we’ve missed, or a date that’s changed? Let us know.

Garlic festivals in California

Gilroy Garlic Festival

Friday to Sunday, July 24–26, 2026. Hecker Pass Outdoor Events Center, Gilroy, California. The most famous garlic festival in the world, founded in 1979 in the self-declared Garlic Capital of the World and run entirely by volunteers for local schools and nonprofits. It returned in 2025 after a six-year absence, at a new site adjacent to Gilroy Gardens and at a much smaller capacity than the 100,000-strong crowds of its peak. The Pyro Chefs and their giant flaming skillets of garlic scampi and calamari remain the signature. Tickets sell out in advance and none are sold at the gate.

Garlic festivals in Connecticut

Connecticut Garlic & Harvest Festival

Saturday and Sunday, October 10–11, 2026. Bethlehem Fairgrounds, Bethlehem, Connecticut. One of New England’s largest food festivals, now in its 21st year, with more than 250 vendors and upwards of 20,000 visitors. Garlic dips, spreads, cheeses and oils with free samples, produce stands, cooking demonstrations, growing lectures, rides and games, and a food court running to garlic sausage, wood-fired garlic pizza, deep-fried garlic and garlic ice cream. Cash only.

Garlic Festival at Olde Mistick Village

September 2026 — confirm dates with the organizer. Olde Mistick Village, Mystic, Connecticut. Now in its 19th year, this one takes over the pathways of a colonial-style shopping village on the Connecticut coast. Regional farms bring garlic and fall produce, local restaurants serve garlic dishes, and crafters, artisans and artists set up alongside the village’s own merchants. Live music across the weekend.

Garlic festivals in Florida

Delray Beach Garlic Fest

Late February — the 2026 edition ran February 28 to March 1. Old School Square, Delray Beach, Florida. Formerly the South Florida Garlic Fest, and now back under the name it started with in 1998. The only winter garlic festival on this list and by some distance the most music-driven: past headliners include Buddy Guy, Michael Franti, Steel Pulse and Trombone Shorty. Gourmet Alley serves over 100 garlic-laced menu items. A grassroots volunteer fundraiser at heart, it has raised more than $704,500 for educational and arts programs in Palm Beach County. After a decade in Lake Worth Beach and Wellington, it returned to Delray Beach in 2026.

Garlic festivals in Maine

Maine Garlic Fest

Saturday and Sunday, October 3–4, 2026. Lake George Regional Park, Skowhegan, Maine. A lakeside festival held amid peak autumn colour, presented by the park with lead sponsor Crazy4Garlic. Garlic creations, local produce, food and spirits, sports and games, music and art. Low admission, with children free.

Garlic festivals in Massachusetts

North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival

Saturday and Sunday, September 26–27, 2026. Forster Farm, Orange, Massachusetts. In its 28th year and one of the most distinctive events on this list — a garlic festival crossed with an arts festival, held on a historic farm in the autumn foliage about 70 miles west of Boston. Over 100 exhibitors, three stages of music and spoken word, a famous raw garlic-eating contest, workshops, and chef demos. Planned year-round by an all-volunteer committee of thirty. Admission is deliberately kept low, with no corporate sponsorship or alcohol sales and no one turned away for lack of funds. Roughly 8,000 people attend and the festival generates about two bags of trash.

Garlic festivals in Minnesota

Minnesota Garlic Festival

Saturday, August 15, 2026, 10am–5pm. McLeod County Fairgrounds, Hutchinson, Minnesota. Now in its 19th year, run by the Crow River Chapter of the Minnesota Sustainable Farming Association with more than 100 volunteers. Minnesota growers bring the first of the fresh crop — over 70 varieties are grown in the state — and celebrity chefs cook at the festival café, The Great ‘Scape. Plus a garlic-growing contest, area artisans, live music and garlic ice cream.

Garlic festivals in Missouri

St. Louis Garlic Festival

September 2026 — confirm date and location with the organizer. Bourbon, Missouri. Long associated with Gateway Garlic Farms in south St. Louis, the festival now appears in Missouri event listings at Bourbon, about 70 miles southwest of the city. Garlic history and cooking talks, a garlic-eating contest, kids’ games and live music.

Garlic festivals in New York

Cuba Garlic Festival

Saturday and Sunday, September 19–20, 2026. Empire City Farms, Cuba, New York. Held on the third weekend of September against the backdrop of a historic block barn in Allegany County, and hosted by the Cuba NY Chamber of Commerce. It exists because a local resident attended the Saugerties festival in 2004 and came home determined to start one. A garlic cook-off, garlic bulb contest, hot dog eating contest, amateur winemaking competition, pony rides and a beer tent.

Hudson Valley Garlic Festival

Saturday and Sunday, September 26–27, 2026. Cantine Field, Saugerties, New York. Running since 1989 and now one of the largest food festivals in New York State, drawing around 29,000 people. Presented by the Kiwanis Club of Saugerties with all proceeds going to community causes. Tons of gourmet garlic in the Garlic Marketplace, a Food Alley, four stages of music, chef demonstrations, growing and braiding talks from the Garlic Seed Foundation, and a substantial zero-waste programme. It began as a small promotional event at Shale Hill Farm & Herb Gardens.

Long Island Garlic Festival

Saturday and Sunday, September 12–13, 2026, 10am–6pm. Waterdrinker Family Farm, Sound Avenue, Riverhead, New York. Long Island’s only garlic festival, long held at Garden of Eve Organic Farm and now running on a neighbouring 40-acre farm site. As much a farm day out as a food festival: a vendor market of garlic and garlic-inspired products alongside a pumpkin patch, corn maze, hay rides and a garlic scavenger hunt.

Mohawk Valley Garlic & Herb Festival

Second Saturday of September — confirm 2026 date with the organizer. Historic Canal Place, Little Falls, New York. Founded in 2000 by a handful of local growers who had been selling at the Vermont and Hudson Valley festivals and decided the Mohawk Valley deserved its own. Over 90 vendors, live music, educational demos, seed garlic for sale, and free horse and carriage rides along the Erie Canal. A record 6,000 people attended in 2025. Admission is a $5 suggested donation supporting the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts and other local non-profits. No dogs.

Garlic festivals in Ohio

Cleveland Garlic Festival

Saturday and Sunday, August 29–30, 2026. Shaker Square, Cleveland, Ohio. Once dubbed America’s Stinkiest Festival by Food & Wine, and the largest annual fundraiser for the North Union Farmers Market, a nonprofit running ten farmers’ markets across Northeast Ohio. Proceeds fund SNAP, WIC, Produce Perks and senior voucher programs. Top Chef Grill-Offs, the Miss Garlic crown, garlic fries, Ohio craft beers, the Ohio Cheese Guild tent and Mitchell’s garlic ice cream. Around 20,000 attend.

Garlic festivals in Oregon

North Plains Elephant Garlic Festival

Friday to Sunday, August 7–9, 2026. Jessie Mays Community Park, North Plains, Oregon. Now in its 28th year, free to enter, and the signature event of a small town thirty minutes from Portland. Run by the North Plains Events Association with the City of North Plains. Three days of live music, a Saturday morning parade through town, a car show, a beer and wine garden, artisan crafts and elephant garlic in every form. Presided over by Stinkee, the festival’s garlic bulb mascot. No pets.

Garlic festivals in Pennsylvania

Easton Garlic Fest

Saturday and Sunday, October 3–4, 2026, 10am–6pm. Centre Square, downtown Easton, Pennsylvania. Billed as the stinkiest festival in the Mid-Atlantic, free to attend and held rain or shine. Over 100 vendors, a Stinkin’ Beer Tent, two free music stages plus a Sizzlin’ Latin Quarter, chef cook-offs on the Stinkin’ Culinary Stage, and Little Stinkers’ Row for children. Two ticketed tasting events — the Gastric Garlic People’s Choice competition on Saturday and Dangerous Desserts on Sunday. Well-behaved dogs welcome.

Garlic festivals in Vermont

Garlic Town, USA

Saturday, September 5, 2026, 10am–5pm. Downtown Bennington, Vermont. Formerly the Southern Vermont Garlic & Herb Festival. Held every Labor Day weekend for more than thirty years and now a designated Vermont Signature Event, named by Reuters among the top ten garlic festivals in the world. Over 130 vendors spread in “cloves” around the downtown, with more than 50 tastings, food trucks, live music, chef demonstrations and a serious zero-waste effort. Many Vermont farmers now grow specifically for this festival. About three hours from New York City and Boston, forty-five minutes from Albany.

Garlic festivals in Virginia

Virginia Wine & Garlic Festival

Saturday and Sunday, October 10–11, 2026. Rebec Vineyards, Amherst, Virginia. In its 34th year and held every second full weekend of October at a small farm winery in the Blue Ridge foothills. Over 100 growers and vendors, four stages of live music, and food stalls required to serve at least one dish made with fresh garlic. Virginia wine tastings for wristbanded adults, plus a garlic cook-off, a garlic queen contest, bounce houses, magic shows and a petting zoo. Over 200 volunteers are coordinated each year by the Amherst Rotary Club in support of its Globe Project, which supplies world globes to local second-graders.

Garlic festivals in Washington

Northwest Garlic Festival

Saturday and Sunday, September 19–20, 2026. Roy E. Sheldon Field, Ocean Park, Washington. The 44th edition of a free festival in a seaside community on the Long Beach Peninsula, sponsored by the Ocean Park Area Chamber of Commerce. Around 70 exhibitors and 20 food booths in a deliberately relaxed setting, with live music and an annual poster contest. Note that it moved from June to September, so older listings have the season wrong. Leashed dogs welcome.

Frequently asked questions

When is garlic festival season in the United States?

Most American garlic festivals run from late July through mid-October, following the summer harvest. Gilroy in California is the earliest at the end of July; the Connecticut, Virginia, Maine and Easton festivals close the season in early-to-mid October. The Delray Beach Garlic Fest in Florida is the exception, held in late February.

Which is the biggest garlic festival in the United States?

The Gilroy Garlic Festival is the best known, though since its 2025 return it caps attendance far below its historic crowds. By current attendance the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties, New York is the largest, at roughly 29,000 people, followed by the Connecticut Garlic & Harvest Festival at over 20,000 and the Cleveland Garlic Festival at around 20,000.

Are US garlic festivals free to attend?

Several are, including Easton, the North Plains Elephant Garlic Festival and the Northwest Garlic Festival in Ocean Park. Most others charge a modest gate admission, usually between $5 and $15, with children free. Gilroy is the outlier, with advance-only ticketing at a considerably higher price and no gate sales. A few, including Connecticut, are cash only.

What happens at a garlic festival besides buying garlic?

Nearly all pair growers selling fresh bulbs, seed garlic and braids with chef demonstrations, growing and braiding workshops, live music and artisan markets. Garlic eating contests are common, as are cook-offs, and garlic ice cream is close to universal. Several of the larger festivals book national touring musicians.

Are there garlic festivals in Canada too?

Yes — more than twenty, from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia. See our list of garlic festivals in Canada.