The South Cariboo Garlic Festival in Lac la Hache was a total success.
We had record attendance this year, 3,276, and that is not counting children under 12, the volunteers and the vendors.
The weather was drizzly on Saturday and somewhat cooler on Sunday. Some smart people wore winter jackets.
There were 69 booths this year, including a kids zone, and there was a bit of everything was up for grabs.
There was a lot of garlic, garlicky products, clothes, jewelry, pottery, a herbalist who also did massages, and booths that served tempting food and goodies.
It appeared that the booth manned by the Lac la Hache Historical Society was the favourite place for lunch.
Since I worked at an extremely busy booth on Saturday, I didn’t get to see many of the activities as they happened, but I had the opportunity to meet and greet many people.
Garlina, our little garlic princess, was very much in evidence, whizzing from one end of the festival site to the other. She visited all the vendors, greeted people and still found time to spend with her family.
I did however get to listen to some of the music. Out of all the ones I heard, I have to say Steve Elliott (Elvis Presley) was my favourite.
Nine-year-old Eloise Hobi from Lac la Hache had an opportunity to sing duets with Steve, and Eloise did a fantastic job. I watched video clips that were posted of these duets, they were great.
Contest results
Garlic eating
Adult: first, Dale Darby, Abbotsford, 11 cloves; Frank Darby, New West Minister, nine; and Brayden Lenard, Langley, six cloves.
Children: first, Kailyn Darby, New Westminister, six cloves; second, Akira Logan, Lac la Hache, four; and third, Akira Zukewich, three, from Port Coquitlam, two cloves.
I would like to thank Jeanette McCrea for doing an awesome job organizing everything – from superb traffic control and rounding up all the volunteers to directing traffic, parking attendants, and manning the gates.