Sarah Montgomery knows what you think about garlic: It’s perfect for spaghetti sauce, roasted meats and warding off vampires. But cookies? You bet your bulbs.
Montgomery, owner of Cuppiecakes Bakery, turned to the classic cloves for her hazelnut roasted garlic honey chocolate chip cookie, which earned her the bake-off title at the
North Union Farmers Market’s Cleveland Garlic Festival in September.
“I wanted to take what everyone’s preconceived notions about garlic were and then switch it up,” says Montgomery, who bakes out of her home in Parma Heights.
And that’s exactly what Donita Anderson, executive director of the North Union Farmers Market, was hoping for.
Inspired by the 31-year-old garlic festival in Gilroy, Calif., Anderson transformed the organization’s annual gala benefit dinner into a weekend event that brought Cleveland’s top chefs, restaurateurs, musicians, artists and farmers to Shaker Square to indulge in all things garlic.
“People thought I was crazy,” she admits.
But that’s only because they hadn’t gotten a taste of her idea. “Our mission is to champion local foods,” she says, “and garlic is a fun, tasty, healthy, local food.” As a key ingredient in many of Cleveland’s ethnic cuisines, garlic grows well in Northeast Ohio’s loamy soil, which imparts a distinctive flavor to the bulbs — and to the festival.
Sergio Abramoff, chef and owner of Sarava at Shaker Square, served up garlic shrimp and a heart of palm salad with garlic vinaigrette. Dewey’s popcorn shop popped fresh garlic popcorn. There was a beef grill-off, Old World jazz and a Miss Cleveland Garlic Festival pageant.
“It was like going to a smorgasbord of fine food, great music and entertainment for an entire family,” says Fred Thaxton, who runs Thaxton Organic Garlic in Hudson along with his wife, Christine. The couple, who plant more than 14,000 cloves on their 10 acres, were even crowned — with garlic bulb hats — king and queen of the festival.
Anderson’s crazy concept ended up a success no matter how you slice it: The event drew more than 4,250 people, 100 volunteers, 34 vendors and raised $87,000 for the North Union Farmers Market, all of which exceeded expectations.
Additionally, vendors noted that the festival attracted an abundance of first-time visitors, which boosted sales at the event and in the surrounding Shaker Square shops and restaurants. Even better, many of those visitors returned for the weekly farmers market as sales continued to see a bump.
“It was like a huge block party for garlic lovers,” says Montgomery.