Many might think of garlic as just an essential ingredient for pasta sauce, a therapeutic medicinal aid or as a way to keep the vampires away. However in Highwood, garlic has reached festival-worthy status.
The sixth annual Garlic Fest was celebrated in Highwood’s Everts Park on Aug. 24 and featured over two dozen garlic creations. The event is held in conjunction with the weekly Highwood Evening Market and also featured the Garlic Queen and Garlic Princess competitions.
Pat Lenzini, a Highwood Chamber of Commerce member and the 2015 Garlic Queen, said the festival has special meaning for the town.
“Alderman Eric Falberg was the original creator of the fest, and the idea was inspired in part by Highwood’s strong Italian immigrant population and their cultural love for garlic in cooking,” Lenzini said.
According to event promoter Ilyse Strongin-Bombicino, Highwood is a culinary destination with a diverse offering of ethnic food choices that make frequent use of garlic.
The garlic worship has grown to attract over 4,000 attendees who come from all over the Chicago area to sample many types of garlic creations from out-of-the-ordinary sweets, to classic savory options like pastas, sandwiches, sauces and spreads.
This year’s fest featured a Taste of Garlic competition with both savory and sweet categories. The sweet prize was awarded to Susie Regan for her candied bacon. Toadstool Pub took home the savory honors for their garlic-infused vodka bloody mary.
Other noteworthy offerings included garlic shortbread sandwich cookies from Bent Fork Bakery, garlic spaganini (a spaghetti panini) from Pat’s Catering & Canning, garlic parmesan popcorn from the Popcorn Jester and a garlic infused chocolate spread served on crostini from Puna Chocolate Company.
With the aroma of garlic wafting through the park, the title of 2016 Garlic Queen was given to Shannon Schine, of Highland Park. This year’s Garlic Princess is Lexi Golding, 11, of Highland Park. Both will go on to make a number of public appearances at Highwood and surrounding suburban events during the coming year.
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The annual Terrific Tomato Contest was also held and saw residents submit their best tomatoes in a variety of categories. Tomatoes were weighed, calibrated, and judged during the fest. First prize went to Yones Lawler and the people’s choice award was given to Diane Vanderpal.
Gina Grillo is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.