Garlic and Harvest Festival
Bethlehem, Connecticut
Rest assured, you won’t find any vampires in Bethlehem, Connecticut, over Columbus Day Weekend. That’s when more than 15,000 attendees visit town to celebrate the annual Garlic and Harvest Festival.
Garlic grows well in New England “if you know what you’re doing,” said Dave Harkness, the co-founder and organizer for the annual Garlic and Harvest Festival. Harkness didn’t know much about garlic, aside from its culinary qualities, when he and his business partner started the festival. But in the 10 years since the festival began, he has become familiar with the region’s garlic producers and the many uses of the pungent onion.
Each year, around 20 garlic producers, who sell bulk and different varieties for planting, set up shop alongside arts and crafts vendors and artisan food producers. The event also features children’s activities, zip lines, pumpkin-decorating, music, cooking demonstrations and lectures on garlic cultivation.
Harkness said one of the biggest highlights of the festival is seeing what specialty items will be available in the food court.
“Every food court vendor has to have at least one item where garlic is used as the main ingredient,” he said. “We have all sorts of garlic-themed foods.” Some of last year’s dishes included garlic burritos, garlic sausage and roasted garlic poutine.
Hopefully, there’s one vendor on site selling breath mints.
WaterFire
Providence, Rhode Island
Water and fire are usually considered anathema to one another, but not in Providence, Rhode Island, during WaterFire, a blazing pyrotechnic art installation illuminating up to two-thirds of a mile along the three downtown rivers.
More than 100 bonfires are lit in iron braziers floating on the rivers during the full lighting ceremonies, with schedules dependent on sponsorship and the tides. An original soundtrack for each lighting gives a unique presentation. On average, between 50,000 and 60,000 people visit downtown Providence for the events, which have become a juggernaut to the local economy, employing 25 full-time staffers and relying on hundreds of volunteers, since it started in 1994.
“It’s all kinds of people actually feeding the fires and making it possible,” said development associate Corinne Barber. “So it’s quite literally every faction of our community who make it possible.”
Along the streets near the rivers there is additional artistic programming as well as an artist fair featuring local, handmade art.
Potential visitors should check the organization’s website for scheduled lighting events throughout the year. Schedules are released as soon as they are available.
