Greenfield Recorder – 9/20/16

http://www.recorder.com/Garlic-4840686

MassLive – 9/10/16

http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/09/north_quabbin_garlic_and_arts_2.html

North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival – 18 Years of the Festival that Never Gets Old

 Event Name: 18th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival

Event Date: Saturday and Sunday, September 24 and 25, 2016

10 AM to 5 PM both days.  Shine or Rain

Location:  Forster’s Farm, 60 Chestnut Hill Rd.  Orange, MA 01364, No Pets Allowed

Travel and Shuttle Info, Schedule of Events and List of Exhibitors at: www.garlicandarts.org

Admission: Only $5 per day for Adults, $8 for a weekend pass. Kids 12 and under free.  

The scent-sational 18^th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival takes place September 24th and 25th in Orange Massachusetts. There is something for everyone at this family-friendly fall event, held on a beautiful historic farm amidst autumn foliage. Kindness, community and inspiration are always in style at this popular destination that attracts lovers of art and alliums from throughout New England.

Meander among 100 bountiful booths featuring regional artists, farmers, community organizations and garlic cuisine; strengthen community and economy by purchasing locally crafted and grown. Celebrate and relax with great bands, spoken word, and performance on three stages- including a solar-powered music stage – and throughout the rolling fields and forest. Be inspired by exhibitor demos and ample activities for kids and families. Get silly with garlic games galore including the famous raw garlic-eating contest. Soothe the soul with healing arts exhibitors. Travel the garlic globe with celebrated chef demos, and fill your belly with farm fresh and savory cuisine as you relax in the food courts. There are over eighty engaging workshops, activities and performances scheduled throughout the weekend! Orange is the New Green: trash free (well, only three bags for 10,000 people) with everything else recycled or transformed into fertile compost to make gardens not garbage.

New this Year! The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival is a great way to spend a fun-filled day or full weekend in the present. But it is also a ‘Portal to the Future.’  So many of the large-scale systems that support our modern lives are stretched thin, breaking, or already broken.  Creating a more just and sustainable future asks us to live in very different ways.  The 2016 festival features a new ‘Portal to the Future’ area that highlights ways that art, food, small-scale farming, renewable energy, care for the land, and hand skills all contribute to community-building and local resilience. You can even experience electric vehicles and test drive one from the festival shuttle lot in collaboration with Plug in America.

Family friendly admission: Still only $5.00 per day for adults, weekend pass $8.00, kids 12 and under free. On-site parking for accessible tags and carpools of 3 or more; free nearby shuttle lot for all others. No pets allowed. Festival proceeds keep the event sustainable and affordable, and support the festival’s community grant program for local art, agriculture, health and energy projects.

Get the whole bulb at garlicandarts.org including the complete 2016 schedule of exhibitors, music and entertainment, chef demos, renewable energy, local living workshops and activities for all ages. Find out why this event was awarded 2^nd best festival out of hundreds across the region by the Valley Advocate Reader’s Poll.

A fully volunteer committee of friends and neighbors, and Seeds of Solidarity Education Center, a non-profit organization, organize the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival. Supporters include the Forster/Stewart Family and over 200 community volunteers the festival weekend! Festival proceeds keep the event sustainable and affordable, and support the festival’s community grant program for regional arts, agriculture, health and energy projects.

17^th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival

A ‘Scent-sational’ Autumn Destination

Event Name: 17th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival

Event Date: Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27, 2015

10 a.m. to 5 PM both days. Shine or Rain

Admission: $5 per day for Adults, $8 for weekend pass. Kids 12 and under free.

Location: Forster’s Farm, 60 Chestnut Hill Rd. Orange, MA 01364,

Parking: Free shuttle from nearby lot, on-site for carpools of 3 or more or handicapped tags only.

Accessibility: Outdoors, rolling farm fields, accessible parking and porta-potty.

The No’s: No Pets Allowed. Garlic Lovers are Hot but No Smoking on the Festival Site or Shuttle lines.

Website: http://www.garlicandarts.org for travel and shuttle directions, and the 2015 schedule of exhibitors, music and entertainment, chef demos, renewable energy, local living workshops and activities for all ages.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthQuabbinGarlicAndArtsFestival

Twitter: #NQGarlicandArts

The 17^th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival, in Orange MA is a “scent-sational” place to be on Sept 26 and 27. Over 100 booths feature juried regional artists, local farm products, garlic cuisine, healing arts and community organizations that fill the fields of historic Forsters Farm. Many offer great demonstrations of their craft right at their booths! Music, performance, spoken word, and dance fill three stages and the rolling landscape, vibrant with autumn foliage. Demos by celebrated chefs, plus farm fresh savory cuisine from twenty diverse food vendors satisfy the soul and palate and festivalgoers can relax in food-court tents overlooking the festivities. Orange is the new green! Engaging renewable energy and local living presentations energize and inspire the crowds. And, the festival produces only three bags of trash for 10,000 people with everything else recycled or transformed into fertile compost, resulting in ‘gardens not garbage.’ There are many reasons why the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival was awarded 2^nd best festival of hundreds across the region by the Valley Advocate reader’s poll, as well as a featured event in the Mohawk Trail 250^th anniversary celebration. When a group of North Quabbin neighbors, artists and farmers first conceived of the event years ago to ignite the cultural vitality of the region and spirit of community, they never imagined that years later many thousands would follow their nose (and hearts) to the festival each year. The Festival that stinks is also the festival that sustains…art, agriculture, and rural living at its finest!

In addition to ample spontaneous and on-going happenings, more than sixty performances and workshops over the weekend ensure non-stop entertainment and education for everyone in the family. The 2015 Music Stage is rich in local talent and offers plenty of room for dancing to the likes of Celtic Heels, Maris Otter, Abe Loomis and Bright Lines, Trailer Park, Inside Out Dance Company, O You Villain, Yiddishkeit Klezmer Ensemble, and De Lomas y Sones. The Family Stage features Tom Ricardi with Birds of Prey, Bill Downes, Josh LeVangie, Western Mass Bellydance, Gaia Roots, and the Pistoleros. Human Error Publishing presents a Spoken Word Stage featuring forty poets and readers, nestled in a beautiful forest amphitheater. The Renewable Energy Area inspires local living with energizing info all weekend and workshops titled Community Solar Unveiled, Allying with the Fungal Kingdom, Cover Crops for Home Gardens, Heirloom Madness, The Basics of Lacto-fermentation, What’s so Hot about Heat Pumps, and Building an Affordable High Performance Home. If you’re hungry for more, the Chef Demo Tent features local culinary artists from The Gill Tavern, Stockbridge Farm, Wheelhouse Truck Farm, The Five Eyed Fox, Culinary Consultants, and Osteria Vespa, PLUS the release and sale of the first ever North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival cookbook!

Kids of all ages will forget their screens with the abundance of creative, adventure, and cultural activities including an animal area with heritage and working animals and fiber demos; a pottery tent where bowls can be made to benefit local food pantries, Peak Expedition’s climbing wall; Native craft, artifacts and story, plus the ever favorite hula hooping, horsedrawn hayrides, everyone-can- play garlic games and giant fun with Skeleton Crew Theatre, and Ed the Wizard roaming the fields. There is good reason why it’s been called the 17^th Most Popular Festival in the Universe!

Family friendly affordable admission is still only $5.00 per day for adults, weekend pass $8.00, kids 12 and under free. Travel and Parking: There are free shuttles all day from nearby lot (last shuttle leaves site at 5PM) with onsite parking for carpools of 3 or more and handicap tags only. Experienced hikers can even choose a moderately strenuous, 45-minute trail from the shuttle to the festival gates. No pets are allowed on the trail, shuttle or at the festival (exempting service dogs) and while garlic lovers are hot, there is no smoking on the festival fields or shuttle bus lines. Visit garlicandarts.org for the full program of events and list of exhibitors, plus important travel and parking details.

An all-volunteer committee of friends and neighbors, and Seeds of Solidarity Education Center- a non-profit organization-organize the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival to support local artists and farmers, unite and revitalize community, and celebrate life. Supporters include the Forster/Stewart Family, and over 200 community volunteers! All festival proceeds are used to keep the event sustainable and affordable and support the festival’s community grant program that has distributed over $30,000 in grants to North Quabbin art, agriculture, wellness, and energy projects.

North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival

 Sweet [and Stinkin’] Sixteen Years of Celebration

Event Name: 16th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival

Event Date: Saturday and Sunday, September 27 and 28, 2014, 10 a.m. to 5 PM both days.  Shine or Rain

Location:   Forster’s Farm, 60 Chestnut Hill Rd.  Orange, MA 01364, No Pets Allowed

Full Details on the festival Website: www.garlicandarts.org

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthQuabbinGarlicAndArtsFestival

Admission: Only: $5 per day for Adults, $8 for weekend pass. Kids 12 and under free.  

Celebrate sweet [and stinkin’] sixteen  – that’s years of the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival, September 27 and 28 in Orange Massachusetts.  There’s something for everyone at this fabulous family destination, held on a beautiful historic farm amidst autumn foliage.

Buy local, be local: support the bounty of over 100 booths featuring regional artists, farmers, and community organizations; strengthen communities by purchasing locally crafted and grown. Relax andcelebratelife with great music, performance, spoken word, and dance on solar powered stages and throughout the rolling fields and forest. Learn and create through exhibitor demos, and new art and adventure activities for kids and families. Get silly with garlic games galore including the famous raw garlic-eating contest. Travel the garlic globe with celebrated chef demos, and fill your belly with glorious, farm fresh and savory cuisine as you relax in the food courts overlooking the festivities. Energize your life with informative renewable energy and local living presentations, plus healing arts exhibitors. Orange is the New Green: trash free (well, only three bags for 10,000 people) with everything else recycled or transformed into fertile compost for gardens not garbage. Family friendly admission: Still only$5.00 per day for adults, weekend pass $8.00, kids 12 and under free, free shuttle and parking too. Awarded 2^nd best festival out of hundreds across the region by the Valley Advocate reader’s poll, mark your calendars now for two days of peace, love and garlic.

Visit garlicandarts.org for the ‘whole bulb’– details, directions and accessibility; all the amazing exhibitors; entertainment, performance including music, dance and spoken word; chef demos, renewable energy, local living workshops and family friendly activities for all ages.

A fully volunteer committee of friends and neighbors, and Seeds of Solidarity Education Center, a non-profit organization, organize the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival. Supporters include the Forster/Stewart Family, local businesses, and over 200 community volunteers the festival weekend! Festival proceeds keep the event sustainable and affordable, and support the festival’s community grant program for regional arts, agriculture, health and energy projects.

North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival Awards $10,000 in Local Grants

The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival is pleased to announce awards of more than $10,000 in community grants to support local food and arts projects in 2013 and 2014. Part of the festival’s mission is to enhance the artistic and agricultural vibrancy of the region. Through its grants program the festival’s spirit of creativity and community building is spread year round through support for innovative projects and partnerships with groups across the North Quabbin.

Earlier this year, creative proposals were encouraged from North Quabbin cultural organizations and schools seeking to provide new, free or low-cost opportunities for enjoyment or participation in the arts – through increasing access to local or regional cultural events, engaging the community in creating public art or performance, or by enhancing opportunities for local artists to collaborate with others to creativity in the region. Many excellent proposals were received, from which a committee of festival members and local residents selected seven projects to receive financial support toward their goals.

More than $5,000 in grants ranging from $300 to $2000 has been committed to the following projects:

Framing of students’ work to be featured in “As the World Turns,” an exhibition of the works by Mahar students at the Hampden Gallery of UMASS-Amherst and outreach to local artists and the community;

Hiring musical performers for a two-day Northern Routes Music Festival to be held at the 1794 Meeting House;

Purchasing outdoor screening equipment for Movies in the Park, part of Third Thursdays in Downtown Orange;

To feature performers and entertainers from the North Quabbin region at the Petersham Farmers’ Market;

Piano tuning and staging improvements to support the Petersham Lyceum’s classical music concert series;

To support a local artist-performer in providing nutrition education puppetry performances at farmer’s markets in Athol and Orange;

To launch ‘Colors of the Quabbin,’ a local artist studio tour organized by Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust.

In addition to these 2014 grants, the festival provided the North Quabbin Community Coop with a $5,000 grant at the end of 2013 to purchase a new cooler to increase availability of products from local farms in their soon to come new downtown location, and to increase co-op outreach to low-income families. In addition to the community grants program, the festival committee also makes an annual contribution to the North Quabbin Food-a-thon. And, each year the festival provides numerous local causes with a monetary donation in exchange for help forming parking teams that help during the festival weekend.

The community grants program is possible through volunteerism and support of the festival community. A committee of neighbors, friends, farmers and artists, give of their time, meeting year round to organize the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival. More than 200 community members and groups work in shifts during the festival weekend to ensure a smooth operation. Every exhibitor also contributes in a direct way in addition, such as helping to set up for the festival or by feeding work crews – making the Garlic and Arts festival a true community-building event. The community grants program, which has now distributed over $25,000 to projects across the North Quabbin region, is supported by proceeds from exhibitor booth fees and event admission.

 According to organizers, “The festival committee is thrilled to be able to provide grants to wonderful and diverse local initiatives that will benefit people of all ages in the North Quabbin region.” It is not too early to mark your calendars for The 16^th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival, Sept 27^th and 28^th, 2014 – voted 2^nd best festival in the whole Pioneer Valley by the Valley Advocate reader’s poll! For more information about the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival or to help keep the festival spirit strong by signing up to volunteer, visit www.garlicandarts.org.

15^th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival

15 Years of Celebration Event Name: 15th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival

Event Date: Saturday and Sunday, October 5 and 6, 10 a.m. to 5 PM both days.  Shine or Rain
Location:   Forster’s Farm, 60 Chestnut Hill Rd.  Orange, MA 01364. No Pets Allowed
Admission: Adults $5 per day, $8 for weekend pass. Kids 12 and under free.
Full Program, Exhibitors, Travel and Parking details: www.garlicandarts.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/North-Quabbin-Garlic-and-Arts-Festival/99532392485
Writing an article? Contact: deb@seedsofsolidarity.org  
Get a Press Photo or Graphic: http://garlicandarts.org/news/

The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival is the place to be on October 5 and 6, 2013!

Celebrate and be inspired; it’s the 15^th anniversary of ‘The Festival that Stinks,’ consistently rated in the Top Three Local Festivals by the Valley Advocate ‘Best Of’ readers poll. And, the ‘buck drops here!’ to celebrate the 15^th anniversary of this fully volunteer organized, community revitalizing event, during the weekend a small plane will take off from Orange’s very own airport and drop 1,500 ‘Garlic and Arts Bucks’ from the sky to help everyone enjoy the wonderful wares of the festival exhibitors and support local!

There’s something for everyone at this fabulous family destination, held on a beautiful historic farm in Orange, MA. Buy local, be local: support the bounty of over 100 booths featuring juried regional artists, farmers, and community organizations.  All ages gain creative inspiration from an array of on-going and scheduled demonstrations. Watch leatherwork or wool spinning, press cider and learn to grow garlic, learn to entice pollinators or keep chickens, relax at a healing arts booth, and see skilled local craftspeople timber framing, milling lumber and turning bowls.

The fall foliage and beautiful rolling fields of the historic Forster family farm create a relaxing setting for fabulous entertainment. Get the full schedule of festival events at garlicandarts.org, but here’s a taste: The 2013 main stage line-up includes: Inside/Out Dance Company, Celtic Heels, The Pangeans, The Equalites, Crow’s Rebellion, Gaia Roots, and The Impulse Ensemble. Family activities have expanded to the ‘North End’ festival field where a big canopy will be filled with storytelling, crafts activities, face painting, and dance and movement performances for kids and families. Over 30 spoken word artists organized by Human Error Publishing emerge out of the woods and onto the stage in the food court to season your meal with poetry and song.

To fill your belly as well as soul, fabulous food vendors fill four food courts with amazing local, garlic and savory dishes that transcend your average fair fare. In the cooking demo tent, chefs from The Gill Tavern, Stockbridge Farm, The Kitchen Garden, Fireside Bar and Grill, The Farm Table and the Rendezvous will arouse your own garlic and farm-fresh creations. After you eat, enjoy a ‘Gardens not Garbage’ installation created by Seeds of Solidarity to learn how the festival- known for producing only 3 bags of trash for 10,000 people- instead generates compost sufficient to make 20 local community gardens! Orange is the New Green. There’s an incredible line-up of renewable energy and local living workshops that will energize and transform your lifestyle. Add to all this garlic games galore on the main field, a chance to try your hand at disc golf, or for those who dare, the famous raw garlic eating contest.

     All this for an inflation busting, family friendly admission of $5.00 per day for adults, $8.00 for a weekend pass, and kids 12 and under are always free. Vibrant with creative culture, sense of community, family fun and skills for local living, the festival has been likened to  ‘a giant family picnic where everyone gets along.’

To Get to the Festival: Take Route 2 to Exit 16, or Route 202 from the south, and follow the signs to the main parking area and shuttle lot on the corner of Holtshire and Fairman Roads to catch a free, five- minute ride right to the festival entrance gate. Parking at the festival site is reserved for carpools of three or more or those with handicap tags. Or Hike! Exercise enthusiasts can hike 45 minutes from the shuttle lot through the forest and over the hills to the festival via the Chestnut Hill trails. Get full directions and travel details at www.garlicandarts.org /directions/. No pets are allowed on the festival site or left in cars. Visit the website at www.garlicandarts.org for the complete 2013 schedules of exhibitors, music, entertainment, kids activities and games, chef demos, renewable energy, local living and healing arts workshops.

Help us write the Book of Garlic! Bring your favorite garlic recipes, reminiscences about the festival (past and present), photos or drawings to be included in this exciting, if stinky, community project. Submissions will be accepted at several festival locations or email thebookofgarlic@gmail.com through February 2014.

A fully volunteer committee of friends and neighbors, and Seeds of Solidarity Education Center, a non-profit organization, organize the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival. Supporters include the Forster/Stewart Family, local businesses, and over 200 community volunteers the festival weekend. Festival proceeds keep the event sustainable and affordable, and support the festival’s community grant program for regional arts, agriculture, health, and energy projects.

The 15th Anniversary of the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival, nestled in the beautiful North Quabbin, will include a ‘Garlic and Arts Bucks’ drop by plane, along with ample art, agriculture, great food, and entertainment for all ages.

Celebrating the artistic, agricultural, and cultural bounty of the North Quabbin region.

Share this Postcard for the 2013 Festival with your friends and family via email, social media, or print it out and send via snail mail.