“Fun-filled, family-friendly and fragrant.”

The Minnesota Garlic Festival is the premier event for lovers of garlic, great local foods and good times!

This festival features fantastic foods, celebrity chefs, marvelous music, area artisans, goofy games and lots of garlic - all in support of a healthy environment and vital rural communities in Minnesota.

Entertainment Schedule

Opening Ceremony
Commences 9:50 am

“Throwing Out the First Bulb” Opening Ceremony

Since the mid-50’s, Garlic Festival has kicked off the day with a bulb toss (like baseball’s “throwing out the 1st pitch”), a Blessing of the Garlic Crop, and – new this year – a Official Tasting of the Garlic Bloody Mary. All this will take place in front of the big fake garlic bulb with the lipstick.

Music and Acts
10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Light of the Moon Band
Festival favorites, Light of the Moon Band, bring their own brand of unstoppable toe-tapping hyperfolk.

The Precocious Prancing Parader of the Peculiar Pragmatic Promenade
Part poet, part priestess, part prankster and perennially peculiar. And has an album entitled “Garlic and Other Forces of Nature” with the top four songs ever written about garlic.

The Narren
The Narren of New Ulm is an entire village of elaborately masked characters – funny, quirky and just a bit scary – each with their own personality and story. An old German festival tradition (“narren” means fool), think of them as the relatives everyone has but no one wants to own.

Kayla the Bubbler
What happens when a professional juggler discovers bubbles?  Kayla the Bubbler!

Flamenco Mateo
Flamenco Mateo is expanding of the art of Spanish Flamenco. Through music, dance, singing, percussion, Spanish guitars and the poetry of Flamenco, they entertain as well as inspire and educate. You’ll see them in an intimate and informal fashion, which captures Flamenco’s true spirit.

Preludes to a Blizzard
A musical collective with a plethora of diverse backgrounds of Twin City natives, The Preludes aim to bring life to many events through a variety of folk musics, pulling material primarily from American Dixieland, Jazz, Pop, and Blues, Latin American salsas and Bossa Novas, and Jewish Klezmer. The group philosophy is based on the fact when referring to music, “it’s called playing for a reason!”

Garlic Buds Kids Tent
10:00 am - 4:00 pm

All-day games, activities, interesting stuff and more for kids of all ages.

Promenade

Begins at Precisely 1:37 P.M.

The Promenade proceeds at precisely 1:37 p.m. to perambulate the public party already in progress at the Festival.

YOU can be a part of the parade! Bring your costume, your act – can you juggle? Hula Hoop? Dance? Unicycle? – or just your peppy promenading self and join in! Meet at the twin silos at 1:20 p.m.

Fabulous prizes will be awarded in these categories:

~ Most Peculiar ~
~ Most Pragmatic ~
~ Best Promenader ~

Kite-Making & Flying
1:00 - 4:00 pm

Talk about wind power!

One of the most popular features on festival day finds kids of all ages building over 200 kites – all under the direction of MN Kite Society former president, Dave Herzig – and flying them together at the south end of the festival grounds.

You can help out with kite-making and flying!

Date: August 12, 2023

Time: 10am - 5pm

Location: McLeod County Fairgrounds - 840 Century Ave. SW, Hutchinson, MN 55350

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