Last updated on January 9th, 2019 at 11:12 am
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Be Original: Gilroy Garlic Festival
by Brad Bennett/channel marketing manager, deli, Tyson Foods Inc.
At the office we often focus on how shoppers react to deli in the store, but I wanted to seek out new and exciting ways to take deli out of the store and deliver it to consumers. Shoppers told us they want a better meal experience.1 Unique events like food festivals demonstrate how it’s being done.
When an annual event is still going strong after 40 years, they must be doing it right. That’s why for my second of six events in our Food Quest, I headed out to the Gilroy Garlic Festival, so I could rub elbows with thousands of food enthusiasts to learn why they return year after year.2
Join me as I explore the innovative concepts, community impact, entertainment experience and the fantastic food at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Some quick stats about the event:
- 100,000 visitors
- 4,000 volunteers
- Three days of cook-offs, celebrity chefs and fun
- Sponsored by Raleys, BelAir and Nob Hill Foods
Who knew garlic was this much fun!
Did the Gilroy Garlic Festival live up to its Guinness World Records certification as the world’s largest garlic festival? Drawing nearly 100,000 people to a bevy of cook-off events and offering new experiences like the Electric Clove Dance Tent, you bet it did.
The Garlic Cook-Off Stage was the scene for crowd-favorite events that introduced some truly original dishes and offered a top prize of $5,000, plus the coveted garlic crown, to the amateur winner of the great Garlic Cook-Off. Aspiring young chefs faced off in the first-ever Garlic Chef Jr. competition while pros thrilled crowds in the Garlic Showdown, hosted by Iron Chef Michael Symon. I was blown away by the biggest battle of all, a fierce Iron Chef-style throw down featuring four chefs competing to create unique dishes using plums, prunes and, of course, garlic.
This festival proved it’s possible to fire up crowds with educational demos and exciting cook-offs that can inspire thousands of people to create meals they had never even considered making before—all because of one ingredient.
I’m off on another adventure, and I’ll share my experience at the Latin Food Festival in San Diego next month! The commitment to the cultural elements of a comprehensive tasting of Latin spirits in California, paired with the variety of Hispanic cuisine was remarkable.
To follow along on my Food Quest journey, visit TysonVelocity.com/FoodQuest.
Sources:
1) Tyson Foods, Emotional Trigger Study, 2017; Tyson Foods, Prepared Foods Challenge, 2016; Tyson Foods, Awareness, Trial, Repurchase, 2016
2) Gilroy Garlic Festival, 2018
