Vampire-lovers beware, garlic craze is coming to town this weekend.
The third annual Garlic Festival will be hosted at Terra Nova Rural Park this Sunday, Aug. 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with garlic goodies galore.
"If you're not a 'Twilight' fan, come on out," laughed Arzeena Hamir, co-chair of the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project.
Three varieties of locally grown garlic will be sold at the event - Music, Hornby and Russian softneck - for $3 per bulb or $15 per lb. Proceeds will go toward the Richmond Sharing Farm, which grows food for the Richmond Food Bank.
"Garlic is the one flavouring that we can grow extremely well in Richmond and it just changes the whole flavour of food," said Hamir. "Once you actually taste local garlic, you will never buy supermarket garlic again. It can become quite an addiction to try new kinds yourselves."
Families, gardeners and cooks are expected to flock to the festival, which aims to raise over $10,000. And entertainment will be provided, with face painting, crafts and music performances by Betty Berda, Winter Mitts and Da Bretheren.
"It's a huge leap of faith to build it so big," said Hamir. The Project grew about 2,000 garlic bulbs in preparation for the festival, knowing that there aren't any other annual garlic festivals currently operating in the Lower Mainland.
"I think there's an untapped market for everything garlic."
Festival organizers also decided to bring in a few favourite garlic snacks for the event: for the brave, garlic ice cream is reported to be a unique balance of garlic and sweet flavours. The less adventurous will find pickled garlic scapes and fresh garlic bread for sale.
Attendees are encouraged to walk or bike to the event, but those driving can park at Spul'u'Kwuks Elementary School.
