Rutkowski Farm

Heather & Kathleen on Day 1

Well we had our first outing at a very big festival and it was a great (and exhausting) time.

Day 1: When I arrived at about 6:30 am on Saturday, I found out I made a very big rookie mistake.  We received what I thought was a parking permit for the festival.  I had given it to Kathleen so she could park close by when she arrived with Asa.  What I didn’t know is that I needed this permit to get into the gate.  The Saugerties police officer guarding the front gate was “very sympathetic to my situation,” but was unyielding.  After wandering around for about 45 minutes inside looking for someone to allow me past the gate, I opted to try a back entrance.  The truckload of garlic proved to be more convincing at that entrance.  Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned.

Despite the setback, we still had plenty of time to set up.  That was a very good thing because the moment the gates opened up, a throng of people came through.  We’ve always worked at smaller markets, so this was a very new experience for us.  Luckily our friend Heather was there to help.  We honestly couldn’t have managed with out help.  We were also setup right next to the great folks from Lindon Garlic Farm who we had met at the Bennington fest.  They’ll have a new playmate for Asa next year, so we’re going to do what we can to set up near them at Bennington.  I’ll also plug their garlic powder.  It’s killer.

Erin, Matthew, Paul & Asa

Day 2: Speaking of help, we had our good friends Matthew & Erin join us on the decidedly ickier Sunday.  It oscillated between light drizzle and actual rain all day, but the turnout still seemed pretty robust given the circumstances.  It was slower, but at the end of the day, we only came home with 9 braids and 1 half pound of garlic.  Crazy.  Other highlights of day 2 included a gentleman dressed like dracula that lurked around the fringes of our booth for a while.  Our friend Allison from Lindon garlic had a brief conversation with him that went something like this:

Dracula: Where do I get one of those things?
Allison: What?
Dracula: One of those things that you sit in.  (I think he wanted her chair)
Allison: I need to sit.  My baby is due in 5 weeks.
Dracula: (In a huff) Well I’ve been dead for years.

I don’t think I need to comment further on that….

The great thing about this is that we sold all of our garlic.  The bad thing about that is that we really don’t have any left to sell online at this point.  Our poor friends will get some less than perfect garlic this year (sorry friends).

In the end we had a great time.  We’re always learning and we strive to do it better every year.  Thanks to the old friends that came out and all the new friends that we met.  We’re planning on being there next year and look forward to seeing everyone again!