Garlic Town USA is a downhome tradition in Bennington. It is a time of year where, in a space off of Main Street, everything turns to garlic, from food to ice cream to pure cloves and beyond. Mikaela Lewis, event designer and manager for the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce has been overseeing Garlic Town for the past six years with a mixture of logic, passion and love.
Lewis has been with the chamber for six years and is originally from Pownal. Her family moved away to Florida (Tampa) and eventually ended up settling in Graham in Texas, about two hours north of Dallas. But they always wanted to come back to Vermont. “My family always travels as a herd,” Lewis explains. “I have two older sisters, so my parents and all of us are very close. They obviously have their own families but we always travel as a pack together.” Her dad’s job had taken them down to Texas. They decided to come back when he was diagnosed with cancer. “That was kind of a big, life-changing moment. He went through treatment while we were in Texas. But then once he was in remission, we needed to refocus.” She continues that her oldest sister has two children, who were were getting ready to start school at that time. “So it was a great time to get back before they started that process.”
Bennington was just “home,” she relates: “I always came back here in the summers with my mom.” Her parents had kept their original house in Pownal which they built after they got married in 1972. “So it has always been in the family. We would rent it out here and there. But like, every summer, my mom and I would always come back home and see all our family and the friends that I never got to see.”
Lewis says Garlic Fest has always been a staple in her life. Garlic Fest changed over to be called Garlic Town USA in 2021. “I remember, when I was younger, we usually would have to go back before school started so sometimes we would miss it. But I remember (when I did stay for it) going out to it at Camelot.” She says, at that age, “you have no idea [what it is]. You don’t even know who runs it. You don’t know anything about it. But you just know that it’s a blast to be at.”
Now being the person that puts it together, Lewis says she couldn’t have dreamed of the opportunity. After she and her family came back to Vermont in 2017, Lewis transferred to Southern Vermont College and was part of the last class in 2019 before they closed. “That was another pivotal life moment.” Having grown up in the Bennington area, she said she always knew how beautiful SVC was … it was just kind of a dream come true.”
Lewis got a part time job at the SWVT Chamber in early 2018. At the time, there was a little bit different layout to the organization since it was before COVID. There were many more travelers coming in and out of their HQ on Veterans Memorial Drive because they were able to staff it. Lewis’ mom knew Lindy Lynch, who chaired Garlic Fest from its inception. Lynch was undergoing cancer treatment and had met Lewis’ mom through through her work with wellness as part of the Health Coalition. ”So obviously when I came here, Lindy was the main chair and she had been on the chamber board.” When Lewis came on, Lynch had already been doing the event for almost 12 years. “So for me, it immediately became all hands on deck for garlic.” She says her parents were very supportive. “And it felt so special to me to be able to dive into things like this and showcase why this area means so much to all of us.”
As far as learning from Lynch before her passing in 2019, Lewis says, more than anything, it was about Lynch trusting her. Lindy always had her vision and her own way of doing things, Lewis adds — many of which were more “old school” with many notebooks of information. Lewis adds that “I would kind of bring in a little bit more of ‘Hey, we could do this a lot easier this way.’ And she would say, ‘That would be great!’”
As time went on, Lewis started to build her own organizational approach to the vendor lists and logistics, “even just all the paperwork that comes with all the rentals, and those things that have to really start months in advance.” Lewis says the planning for Garlic Town never stops. “It doesn’t matter what month it is, there’s always something we’ve got to prepare or order for.”
As far as planning, the current list for the 2024 version of Garlic Town USA stands at close to 125 vendors. “This year was really tough.” Lewis explains that Garlic Town USA had been, in the past years, partially held at the Bennington Station Lot. But with the recent skate park construction in play (“We’re happy to have that start in the community”), that adjustment caused a pivot shift in terms of location, site architects and even creating maps for Garlic Town for this year’s event. Many of these plans had been near a year or more in play. For the most part now, Garlic Town will primarily be taking place at the Tuttle lot, where they have been for the past couple years.
“That’s worked great on Depot Street, and then we’re kind of kind of expanding into those two parking lots that come off North, now that we’re not going to be at the station lot,” Lewis explains. She says it has been non-stop work to get permissions to use these lots as well as confirming road closures. The town, she adds, does not own all the land, so it’s about working with multiple property owners and sometimes directly with their tenants to gain permission for use.
Lewis continues that “the biggest struggles for us are what no one else sees, which is a good thing,” but, of course, it can be stressful. “I mean, I’m not gonna sugar coat it. It’s been so difficult. But we’ve made it happen.” She says seeing everyone’s support in coming out and enjoying it while it is happening means the world to them. “It’s everything for us,” she adds. “This is a third of the Chamber’s budget. A lot of people don’t really know how chambers operate. We receive no funding from anything. It is all from our members, sponsorships and events like this. This literally keeps our doors open and lets us provide for the entire region that we serve, and our members.” Lewis adds also that the whole point of taking the event from Garlic Fest to Garlic Town in recent years was bringing it downtown to support the downtown area. She said that this event brings over $150,000 to Bennington in the course of a single day.
The vendors though are the heart and soul of the entire festival, adds Lewis. “People want to come out and talk to these farmers, these growers, these artisans.” She says they’ve had people who’ve been vending with the fest for 15 or 20 years, ever since it started as a tiny little farmers’ market in Wilmington. “That means more to me than anything in the world,” Lewis continues. “I know all of these people. They are some absolutely incredible people … so [it is about that] wonderful, amazing connection.”
But, with an event like this, it is also about juggling puzzle pieces, especially one where certain areas had to change in the final months. Lewis said she had to get her ducks in a row to be able to fit the same amount of vendors they had in previous years. She had let the vendors know around a month or so ago that they were going to be changing the layout. She explained to them, as a group (and as far as festivals), that certain elements can always be out of one’s control and in flux. The vendors were understanding of the situation. She added: “At end of the day, the fans come out to see and shop from people like you and to experience our downtown, Bennington and the entire area.”
When asked who she is looking forward to seeing, Lewis smiles coyly. “One of my — I won’t say favorite — but one of my really favorite people is a person who’s been with us a long time. They are Rolling Rock Salt. The owner’s name is Tony and his wife is Darby. They are based over in the Berkshires.” Rolling Rock Salt, she says, has been coming for years and years. “Tony is just the nicest human you literally would ever meet in your life. I mean, they’re both just two incredible people and they’ve got a great business.” Lewis explains that Rolling Rock does all kinds of black garlic products that are really popular. She adds that anyone who has black garlic products at the fest are usually sold out within the first two hours of the morning.
For attendees who have been coming to the garlic event for years, “they may pick up the map that day, and they just go to who they remember, and hopefully the person they remembered next to them.” Lewis completely understands that mentality. On the reverse for the vendors, Lewis wants to give them everything they need to have a good experience and good sales plus make sure they can be next to their own friends in the garlic business. The growers, for example, have a specific spot near the gates. ”We always have a flagship at every entrance. The growers row is always front and center. That is obviously our heart and soul: the farmers … our garlic growers.”
Lewis smiles, relating that these growers want to be next to each other because they all know each other. “It’s really a family … a little garlic stinky family down here in Bennington [during Garlic Town]. We have to keep that tradition going.”
Lewis says she is just so grateful for the people that help the event happen and to be able to have a chance to bring Garlic Town to Bennington. “ I mean, it’s not easy, but it is the most rewarding thing I could ever be a part of. So that definitely makes it all worth it.”
She says the moment they literally open the gates at 10 o’clock on Saturday morning, she will honestly tear up. “You take the deepest breath. And you just see people so happy to be coming into something like this. They’re first in line. They’ve been waiting in line for an hour for the gates to open. There’s no words to describe that moment when me, Matt [Harrington] and Erika [Floriani] get to stand there and see that moment happen. You forget about it all just for a moment.”
To learn more about Garlic Town USA happening on Saturday, Aug. 31, in Bennington, visit garlictownusa.com.
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Publish date : 2024-08-28 13:00:00
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