2019 marked the 41st edition of the Gilroy Garlic Festival, the granddaddy of food festivals in California. Founded in 1979, the festival has been attended by over 4.4 million visitors over the years, has awarded over $11.7 million to community schools and non-profit organizations, and gets it done with the help of over 4,000 volunteers each year from over 140 non-profit groups in Gilroy and surrounding communities.
Oh, and each year visitors to the Gilroy Garlic Festival consume more than 2 tons of fresh garlic from Gilroy’s own Christopher Ranch.
2019 also marked the 4th edition of the Gilroy Garli-Que BBQ Challenge. I judged the meat entries at last year's contest, but this year I managed the leftovers table. In that role, you make sure that leftover meat from the turn-in boxes is equitably distributed to the volunteers handling all of the administrative tasks like box intake, number switching, table captaining, data entry, comment card sorting, and so on. I partnered with a nice woman named Annette, and between the two of us I think we ran a pretty efficient leftovers operation!
Of course, it's always HOT at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in July, and 2019 was no exception. And of course, it turned out that the Saturday of the BBQ contest was the hottest day of all. By the time judging had concluded, it was 102°F in the judges tent. But it was worth it because I heard there were some great meat entries from the 36 professional teams competing, plus 19 creative entries in the ancillary "Anything Goes...With Garlic" category. I saw lobster rolls, tacos, and lots of other unique turn-ins in the fifth optional category.
Congratulations to Simply Marvelous for winning the Grand Champion belt, Big Poppa Smokers for taking Reserve Champion, and Bar-B-Cuda BBQ for winning the ancillary category with a perfect score of 180. Also, congrats and thanks to organizers Michael Davis, John Melone, Dennis Harrigan, and Jim Rhodes III for putting on a wonderful barbecue contest. Thanks to Smithfield Foods for their sponsorship of the contest.
Here are a few photos from the event. Enjoy!
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The calm before the storm...click the photo to watch video clip.
Teams in the field getting ready for turn-ins.
More teams cooking in Gilroy.
Rick Brandini of RBQ demonstrating to a couple of future Master CBJs the finer points of applying squeeze Parkay margarine to barbecue.
People's Choice barbecue being prepared for the hungry masses by Ralph Reyes of Lord of the Ribs.
More barbecue for public consumption from Lord of the Ribs.
Hard to see, but lots of ribs being smoked in this pit.
I know I'm in the right place when I see this.
Continued...
Oh, and each year visitors to the Gilroy Garlic Festival consume more than 2 tons of fresh garlic from Gilroy’s own Christopher Ranch.
2019 also marked the 4th edition of the Gilroy Garli-Que BBQ Challenge. I judged the meat entries at last year's contest, but this year I managed the leftovers table. In that role, you make sure that leftover meat from the turn-in boxes is equitably distributed to the volunteers handling all of the administrative tasks like box intake, number switching, table captaining, data entry, comment card sorting, and so on. I partnered with a nice woman named Annette, and between the two of us I think we ran a pretty efficient leftovers operation!
Of course, it's always HOT at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in July, and 2019 was no exception. And of course, it turned out that the Saturday of the BBQ contest was the hottest day of all. By the time judging had concluded, it was 102°F in the judges tent. But it was worth it because I heard there were some great meat entries from the 36 professional teams competing, plus 19 creative entries in the ancillary "Anything Goes...With Garlic" category. I saw lobster rolls, tacos, and lots of other unique turn-ins in the fifth optional category.
Congratulations to Simply Marvelous for winning the Grand Champion belt, Big Poppa Smokers for taking Reserve Champion, and Bar-B-Cuda BBQ for winning the ancillary category with a perfect score of 180. Also, congrats and thanks to organizers Michael Davis, John Melone, Dennis Harrigan, and Jim Rhodes III for putting on a wonderful barbecue contest. Thanks to Smithfield Foods for their sponsorship of the contest.
Here are a few photos from the event. Enjoy!
---
The calm before the storm...click the photo to watch video clip.
Teams in the field getting ready for turn-ins.
More teams cooking in Gilroy.
Rick Brandini of RBQ demonstrating to a couple of future Master CBJs the finer points of applying squeeze Parkay margarine to barbecue.
People's Choice barbecue being prepared for the hungry masses by Ralph Reyes of Lord of the Ribs.
More barbecue for public consumption from Lord of the Ribs.
Hard to see, but lots of ribs being smoked in this pit.
I know I'm in the right place when I see this.
Continued...
But hey, 102*, hope there was not much humidity and they had fans in the judges tent.
