Bloomington, IN: GarlicFest and Community Art Fair

Besides the 4th Street Festival of the Arts, there is another arts fair that happens in Bloomington on Labor Day weekend. The Community Art Fair and GarlicFest is just a couple of streets over from and overlaps hours (it goes much later into the evening) with the 4th Street Festival.

This festival is much less intense than the 4th Street one. There are fewer people, you can actually walk and browse the booths, and there is live music playing for entertainment. The vendors are also mostly local to the area (4th Street has vendors from all over the country), so it feels a little more like the monthly farmer's market arts fest day.

That isn't to say there weren't a lot of people here, too. There were! Tons of people enjoying the food, beer garden, live music, and vendors were around the whole time I was here.

The band playing while I was here was really good, and unfortunately I do not know their name (anyone know?). They did some covers and some songs I did not recognize, and it was all just great. I sat for a while just listening.

 

I came here with the intent on getting a little something for a late lunch. I had an Asian fusion noodle dish with veggies and garlic. It was really good. All the food looked good, and it all had garlic in some capacity (I love garlic and am happy this festival exists).

 

There was also a demonstration booth for how to plant garlic. They had chocolate chip cookies made with garlic -- they were good and I could not tell at all that they contained (actually a lot of) garlic cloves.

I would definitely recommend checking out GarlicFest next time it comes around, especially if you need a break from the crowds of the 4th Street Festival.