Garlic ice cream is back: Why a cancelled garlic festival in Ontario’s ‘prettiest town’ is making a return this August
The Perth Garlic Festival returns to the Perth Fairgrounds on Aug. 8 and 9. Discover dates, vendor info and why the Perth Lions Club say this Ontario event is back.
Garlic lovers will once again flock to Perth, Ont., to the popular Perth Lion’s Garlic Festival, a true celebration of the “stinking rose” in eastern Ontario.
After the festival’s cancellation in 2025, the Perth Lions Club announced it’ll be back on the menu this summer during the second week in August.
“The garlic festival is back because it was missed by everyone, including the vendors,” said Garlic Festival chairperson Anne Bell. “This is an opportunity for the Perth Lions to generate funds which can then be donated to worthwhile community efforts. If you like garlic this is the place to be.”
Bell confirmed there will be garlic ice cream available, as in the past.
“I was a doubter at first, but when I tried it, I liked it,” she said. “It’s one of those things that not everybody loves but you have to try it for yourself.”
Why was the festival cancelled in 2025?
Although there were efforts to keep the Garlic Festival going in 2025, organizers announced in February, 2025 it was cancelled after 25 years because it was “no longer feasible.”
When is this year’s Perth Garlic Festival?
The 2026 Garlic Festival will be hosted at the Perth Fairgrounds on Saturday, Aug. 8, and Sunday, Aug. 9.
Festival organizers hope to have about 64 vendors, which will include some new faces. The festival helps the Lions raise money and also stimulates the local economy by supporting local businesses.
“People come from far and wide, and they don’t just come for the garlic festival; they shop in town, they eat in town,” Bell told the Perth Courier earlier this year.
What is the Garlic Festival?
In 1997, the idea for an ode to garlic germinated from a small group, and quickly became “one of eastern Ontario’s most anticipated annual community festivals,” according to the Garlic Festival’s website.
“The warm August air of Ontario’s prettiest town is scented with the pungent aroma of garlic while thousands of ‘garlic heads’ revel in the many attributes of this wonderful herb,” the website reads.
The festival works to promote Ontario grown garlic, share ideas on how to grow, harvest, market, cook and enjoy garlic.
By Evelyn Harford, Insidehaltoncom
