Old Town was bustling with hungry crowds Sunday as it hosted the eighth annual Orie’s Garlic Fest.
The festival is the brainchild of Megan Greenway and Wes Johnson of Orie’s Farm Fresh, a small farm along Cowskin Creek in west Wichita.
It started on their land, moved to Eberly Farms its second year, and since 2021 has called Old Town home.
Each year it gets bigger.
And this year was no exception.
As a chef and owner of Public, I’ve cooked with many of their garlic varieties. More than two dozen.
Garlic is perhaps one of the most essential ingredients for savory cooking.
Over time, I’ve also become friends with Megan and Wes.
And I’m not the only one.
Also at the festival: Doug and Tanya Webster of Rolling Prairie Acres in Sigourney, Iowa.
Their local garlic fest shut down a few years ago. Searching for a new outlet, they connected with Orie’s on Instagram.
By chance, Wes was driving through the Midwest, stopped to meet them and invited them to Wichita.
Now, three years later, they’re regulars. Vendors. And part of the Wichita community.
Like Orie’s, the Websters work to preserve garlic diversity. Hard neck. Soft neck. Heirlooms.
They farm organically, regeneratively.
They hand-harvest, cure and braid each bulb, sorted by sugar content and storage life.
Garlic’s roots stretch back thousands of years to Central Asia.
We know it for its punch. Its bite. Even its breath.
For Megan, for Wes, for Doug and Tanya …
Garlic brings people together.
