LITTLE FALLS – The 2026 Garlic and Herb Festival brought just shy of 4,700 people into the city Saturday, and organizer Julie Webster says the smaller, tighter crowd was exactly what made the day work.
“It was a beautiful day. It was a stinking good time. It was absolutely lovely,” Webster said the afternoon after the festival wrapped.
Attendance was down slightly from past years, but Webster isn’t worried. The festival grounds are bordered by the city’s bridges and ramps in Canal Place, naturally capping how large the event can grow, and she said that limit is part of what keeps the day enjoyable.
“Technically, numbers are down, but it was perfect,” she said. “We are in an enclosed area that can only get so big. That’s what makes for a lovely day. You can walk around, you can shop, and hopefully your food line isn’t too terribly long. It was a very people-friendly day.”
After years of running the festival, Webster said what stands out most now isn’t anything new; it’s the mix of familiar faces and first-timers who keep showing up.
“I had a couple in this morning. They come and stay every year just for garlic festival,” she said. “We see so many familiar faces, and then so many brand new ones from all over the place.”
With attendance holding under 6,000, Webster said there’s still room for the kind of one-on-one conversations that first drew her to organizing the event.
“There’s time to talk, and I love that. That is my favorite part,” she said.
“So many people ask, ‘Wait, I actually want to grow garlic,’ or they ask about black garlic, or they know we have someone doing cheese and balsamic vinegar and want to ask about that. When it’s not too busy, you can actually give people answers to those questions.”
Webster said the day moved smoothly from open to close, and vendors reported strong sales.
“It was just a smooth flow the whole day,” she said. “The vendors are all happy with their sales and their attendance. It doesn’t mean we didn’t do well. It was fantastic.”
That success translates directly into community giving. Festival proceeds are split among a handful of area nonprofits each year, and Webster said this year’s total will again be meaningful, even though she wasn’t ready to put a number on it yet.
“That gives us a lovely chunk of cash to give away to nonprofits,” she said. “I’m too tired for you to quote me on the number, but there are five or six nonprofits getting a share. It’s still a beautiful check.”
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