Cooking demos, garlic, Ligonier Country Market highlights

Ligonier Country Market will be particularly fragrant on Aug. 3, as visitors learn all about garlic and enjoy cooking demonstrations featuring vendors’ products.

Owner Philip Faranda of Faranda Farm in Hollsopple, Somerset County, will attend the market with information about its 10th annual Laurel Highlands Garlic Festival, or what it calls a “stinkin’ good time,” Aug. 17-18.

Faranda says garlic has a long history, going back thousands of years, as not only a food but also a medicine.

“Historians tell us if our ancestors did not eat garlic, we would not be here today,” Faranda says.

Farm to Table Western PA director Erin Hart will provide cooking demos with produce and other goodies from market vendors.

According to its website, Farm to Table is visiting area farmers markets throughout the season, shopping from vendor tables and preparing dishes for visitors to sample.

“Farm to Table will be passing out copies of the Western PA Local Food Guide and Buy Fresh Buy Local stickers,” Hart adds.

Providing this week’s musical entertainment is the acoustic duo Detention, two women who are “teachers by day, rock stars by night,” according to their website.

Market Sprouts can join Daisy Mae and Lilly Lavender at the children’s garden for the weekly craft.

Details: ligoniercountrymarket.com