Delray Beach Garlic Fest

I won tickets to the festival and was super excited since I’ve never had the opportunity to go for one reason or another. I followed the instructions on the website and parking ($ 5) was easy on Sunday afternoon. Previous reviews said it had been difficult. After we exited the parking garage we went to the entrance closest to us and asked for will call. The «kids» at the table were polite but they did not know. They directed us to another booth across from them. The volunteers at that table said will call was at the main entrance so we trekked outside the festival perimeter and made our way to the entrance on Atlantic Ave. When I asked the woman at that booth about will call she had no idea what that was so I calmly explained that tickets were left for us. The officers nearby said that will call was on the back of the festival (where we were originally). I was annoyed and less than calmly explained we were just there and they sent us to the main entrance. I asked if they could call someone but nobody made an effort to help us. Finally the woman called someone on her cell phone and will call was located at the East entrance on 2^nd street. The good thing is that while we waited someone exiting the festival gave us $ 10 in tickets, which was very generous.
We made our way to the next entrance and we were finally permitted entry. We stopped at the Trader Joes booth and had some delicious bbq Sriracha sauce! Must buy!!! We then bought some tickets so we could enjoy the food. We started with garlic bread ($ 5) that was tasty and a heaping pile of garlic chicken nachos ($ 9)!
There’s tons of vendors selling crafts, clothes, art, and specialty food items. We tried chocolate covered honeycomb, which was interesting. We also visited the family section that had a few carnival rides. We listened to the band play music and even got a pic with Garlic Guy!
We ended the day with a slice of garlic pizza ($ 6) and a scoop of garlic ice cream ($ 5). I’m glad that we gained free entry because between the food and the rides ($ 15), it can be a costly day.
Despite the difficulty getting in, we had a fun time. I would give it 3.5 stars but rounded up.