The California Garlic Festival is leaving Stockton and headed to the Merced County fairgrounds this summer.

For the past two years, garlic aromas filled the air at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in Stockton, but promoters of the event, who will still be running the festival, said they will be taking the three-day family event to 403 F St. in Los Banos.

Alan Sanchez, who was the spokesperson for the Garlic Festival when it was in Stockton, said with so much garlic throughout the Central Valley, they wanted to share the love and move to another county.

San Joaquin County fairgrounds officials had said that the Stockton-based festival was unrelated to the famed Gilroy Garlic Festival that started in the late 1970s and, after reemerging as a drive-through event in 2021, has been discontinued for the foreseeable future.

Monster truck shows, live entertainment, a carnival, garlic foods, scholarship pageants and the famous garlic alley will be available at the event from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1.

  • Garlic fries with bacon on top are one of the many foods for sale at the second annual Garlic Festival held on Aug. 6, 2023 in Stockton, Calif. (Prachi Singh/Bay City News)
  • Kayla Schmidig of Lodi is crowned Ms. California Garlic Festival at San Joaquin County Fairgrounds on Saturday. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local)
  • Juniper Wulsin, 3, of Lodi licks her maple brown sugar garlic ice cream during the California Garlic Festival at San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in Stockton on Saturday. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local)
  • Festivalgoers gather at Slush Puppie to fill up their cups with slushies during the California Garlic Festival in Stockton on Saturday. Many attendees turned to iced beverages and sodas to cool off as Stockton temperatures reached a high of 97 F on Saturday. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News/Catchlight Local)

For garlic lovers, menu items include garlic noodles, garlic wings, garlic sausage, garlic popcorn, garlic grilled cheese, garlic catfish, and garlic shrimp.

Single-day admissions for the event cost $15 for adults, $10 for children, and children under 5 are free. 

 A carnival unlimited ride wristband is $35.

Victoria Franco is a Stockton-based reporter covering the diverse news around the Central Valley as part of the Report for America program. As a Stockton native, Franco is proud to cover stories within her community and report a variety of coverage. She is a San Jose State University alumna with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism. In her collegiate years she was Managing Editor for the Spartan Daily. From her time at the Spartan Daily she helped lead her staff to California College Media Awards and a General Excellence first place. Victoria encourages readers to email her story tips and ideas at victoria.franco@baycitynews.com.