The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and organizers knew just what to get you for the occasion: half-price admission that’s good for the whole weekend.

To celebrate two-and-a-half decades of community support, general admission has been reduced to $5 for the festival on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. As always, anyone 12 or younger is free.

“I certainly didn’t expect it to last for 25 years and still be going strong,” said Lydia Grey, one of the event’s organizers and co-founders. “I just love the way it all goes together.”

Advance tickets for the festival at 60 Chestnut Hill Road are available at bit.ly/45NJBo0. Tickets will also be available at the gates but people are encouraged to purchase online to reduce foot traffic at the entrances. Tickets purchased online are not refundable. Admission is free for EBT, WIC, and Health Connector cardholders through the festival’s participation in the state’s Card to Culture Program.

“I guess it feels like there’s always really good spirit there,” said Grey, a clay artist who also sells her work at the festival. “It’s not my best weekend, but it’s a good weekend.”

The upcoming event is slated to host at least 100 booths featuring regional artists, farmers, community organizations, and healing arts, as well as four food courts rife with garlic-themed grub. There will also be at least 50 workshops and demonstrations, and activities and performances are scheduled throughout the weekend.

Pam Harty, who organizes the family stage, said there will be eight performers on that stage. She said the acts will include a couple of repeat favorites. Fever-pop duo Home Body will be on hand with its spirited synth spectacle and Josh LeVangie will perform covers of classic country folk ballads. Grey said Ray and the Lovers will be the final act of the weekend, performing neo-soul, R&B and funk.

“Most of the performers are very familiar with the Garlic and Arts Festival, given how long it’s been going on,” Harty said. “I think people should expect to feel like they want to dance.”

She explained the family stage is a small performance area accessible to listeners of all ages, though the music is not necessarily for children only. A schedule of family stage performances is available at bit.ly/3ZgvyoG. Harty said she starts reaching out to performers in February to see if their fall schedules can accommodate the Garlic and Arts Festival.

The idea for the event came from a conversation between Ricky Baruc and Jim Fountain in 1998. Baruc mentioned there were not many places to sell the garlic he grew on his farm and Fountain, a woodworker, said he had the same issue with his artwork. This started another conversation with a group of five neighbors, each of whom contributed $20 to try and make a go of it. The first festival was held in 1999 at the Seeds of Solidarity Farm, but that proved too small, so Dorothy Forster offered the land her father, Clifford Forster Sr., operated as a dairy farm from 1926 to 1941. Forster has previously told the Recorder she bought the land in 1965, when her father retired as a Dexter Park School custodian and wanted to stay on the property but couldn’t afford to. Dorothy recalled praying to be able to purchase the land, vowing to share it if she did.

“(The festival) was started by my neighbors and I love them all and I just love watching the kids having a good time,” she said in 2017. “Everyone is usually smiling — that makes it worthwhile.”

Grey referred to Forster as “one of the kindest people that I know.” She also said she always tries to take time away from her booth to walk around and get a feel for everything that’s going on and for how people are enjoying the festival.

Grey and Deb Habib, Baruc’s wife, said the festival’s organization consists of a roughly 30-member committee that continues to work together in creative and collaborative ways with no hierarchy.

“No one is above anybody else. We divide up the responsibilities of what it takes to get the festival going and keep it going,” Grey said. “So we make decisions as a group. We’re all-volunteer.”

Habib said committee holds monthly meetings to prepare for the once-a-year festival.

“We’ve stayed really strong. People ask when we start planning for the next festival, and we really never stop. It’s ongoing,” she said. “It’s both really fun and really functional, all at the same time. And it’s a ton of work.”

Janice and Steve Kurkoski run the festival’s “Portal to the Future,” which promotes the benefits of renewable energy and being self-sufficient. Janice said there will be eight presentations on as many topics this year as well as a rotating display of electric vehicles and appliances, including a John Deere tractor conversion, a pontoon boat and some yard equipment. She also said there will be an appearance by “Science with Sophie,” an award-winning online science comedy series making its way across the country.

Parking is free, but limited – on-site parking is for accessible tags and carpools of three or more; and there will be free nearby shuttle lot for all others. No pets allowed, except for service dogs.

More information is available at garlicandarts.org.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.