BILLINGS — The smell of roasted chilies filled the air Saturday as spice lovers gathered for the inaugural Pepper Festival hosted by the Garden Avenue Greenhouse and Garden Center in Billings.
Take a look inside Billings' inaugural Pepper Festival:
The family-owned business hosted the event to celebrate and sell Hatch chiles, imported straight from Hatch Valley, New Mexico. Offering hot, medium, and mild varieties, the greenhouse sold out of its 100-bushel shipment within hours.
“We didn't know what to expect," said Shelli Gayvert, co-owner of Garden Avenue Greenhouse. "We do other events, and we weren't sure. The first time you do it, you don't know. We got a beautiful day and everything played just right, so yeah, we're pretty excited.”
The inspiration for the event came from a similar pepper festival hosted annually by a greenhouse in Rapid City, South Dakota. Gayvert said she and her husband decided to replicate the idea after connecting with the organizer last year.
The greenhouse purchased a commercial pepper roaster to peel the chiles on-site for the event and sold them in half-bushel increments for $25. Demand quickly exceeded expectations, and they sold out of their hot variety in under an hour.
“We really didn't realize how many people were really interested in it, and we've got a lot of people that said 'We love them, we've had them, we want them,' and so we know that if we're going to do it again next year, we better do it a little bigger and get a few more peppers," said Gayvert.
Though the original pepper stock sold out, the greenhouse is continuing to fulfill orders for half-bushels throughout the week. Gayvert said due to the event’s success, they plan to bring the festival back next year.
