Similar to the rise in his professional career, Vito Mercado climbed the ranks from a Garlic Festival volunteer in Gourmet Alley to president of the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association.
The humble and always cheerful manager of Raley’s Nob Hill Foods on First Street continuously volunteered at the festival for a decade and said he’s learned it’s the volunteers who make the festival a success—and have for the past 35 years.
“I’m like the No. 1 fan, the No. 1 cheerleader,” the Gilroy native said. “The president can’t do it all by himself; it’s all because the volunteers work so well together and have been volunteering for years and years. My job is to cheerlead and stay out of everybody’s way so that they can accomplish the goals that we have set out to accomplish.”
A self-described “hands-off manager” at his grocery store, Mercado said he plans on taking the same approach as festival president and let the hard work of the nearly 4,000 volunteers shine.
Mercado has taken part in the festival nearly since its inception, attending the second Garlic Festival in 1980 while a Gilroy High School student. But it wasn’t until his own children were in elementary school that he decided to volunteer.
“The festival is a great thing for the community and I’m all for helping and participating and volunteering in the community that I live in,” Mercado said. “Not only do all the proceeds go to the different charities in town, but you get to help out and volunteer and meet people; it’s just a great thing.”
And it’s fun.
Though he said it’s tough to choose, Mercado’s first flame-up—a major attraction at the festival—was his most memorable experience.
“That feeling of having the pan just light on fire in front of you was pretty crazy,” Mercado said. “To be able to do one and have it be a good flame-up, that was awesome. Everyone loves to see the flame-up.”
Mercado said he’s honored to be president and sees his position as an opportunity to help the festival evolve. Don Christopher and Rudy Melone, the festival’s “founding fathers,” as Mercado calls them, stipulated that each president serve a one-year term—and he’s OK with that.
“In order for us to be able to evolve and continue to grow, we had to have new people come in and bring in different ideas,” he said. “That’s the beauty of the association; it’s always evolving (and) it’s always growing. There are always new ideas and that’s why, I think, it’s been so successful instead of just having one person serve as president that serves for 10 years. This way it’s just continued evolution and that’s a great thing.”
