It’s magical, really, the sustainability of the Gilroy Garlic
Festival.
Attendance up 8 percent this year, back to pushing the 110,000
number. That number is no longer pulled out of the funny garlic
hat, it’s as real as circumstances will allow. Executive Director
Brian Bowe, in his third year, wants a handle on how many and how
much. That’s a good thing.
1. Attendance numbers reflect the real deal and a very solid upward trend
It’s magical, really, the sustainability of the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
Attendance up 8 percent this year, back to pushing the 110,000 number. That number is no longer pulled out of the funny garlic hat, it’s as real as circumstances will allow. Executive Director Brian Bowe, in his third year, wants a handle on how many and how much. That’s a good thing.
2. It could turn out to be a record year for festival revenues
Anecdotally, any volunteer or veteran Garlic Festival goer can tell you: 2008 was a busy year. Lines formed seemingly everywhere, people stayed a while and they sure seemed to be spending money. Fears about a down economy and the price of gas were unfounded, lending some credence to the theory that those two factors might actually boost attendance. Even a hotter-than-normal Friday and Saturday did not keep the crowds away.
With all the wonderful karma flowing around our city’s signature event, there might even be a record set in the revenue department. That would not be surprising in the least.
After 30 years, the Garlic Festival is still a media darling. There are the flame-ups on TV, the zany garlic-laden sound bites for radio and plenty of video and photo opportunities for newspapers.
3. Congratulations to all those who made it happen for the 30th festival
It has transcended the normal small-town festival experience and become an institution capable of surviving leadership transitions and events that spell doom for lesser community celebrations.
Once again our hats are off to all those who make it happen – the 4,000 volunteers, President Ed Struzik and his committee members, Executive Director Bowe and his staff and all those who contribute to making our festival stand out in the crowd with goofy hats, a LOL T-shirt or just a happy attitude. It all matters.
In the end, it translates into dollars plowed back into our community. But it’s more than that. It’s about pride, it’s about pitching in, it’s about being a part of something so kitschy yet so enormously successful.
We Gilroyans love our festival. It shows, and people keep coming back for more because Gilroy knows how to stage a darn good party.
