Rings, earrings and shell necklaces can only take a vendor so
far at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. People have come to expect weird
garlic-related fashion items, and there are plenty.
By Chris Bone
Staff Writer
Gilroy – Rings, earrings and shell necklaces can only take a vendor so far at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. People have come to expect weird garlic-related fashion items, and there are plenty.
Garlic Festival President Judy Lazarus proved this all weekend by sporting a charm necklace. A sterling heart and a pea-size garlic bulb hung from the silver necklace she bought four years ago and added the heart this year as a testament to the festival’s love for all things garlic.
“I just love it,” Lazarus said with a smile.
Jewelry was by far the mainstay of garlic fashion.
Debra Lucero and Ray Laager came from Paradise to sell their “art nouveaux” garlic clove earrings for their company, Romantic Silver and Gold.
“It’s the everyday garlic earring,” Lucero said of the intricate jumble of silver strings that cloaked a subtle garlic clove.
Another fashion accessory people seemed to love was garlic-themed headgear.
One man who definitely needed a hat all weekend was Ed Ryken, a pyro chef who bought his straw sombrero and accompanying garlic laurel from Rosie Echelmeier, who lives in Fairfax and has sold hats and laurels since the first festival in 1979. Despite her long career, Echelmeier has yet to match fellow hat-seller Michael Leffler.
“People have been asking for my garlic hat for years,” said Leffler, owner of the Seattle-based Hatterdashery who has sold his floppy garlic bulb hat at 10 of the past 20 festivals.
“It’s special,” said Shelly Wang, a rising freshman at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. “It’s cool,” she added, staring in a mirror.
Tattoos have long been the embodiment of “cool,” and Satvir Bhogal localized the ancient practice by drawing garlic tattoos for customers at Henna Tattoos. The San Jose resident said he drew two bulbs Saturday and added they’ve become increasingly popular.
Over at the children’s area, face-painter Kasandra Kachakji ran a more innocent tattoo parlor of sorts.
“Little babies’ parents ask for the garlic head,” said Kachakji, 14, as she painted a blue snake on a toddler’s face, “but most of the kids prefer butterflies or snakes.”
The fashion items that little girls clearly appreciated though, were the glittery, multi-colored wire-rimmed hats made from a stretchy, spandex-like material. The six shaped like garlic bulbs sold out by Sunday morning as evidenced by the dozens of children gamboling about with the signature mesh wands, wings and hats.
Too bad they couldn’t cast a spell to make more garlic hats appear, but there’s always next year.
