There’s nothing quite like it. Gilroyans know it, they work hard
and enjoy the effort that makes the festival a grand garlic
event
It’s our annual CHEERS-only salute to the wonderful, enduring and endearing Gilroy Garlic Festival:
CHEERS: For the healthy attitude exhibited year in and year out by Gilroyans who power the festival. Sure, it’s work, but it’s really fun. It builds bonds and truly cements our community. We revel in the success and.and proudly proclaim our garlic roots. It’s that pervasive attitude, shaped over years of sweat and smiles, that carries the day when the last full weekend in July rolls around each year.
CHEERS: For the new Garlic Festival Executive Director Brian Bowe and his predecessor, the late and beloved Richard “Dick” Nicholls. A fitting tribute to such a smooth transition would be this thought: Mr. Nicholls, who spent many years gently and carefully guiding the festival, would very much approve of Mr. Bowe’s stewardship.
CHEERS: For bringing the garlic fries home to Gourmet Alley as a central part of the food at the festival. Prediction: Brisk sales, rave reviews.
CHEERS: For the weather forecast. Could it be any better? Morning fog giving way to sunny skies and temperatures peeking, perhaps, into the 90s.
CHEERS: For the plan to give volunteers food, beer and beverage tickets instead of having an entire arm of the festival devoted to hospitality. Locals can eat and drink what they’d like and, of course, be merry and share the hospitality on the grounds.
CHEERS: For the news that a University of California Davis researcher may have found an answer to eliminating “white rot” from the ground. That’s the fungus that infects and decimates garlic crops. The disease has virtually eliminated local garlic production, but gourmet Gilroy garlic may be on the rebound if the treatment, labeled DADS, is proven effective.
CHEERS: For the move of the children’s area, the new Iron Chef competition, the additional shade tents and all the other improvements that don’t make the news pages. Constant evaluation, new ideas and improvements represent another hallmark of Garlic Festival success. Gilroyans are always thinking of ways to make our signature event better.
CHEERS: For all the quirky things about the Garlic Festival that make us smile – the goofy hats, Gerry Foisy bopping around in his bulbous costume, the Garlic Queens singing with Shaboom, the garlic earrings that women of Gilroy distinction break out once every year, the local celebrity chefs like Don DeLorenzo and Sam Bozzo who coax laughter from the crowds … have fun out there and enjoy the 2007 festival.
