Gilroy
– Local residents will have to find more room on their calendars
this year as the city plans a beefed-up schedule of downtown events
and activities.
Gilroy – Local residents will have to find more room on their calendars this year as the city plans a beefed-up schedule of downtown events and activities.
Kicking off the year of events will be a May 19 unveiling of the remodeled downtown Monterey Street. The main drag, where Gilroy’s historic business district lies, underwent a seven-month closure last year between Sixth and Fourth streets. The expansive boulevard and sprawling sidewalks opened to the public in October, but officials plan to hold an official celebration May 19.
“A lot of the new people in Gilroy don’t even know Gilroy has a downtown, or they have a bad image of it,” said Susan Jacobsen, president of the Downtown Business Association, which is organizing the year’s events. “This is a way to show off our new Streetscape … It looked like a war zone (during construction) and now it looks so good.”
The event, which takes place from 3 to 9pm, will include live music and food.
In addition to the unveiling, residents can look forward to the return of tried-and-true favorites such as the Fifth Street Live music series, the Father’s Day Antique Fair, and July’s Garlic City Fun Run car show. The summer music series once again plans to expand its offerings by adding a bigger mix of local and regional musicians, as well as starting off each Friday night with a farmer’s market.
The city’s fall arts and wine festival, held in recent years at Christmas Hill Park, will move to the downtown this year as well. Nine local wineries will participate while art will be exhibited both on Monterey Street and at the historic Willey House, on Fifth Street.
The idea behind the events is to draw new people to the area and help it revive in coming years. The city has big plans for revitalizing the area, some of which are already in the works. A handful of new buildings have already cropped up along Monterey Street, and more than 20 more are in the works. Plans include a major housing complex just east of Monterey Street and an arts center facing the Caltrain station.
Officials regard downtown events as one piece of the puzzle in terms of increasing the area’s allure to residents and shoppers. But so far, the yearly events have been a mixed bag for downtown merchants when it comes to generating profits – at last according to one downtown merchant.
“The car show and the Father’s Day show have been very good to us antique dealers in bringing tons of people downtown,” said Linda Graham, owner of Collective Past at 7495 Monterey St. “Since they’ve been going we’ve done quite well with it.”
Graham’s business has not benefited as much from events such as movie nights or Fifth Street Live, since the events take place after business hours. But for Graham, it’s not a total loss.
“Even if they don’t see us open, they know we’re here,” she said. “We need to get more people downtown, that’s for sure.”
