When it comes to food, music and a volunteerism, there is nothing like the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, which has grown from a local event into a perpetual media darling that garners national attention.
With ever-growing popularity that yields a steady cash flow, the Festival has been able to give back to the Gilroy community in many different ways over its 34-year existence. From large projects – like $400,000 worth of renovations to the amphitheater at Christmas Hill Park two years ago – or smaller contributions – like $8,500 to cover the entire annual budget for the Kids Discover Arts event – Festival organizers are always on the lookout for the next enhancement or program to be funded.
“That’s one of the things the festival is all about, giving back to the community,” Executive Director Brian Bowe said. “And we do that in two ways. One is through our volunteer equity program where we literally donate to the organizations that our volunteers designate for the hours that they serve out at the festival.”
Last year, the Festival gave $325,000 to local organizations through volunteer equity.
“That’s our No. 1 distribution channel,” Bowe said. “Our other distribution channel is through these community investments.”
This year, organizers have their sights set on making major improvements to Christmas Hill Park, home of the garlic-themed extravaganza each July, and also a spot where families enjoy a day in the park and city recreational softball games take place throughout the year.
While Bowe cautioned that the two projects are still in the planning stages and have yet to be submitted for approval from the city, organizers are considering a complete overhaul of the Mulberry picnic area and planting approximately 25 mature adult trees on the ranch side of the park.
“The ranch side right now has very few trees on it, so we want to enhance the experience not just for the festival attendees but for the local community, the residents that use the park all year long,” Bowe said. “Part of that is providing some shade.”
The cost estimates for the tree project is “somewhere in the neighborhood of $25,000,” which includes the purchasing of the 25 mature adult trees, irrigation and upkeep, according to Bowe.
“We’re still finalizing the plans on what we hope to do out at Christmas Hill Park,” said Bowe, who is working with the Garlic Festival Association on an estimated $250,000 renovation project. “We’re probably going to spend between $200,000 and $250,000 if we get permission from the city to do some significant improvements to the Mulberry picnic area.”
The area, in desperate need of an upgrade, currently has a large barbecue pit, a diminutive kitchen, 20 or so picnic tables and four pergolas or arbors wrapped in wisteria vines. The Festival has designated that location as the Children’s Area in recent years.
“We want to remove most of what’s currently out there except for the trees. The trees will stay. The wisteria vines would stay. But we want to put all new tops on top of the pergolas and over the barbecue area,” Bowe said. “We want to put in the new heavier concrete picnic tables throughout that area, put in new barbecues, and redo the landscaping.”
Old railroad ties and other walking hazards would be removed and replaced with a decomposed granite ground cover throughout the area.
“We just really want to dress that area up, so that it’s got a fresh look again for the community all year round, but also for us during the festival,” Bowe said. “We really want to open it up a little bit, so the traffic flow and usability is better for the festival and more user friendly for the public all year round.”
All of the sponsorship money that the Festival takes in goes directly to community investments like the improvements at Christmas Hill Park.
“We’re very unique in that regard. None of our sponsorship money is used for operating expenses at all,” Bowe said. “We keep our sponsorship dollars literally in a separate fund and we wait until we accumulate a significant amount – $100,000, $200,000 – and we invest those dollars directly into community projects.”
Another share program the Festival has done on more than one occasion is donating $9,000 to the Gilroy Unified School District for picnic benches used at any or all schools in the district. In return, those same benches are transported to Christmas Hill Park and used during the Garlic Festival.
“They put them out at the school all year long and, for the one week a year, we go to the schools, pick up the benches, take them out to the festivals and we use them under all of our shade canopies,” Bowe said. “It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.”
