For the 27th consecutive year, Gilroyans can be proud of the
wonderful Garlic Festival they have hosted. This year, though,
festival organizers and volunteers have even more reasons to beam
with pride.
Despite the competition of the San Jose Grand Prix and the loss
of longtime executive director Dick Nicholls, the festival
prospered wildly.
For the 27th consecutive year, Gilroyans can be proud of the wonderful Garlic Festival they have hosted. This year, though, festival organizers and volunteers have even more reasons to beam with pride.
Despite the competition of the San Jose Grand Prix and the loss of longtime executive director Dick Nicholls, the festival prospered wildly.
To volunteers, organizers, and visitors, we offer a heartfelt “Well done.”
More than 129,000 people attended this year’s Garlic Festival, beating last year’s numbers by nearly 7,000 and approaching the attendance mark set two years ago during the festival’s silver anniversary celebration.
Those visitors spent more money than last year. The festival raked in $1.65 million, up $226,000 than last year, helped significantly by a reasonable $2 boost in admission prices and strong sales at Gourmet Alley.
With all this wonderful news, a question arises: What should the festival do with the additional revenue?
We suggest that the bulk be distributed to the volunteers’ charities. After all, without their donations of tens of thousands of hours of hard work, often in trying, hot conditions, the Garlic Festival would be a dream, not the stinking rose reality that gives Gilroy so much of its identity.
It takes roughly 4,000 volunteers donating more than 43,000 hours to pull off the three-day celebration of garlicky goodness.
In 2004, the Garlic Festival divided a pool of $225,000 in profits among the charities on whose behalf the volunteers logged so many hours. With the increase in revenue this year, it might be possible to double the benefit the Garlic Festival has for the charities of Gilroy and South Valley.
The festival’s board of directors and executive staff have created a fiscally sound nonprofit entity with money in reserves. The prudent approach has worked well. This year, however, would be a good time to reward the volunteers who are the lifeblood of this event, which the festival’s mission statement recognizes: “The Gilroy Garlic Festival is established to provide benefits to local worthy charities and nonprofit groups by promoting the community of Gilroy through a quality celebration of Garlic.”
