The two finalists were culled from a group of 70 who applied
Gilroy – The city will learn next week who will serve as the future maestro of the event that put Gilroy’s name on the map, according to officials with the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association.
Two candidates chosen from a field of more than 70 people toured Gilroy Wednesday and met with the nonprofit group’s board of directors for a final round of interviews, according to Micki Pirozzoli, the 2006 Garlic Festival president.
“We are going to be offering one of them a contract in the next couple of days and we hope it will be finalized by Monday,” she said. “We’re extremely anxious to get this past us and move forward.”
In addition to an oral interview and written test, both candidates Wednesday gave a Powerpoint presentation on the positive and negative impact of sponsorship of the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Pirozzoli said the exercise aimed to see how the candidates would balance the need for business support with the desire to avoid becoming a corporate event.
“They both had very strong qualities,” Pirozzoli said. “We thought that they could take the Garlic Festival to a new level.”
Finding a new executive director for the festival has taken longer than expected. GFA officials had hoped to hire a new festival head by November 2005, but they extended the deadline after an initial round of applications so they could cast a wider net. In late January, the GFA conducted a second round of interviews with eight candidates, winnowing that pool down to the two finalists now under consideration.
The difficulty in filling the position is a tribute to the abilities of former director Dick Nicholls, who orchestrated the event for more than 20 years. Nicholls died in June 2005 from pancreatic cancer, just one month before the 27th annual Garlic Festival.
He was one of three paid employees of the nonprofit Garlic Festival Association, and during his tenure saw the festival grow from a local draw to an international one, securing Gilroy as the Garlic Capital of the World. He served as director from 1986 until his death in June.
GFA officials do not expect the new director to be able to immediately fill Nicholls’ shoes.
“It will take this person a lot of getting used to, asking a lot of questions, sitting in on meetings,” Pirozzoli said. “I would think that for this first Garlic Festival it will really be about working alongside us. Afterward, we’re hoping the strengths of this person can take us into the future.”
