A quarter-century old and it’s still going strong. That was the
clear impression Gilroy’s 25th Anniversary Garlic Festival left on
organizers and patrons well before the official tallies and
preliminary estimates on attendance and sales came in Monday.
A quarter-century old and it’s still going strong. That was the clear impression Gilroy’s 25th Anniversary Garlic Festival left on organizers and patrons well before the official tallies and preliminary estimates on attendance and sales came in Monday. Once again, Gilroy – population 45,000 – played host to well more than 100,000 patrons longing for the garlic town culture many of them experience just once a year and others will have only once in a lifetime.
“Coming from LA, this is like a breath of fresh air,” Reseda resident Ruth Falkin said. “I love the friendliness of the people you don’t find in a big city.”
The 78-year-old used a walker to get around the festival.
“I’m still here, just saving seats these days instead of running around buying the food,” she said.
Despite a slumbering regional economy and a 93-degree Saturday that sometimes keeps coast dwellers on the coast, attendance at this year’s Gilroy Garlic Festival, 132,651, exceeded last year’s figures by more than 7,000, sending a clear signal that this town’s cultural event of the year may be celebrating plenty more special anniversaries in the years to come.
Festival officials Monday morning said and more than 8,000 loaves of garlic bread satisfied the mouths and stomachs of the hungry crowd.
Gene Sakahara and Sam Bozzo’s new festival dish – garlic ginger chicken stir fry – was a major success. The SakaBozzo duo reported 2,000 of the meals were served by the end of the day Friday. The goal for sales over the entire weekend was 4,000.
The steady stream of people coming into Christmas Hill Park Sunday and the hot-cake paced sales of garlic mercantile served as a barometer for festival organizers who sensed Garlic Festival XXV was a smashing success.
“I’m not sure what one thing made (the festival) a success. It’s probably partly the 25th anniversary and the fact we had pretty good weather, too,” said Jennifer Speno, a member of the Garlic Festival board of directors. “I think we’ve done a really good job helping to make this a family atmosphere, and we’ve worked hard to please our customers. I think that shows.”
Pasta con pesto, toe rings
On Sunday, 22-year-old Gilroyan Adrea Simmons relaxed in the shade as she ate her personal Garlic Festival favorite, pasta con pesto.
“I have been to the festival since before I could walk,” Simmons said. “Once again it was a lot of fun. A little hot this year, but worth it.”
Simmons’ enthusiasm for pesto was matched by Oakland resident and first-time festivalgoer Tom Wong, who stood in a sun-drenched Cajun Crawdad line that ran 30 people deep.
“The heat is nothing,” Wong said. “I’m in the mood for crawdads and the portion is good for the price.”
Food and beverage were not the only things at the Garlic Festival worth waiting in line for. The toe ring booth, set up by third-time festival vendors Sami and Lisa Sheikh, was a hit again in 2003.
Liz Harlan, of San Jose, was making her first trip to the Garlic Festival, but it was not her first trip to a toe ring vendor.
“My collection is at nine right now,” Harlan said as another patron teased her about needing only one more to cover every toe. “Other than the food this will probably be my only purchase here.”
The Sheikhs were among other vendors who applauded the Garlic Festival as either the best or one of the best places to sell their arts and crafts. Because it is a juried festival – a committee selects participants based on the quality of their work – vendors say patrons know they can find top-notch merchandise.
“This is a good festival, and it’s an honor to be part of it,” Sylvia Cochrane of Camarillo said.
Cochrane, a veteran vendor who was at her first Garlic Festival, was selling the colorful fairy costume accessories, such as wings and wands, many children donned over the last three days.
On Sunday evening as vendors tore down their booths, Garlic Festival officials applauded emergency services chairperson Danny Martin and festival President Janie Mardesich as they arrived on a golf cart flanked by Gilroy mounted police and a siren-blowing fire truck to extinguish the burning garlic bulb outside Gourmet Alley.
Tears of joy
Martin and Mardesich grabbed a fire hose and doused the flame that had been burning since Friday morning. After the flame was out, Martin and Mardesich showered their fellow festival directors and chairpersons with the remaining water. It was a mild stunt done in jest, but one that carried a deeper meaning for some.
“In a sense, this might be a renewal,” 2004 Garlic Festival President John Zekanoski said. “Next year is the first year of the next 25.”
An emotional Mardesich hugged and thanked festival officials Sunday after the metaphorical passing of the torch.
“I had two simple goals – use teamwork and have a good time. I definitely feel I accomplished those two things,” Mardesich said as she wiped tears from her eyes. “I inherited this festival in good hands, and I’m leaving this festival into good hands. These are tears of joy.”
On opening day, Hollywood resident Frank Dimechelis led a charge of more than 350 festival patrons eagerly waiting in line at the Miller Avenue and Uvas Creek gate. They were the first of many more to come during the beginning hours of the festival, and the first of many more willing to buy a variety of merchandise that sold like hot cakes.
Specialty wine glasses and tuxedo-clad Herbie the Garlic Bulb bobblehead dolls were so popular, festival officials had to reserve a set number of the items so they would not be sold out before Saturday.
All 1,500 bobblehead dolls – Friday’s allotment – sold out by 10:30 a.m. The 25th anniversary collector edition wine glasses sold out by 1 p.m. Friday.
County Supervisor Don Gage, Mayor Tom Springer and a whole host of past presidents – including Bob Miller who made his way back to the festival from his home in Georgia – officially welcomed everyone to the garlic party at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Opening Ceremony.
Gage read a proclamation from President George Bush praising the festival and its place in the community, and Springer helped to unveil the City of Gilroy’s new flag.
“It’s taken us 133 years to figure out what it should look like,” Springer joked.
Mardesich praised the hard work of volunteers in getting the festival going this year.
“Please thank a volunteer,” she said. “Give them a high five and tell them happy anniversary.”
After performances by Garlic Queen Melissa Noto and princess Jennifer Lazarus, Garlic Festival founder Don Christopher welcomed the grandstand-full of people to the party.
“Thank you for coming here,” he said. “You’re the ones who make the Garlic Festival possible.”
Seeing old friends
Gloria Melone, the wife of the late Rudy Melone who along with Christopher is responsible for launching the first Garlic Festival 25 years ago, also thanked the community for showing support.
“I always look forward to this day to see my friends,” she said. “I don’t know of any other community in the world who comes together and not get a penny of money for themselves, and come out here and do what they do.”
The next two days were filled with the types of food and activities that earned the Gilroy Garlic Festival the number one festival in the nation honors by USA Today. Gilroyans, other Bay Area residents, and folks from as far away as Switzerland, Netherlands and Takko-Machi – the Japanese garlic capital – were on the garlic scene.
Keiko Ikeda, the official diplomat for the Takko-Machi festival, commended Gilroyans on the success of the festival.
“Everything is so big here,” Ikeda said, bearing the South Valley heat while dressed in a formal Japanese kimono.
Takko-Machi, which holds its beef and garlic festival Oct. 4 to 5, attracts roughly 6,000 patrons a year.
Although the Garlic Festival has international fame, Gilroy itself will be getting some more notoriety over the next couple days, too.
Among many other TV personalities who captured a glimpse of the garlic culture, Huell Howser of PBS was on hand Sunday for his show “Road Trip,” which will begin airing in Northern California at the beginning of next year.
Howser spent Sunday afternoon interviewing Mardesich and other festival veterans and vendors. On Monday, he will visit Goldsmith Seeds, the City of Gilroy Museum, Bonfante Gardens and other Gilroy landmarks.
“We’re not only here for the festival, we’re here to explore the rest of Gilroy, too,” the jovial Howser explained when asked if he was at the festival because of the 25-year celebration. “This place has been on my list of things to do the past 10 years. We just finally made it to Gilroy.”
