The thousands of people who attended last weekend’s Garlic City
Fun Run got a glimpse of downtown Gilroy’s potential to serve as
our community’s gathering place, as the city’s heart and soul.
The thousands of people who attended last weekend’s Garlic City Fun Run got a glimpse of downtown Gilroy’s potential to serve as our community’s gathering place, as the city’s heart and soul.
The event is the brainchild of the Gilroy Downtown Development Corporation and the local car club, South Valley Street Rods. Serendipitously, the Garlic Festival signed on and asked organizers if they could be a part of the festivities.
That combination has produced Gilroy’s best downtown event, and our hats are off to the GDDC and South Valley Street Rods for all their hard work.
Thousands turned out for the third annual Fun Run and Carl Swank, the president of South Valley Street Rods, reports that 386 classic cars entered the friendly competition. Plenty of gorgeous automobiles lined Monterey Street for the afternoon/evening event.
The owners of the classic cars – which were washed, waxed and shined to perfection – obviously take pride in their machines the same way as Gilroyans take pride in the Garlic Festival. Now, we must get our city leaders to take that same pride in our downtown core.
The Fun Run featured music from diverse performers – including an Elvis impersonator to the classic rock ‘n’ roll favorites Shaboom. Parents danced with their children, and the July evening weather couldn’t have been more perfect.
It was a chance for downtown Gilroy to shine – and we hope city leaders took notice.
Besides savoring the cars, attendees could sample Garlic Festival Gourmet Alley favorites – pasta con pesto, calamari, scampi and garlic bread. And for added fun, a parade featuring the Garlic Festival queen and her court and Garlic Festival President Janie Mardesich tossing garlic bulbs, rolls down main street.
It’s quintessentially Gilroy.
Revitalizing downtown successfully requires a communitywide effort. We need vision and action from our elected officials, investment from business people and, perhaps most importantly, passion from Gilroyans.
We need more events like the Garlic City Fun Run to be held downtown.
If you have an idea for a similar event that could be held in Gilroy’s city center? Don’t dismiss is, discuss it. Talk to neighbors, business owners, school leaders and city officials to find ways to make your idea a reality.
The GDDC and the South Valley Street Rods Club came up with the Garlic City Fun Run. That idea is now an annual tradition that draws Gilroyans together downtown and helps to define the community. We need more reasons to meet our neighbors – and also draw visitors from outside Gilroy – in our downtown.
We don’t need to wait until the streetscapes are finished, the “snake” median is removed, or diverse businesses and restaurants set up shop before Gilroyans take advantage of their full-of-potential downtown.
Maybe, the first step in revitalizing downtown Gilroy lies with its citizens reclaiming it. Perhaps, if we use it, revitalization will come.
