When Kirsten Carr was 8 years old, she told her father she was
going to be president one day. At the time, she meant president of
the United States, but her current post as this year’s Gilroy
Garlic Festival president is a much more suitable fit, she
said.
When Kirsten Carr was 8 years old, she told her father she was going to be president one day. At the time, she meant president of the United States, but her current post as this year’s Gilroy Garlic Festival president is a much more suitable fit, she said.
“This is so much better,” Carr said. “I absolutely love the Garlic Festival and everything it stands for.”
She and her father, former deputy chief of staff for Jimmy Carter, still joke about him running her presidential campaign, but the former Virginian found her niche in Gilroy – and more specifically, heading up the annual celebration of Gilroy’s odorous herb.
With more than a decade of Garlic Festival planning under her belt, Carr is amazed every year by the outpouring of volunteers and their ability to transform Christmas Hill Park into the aromatic affair that attracts more than 100,000 visitors annually. A grande nonfat Starbucks latte or Diet Coke permanently glued to her hand, Carr gets through countless hours of planning. She started off small, selling tickets for South Valley Civic Theater as a festival volunteer before moving through the ranks as a member of the entertainment committee, then on to positions with more responsibility, such as entertainment chair, advisory committee member and now president.
“I have the best job,” Carr said.
When she manages to take a break from her duties at the festival, Carr can usually be found by following the scent of calamari or the sound of country music, she said.
“There’s this big joke that everyone plans their day around the food – how early can my stomach handle this?” she laughed. “And I’m a huge country music fan.”
This year – the festival’s first year on Facebook – Carr checks the social networking site religiously to see if the event attracted any new friends.
“I would call or e-mail Brian (Bowe) every few hours if we got a new friend,” she said of the Garlic Festival’s executive director. With more than 1,600 friends in cyberspace, Carr said she has a good feeling about this year.
The friends who return to the festival every year and newcomers attracted by the lure of the stinking rose are what keeps Carr coming back for more, she said.
“I love to ask people where they’re from,” she said. “It’s amazing to hear how far they’ve traveled to get here.”
