By Serdar Tumgoren
Gilroy
– The aroma of garlic has once again come and gone with the
summer Garlic Festival, but the financial benefits of the event are
just now finding their way to dozens of local groups.
Checks totaling $225,000 are in the mail to more than 160
organizations in Gilroy and surrounding towns that helped with
admissions, food sales, parking, and other aspects of the July
festival.
By Serdar Tumgoren
Gilroy – The aroma of garlic has once again come and gone with the summer Garlic Festival, but the financial benefits of the event are just now finding their way to dozens of local groups.
Checks totaling $225,000 are in the mail to more than 160 organizations in Gilroy and surrounding towns that helped with admissions, food sales, parking, and other aspects of the July festival.
While describing the event as a success, organizers acknowledged that contributions are down from years’ past.
“Last year was our 25th anniversary,” explained John Zekanoski, the 2004 festival president. “As such, we got quite a spike in attendance. We anticipated being down a little because last year we spent a lot more money on advertising.”
This summer’s festival drew roughly 123,000 people – 10,000 fewer than in 2003. Revenues came in at $1.867 million, a drop of $100,000.
Despite the difficulty of matching an anniversary year turnout, Zekanoski had hoped expanded radio advertising in San Jose and other promotional strategies would buoy festival attendance.
“We thought that we’d pull in more people than we did,” he said.
While the lower attendance meant $40,000 less in contributions, the returns did not surprise some of the festival’s top earners.
“We knew the attendance was down,” said Phil Quast, a member of the Gilroy Elks Lodge #1567.
Last year, the group’s 400 volunteers earned more than $19,000. They ranked as the festival’s top earner once again this year by bringing in $15,098.
The Elks use the proceeds for their local charity account, which supports college scholarships for students in Gilroy and Morgan Hill, outreach to veterans, and other programs.
Quast, who served up penne con pesto at a food booth in Gourmet Alley this summer, suspected that the Elks would not receive quite as much money this time.
“People didn’t seem to be spending money like they have in the past,” said Quast, who has participated in the event for 24 years. “This will shrink the charity account a little bit, but we’ll still get the job done.”
Eleanor Villarreal, chief development officer at Rebekah Children’s Services, also noted that attendance “did seem a little bit less than last year.”
Still, she said the $8,207 the group brought in fell within its traditional range for earnings. In its 16 years of participation, volunteers working in behalf of Rebekah, a mental health services organization based in Gilroy, have netted between $8,000 and $10,000 each year, she said. This summer’s contributions will go toward building a new school for the organization, according to Villarreal.
“You always want to make more money for the charities, but every business faces rising costs,” said Richard Nicholls, executive director of the Garlic Festival Association. He attributed the attendance drop in part to the onset of the recession in 2002.
“It hit us a lot harder in 2003 and 2004,” he said.
This year, the group again found its expenses rising due to contractual increases in the cost of security, along with slight bumps in the price of food and insurance.
At the same time, Nicholls said that “from a standpoint of preparedness and how smoothly the festival ran, it was a very big success.”
This year, the festival’s largest share of revenue came from ticket sales, which grossed $751,651. The second largest earner was Gourmet Alley, which brought in $386,605. Retail sales, which included apparel, cookbooks, and souvenir items, brought in $218,956.
“We’re going to continue to work on cutting expenses and trying to increase revenue sources,” he said. “Part of that is increasing attendance. Those are pretty much the same goals we have every year, all while maintaining the same level of service to our customers.”
More than 3,800 volunteers came out to work the 2004 Garlic Festival. The event has contributed more than $6.5 million to local groups over the last 26 years.
Top 10 earners
Gilroy Elks Lodge #1567: $15,098.51
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: $11,885.23
Gilroy High School Wrestling: $8,566.27
Rebekah Children’s Services: $8,207.01
South Valley Community Church: $8,079.09
GHS Choir: $6,613.69
Live Oak High “Emerald Regime”: $6,230.33
Victory Outreach: $5,468.35
Gilroy Police Explorers Post 818: $5,388.61
GHS Boys Basketball: $5,308.80
NOTE: Full listing of recipients is available online at www.gilroydispatch.com.
