Summer marks 28th festival, 25th wedding anniversary for Micki
Pirozzoli
By Rachelle Gines Staff Writer
Gilroy – Micki Pirozzoli, Gilroy Garlic Festival President, said she awoke Tuesday morning to a most wonderful sight.
“I’ve never been so excited to see fog in my whole life,” Pirozzoli said, relieved that temperatures seem to be cooling down from the record highs of 112 degrees Sunday, just in time for the upcoming Garlic Festival.
From the site of the festival at Christmas Hill Park Wednesday, Pirozzoli said that all of the major tents had already been set up, and vendors would be allowed in the park today at noon to begin festival preparations.
“If you came here right now, you would no longer see a park, but festival grounds. “There’s a really nice breeze blowing and flags are flapping in the wind.” Pirozzoli said.
Signs for tents, fences, bathroom facilities and trash cans were being placed around the park Wednesday afternoon. With preparations for the festival grounds for the event in full swing since Sunday, Pirozzoli said she has still been able to get to bed by around 9:30pm.
“I would say that I am excited, not that I am stressed. The fruits of everyone’s labor is really beginning to pay off,” Pirozzoli said. “Everything is running so smoothly, it really shows was a great organization the Gilroy Garlic Festival is.”
In spite of the cooler weather, Pirozzoli said she is taking some precautions for the weekend herself.
“I had my haircut,” Pirozzoli exclaimed, saying that she cut it from neck-length to chin-length. “It was so hot on my neck, that I didn’t want to be wearing a pony tail and baseball cap this whole weekend.”
Pirozzoli remembers cutting bell peppers and other vegetables by hand the first time she volunteered for the event in 1983, and placing them in large plastic tubs for Gourmet Alley in the kitchen of Brownell Academy.
“It was such a long time ago,” Pirozzoli laughed, her short, brown hair shining in the sun at Christmas Hill Park. “Things have changed since then, because now all the vegetables come ready to use in plastic bags.”
Though a change in technology may have made food preparation quicker and easier, Pirozzoli said she sees no reason in her term as president to make major changes to the festival in general.
“I don’t feel strongly about making the festival different, it’s such a well run organization. It’s fun and I’m proud to be a part of it,” Pirozzoli said.
This summer is not only significant for Pirozzoli because she serves as the festival president, but also because it marks her 25th wedding anniversary to her husband Rich. They met as high school students at Notre Dame and Palma in Salinas, and had to forgo their plans of going to Italy for their anniversary because of Pirozzoli’s festival duties. She said that her husband is happy that she is president, and has been very supportive of her.
“My husband and I spent five days in the Little Italy section of San Diego instead, and pretended we were in the real Italy. My husband is very proud of the fact that I’m Garlic Festival President,” Pirozzoli said.
Paired with an A-line khaki skirt, Pirozzoli modeled the festival shirt that officials will wear at the three-day-event. She described the shirt as English blue in color, and said that the short sleeves kept things cool, while the collar made it professional at the same time. Pirozzoli completed the look with red manicured toes peeping out of her brown woven sandals.
“They’re cool and they breathe, and that’s why I like them,” Pirozzoli said.
The Gilroy native said her family has been in Gilroy since 1868, when her great-grandfather William Cullen came over from Quebec. She said she left Gilroy for Chico to go to college, and came right back to help her husband with his family’s business.
“Gilroy is a great place to be,” Pirozzoli said.
Five generations of Pirozzoli’s family are volunteering at the Garlic Festival this year. Frances Cullen Howson, Pirozzoli’s grandmother and Cullen’s daughter, has volunteered for the festival since it’s inception, and the 93-year-old Gilroy native will work at the information booth this year.
Pirozzoli is currently the lead teacher for the Advanced Path Academy, housed at Gilroy High School. She has taught for at Gilroy schools for almost 20 years.
