– The day after the 28th annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, online bidding started as low as .99 cents (plus $6.50 shipping) at eBay.com for a Herbie Bobblehead doll – the most popular festival souvenir for five years running. Each year, the bobbleheads appear on the site within days of the festival, and shoppers can still buy bobbleheads from the past several years. This year’s bobbleheads may outpace others in long-term value, since it’s the first year that festival organizers imprinted unique numbers on each of the dolls in the limited series.
– A deaf family from Fremont came to the festival this year, lured by their palate. “I have been coming here since my kids were little,” Kathy Greene, 50, explained in writing before she pointed to her two daughters and son. “Food, food, and some more food, especially with garlic,” she wrote.
– Cherise Gowan, first runner up for garlic queen, said that there was a stinky incident not of the garlic kind over the weekend. “There was a problem with some of the port-a-potties,” Gowan said. “They had to fork lift (them) and there was a lady inside of one of the port-a-potties while they were lifting it up.”
– Frances Howson, the 93-year-old grandmother of festival president Micki Pirozzoli, had a close call during the festival’s ceremonial closing when a police horse got spooked, swung around and bowled her over. Pirozzoli said her grandmother, who was caught before falling, was doing fine Monday. “It was quite a shock to see her flying through the air,” Pirozzoli said.
– After running out of free samples of garlic ice cream last year, organizers with ConAgra Foods were not taking any chances this year, according to Patti Harmon, an employee who coordinates the distribution of the free tasters. Harmon said she ordered plenty of garlic ice cream and cones this year, so the booth never ran out over the course of the weekend. During peak times on Saturday, the booth went through nine half-gallons of ice cream every 10 minutes. “The ice cream machine was so laboring to pump the ice cream out that it couldn’t get cold enough,” Harmon said. “We had to slow things down every once in a while.”
– On the crime front, the festival was relatively quiet this year. The list of incidents included two juveniles arrested for auto theft after stealing golf carts used by volunteers from an unknown location at Christmas Hill Park. On Saturday, police reported a handful of minor fights and citations for public intoxication. Several minors were arrested for possession of alcohol, though no vendors were cited for selling to underage drinkers. Festival organizers tamped down on gang-related activities this year by convincing five bikers to remove leather vests bearing biker-gang insignia. Police ejected from the festival about 15 people dressed in red, potentially a symbol of gang allegiance, after the festival-goers refused to comply with the zero tolerance policy on gang colors. “We like to explain the policy, and give them a chance, so everyone can enjoy the festival.”
The police blotter also shows that Crystal Sosa, 26, of Salinas, was arrested for assaulting and taunting a police horse on Sunday. She was released on her recognizance and ejected from the festival.
Gilroy Police Officer Joe Deras, security chair for the Garlic Festival, said it was a typical weekend with minor incidents. “I’m quite pleased with how the police department and security committee handled their tasks,” he said. “And I’m also pleased that it seemed that the intention of the crowd was to go out and have a good time, and not cause problems.”
– Former Gilroy resident Neil Gregor, 24, brought some of the Garlic Festival tradition with him when he went away to college at the University of Arizona. After his freshman year, he invited several friends to the festival and they have come back every year since (six consecutive years). He and friend Lindsay Meek, 23, of Walnut Creek, wore matching straw gardening hats with garlic blooms on top and were dancing to Shaboom. Gregor has never missed a Garlic Festival, even though he lives in Arizona now. “I’ve been to every single one in my whole life,” he said. “I come back every year. The Garlic Festival is the best way to come back and reunite with everyone.”
