Miguel Santos, from Woodburn, Ore., was shooting photos of the
calamari cooks and their eight-foot flames at Gourmet Alley about
noon Friday.
Miguel Santos, from Woodburn, Ore., was shooting photos of the calamari cooks and their eight-foot flames at Gourmet Alley about noon Friday. He and 28 brothers, sisters, cousins and other family members re-unite each year at the festival, said Santos, 52.
“All our birthdays are in August so we meet here. This is the first place we come to,” he said.
Guy Fieri of Food Network’s hit show “Guy’s Big Bite” entertained the crowd during the cook-off Saturday. He also interviewed the Christophers of Christopher Ranch during a radio show from the cook-off stage. He jumped over the railing to visit with contestant’s spouses during the show, to feed audience members gnocchi, one of the entrees, and to sign autographs and pose for pictures.
“Is this an awesome festival or what?” he said.
Barry Kaufman, from San Luis Obispo, has been the wandering mandolin at the Garlic Festival since 1988. He strolls up and down the stall aisles and around Gourmet Alley playing Italian love songs on his mandolin, including “That’s Amore.” For the kids, though, he’s not afraid to break out into a rousing mandolin rendition of the “Sesame Street” theme song.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, a whole festival dedicated to garlic,” said Shane Yost, a professional rollerblader from Melbourne, Australia, who performed on the Got Milk? half-pipe Friday afternoon. “I love garlic. It’s one of my favorites. I’m always using it when I cook.”
Rudy Arballo, 68, and his friend, David Zaora, 63, were camped out in lawn chairs by the gazebo Friday morning. The pair has made a ritual out of arriving early on the first day of the event and spending the day “people-watching.”
“The calamari – that’s the first thing we do,” Arballo said.
“Then we go get a couple of beers and wine,” chimed in Zaora.
The security company at the festival, First Alarm, rolled out a new product at this year’s festival – the T3 Motion. The three-wheeled vehicle, which operates like a motorcycle and at first resembles a Segway, is faster and more versatile than a golf cart. Plus, the officer who stands in the middle has both a computer screen and is about a foot above the rest of the crowd. Lt. Craig Cordi was the proud driver of the vehicle during the three days. Why did he get it? “Rank has its privileges,” he explained.
South Valley Callie got in on the action, resting on pyrochef Matt Plesek’s hat during a flame up. She was mildly injured when she fell, singed some fur and got some calamari sauce stains on her.
Roberto Benitez, 30, came to the festival less to become a star than to see if he could get some friends in for free. This year, the festival’s Garlic Idol contest offered free tickets for anyone who makes the first round of cuts. Grand prize, doled on Sunday, is 1,000 free gallons of gasoline.
As part of the Cisco Singers, Benitez has performed the national anthem at San Francisco Giants and San Jose Sharks games.
“I haven’t done this for a while so I was definitely nervous,” Benitez said Friday, after performing “Wait for you” by Eliot Yamin in front of about 100 festival attendees.
Carlos Rodriguez of Salinas was like a walking Swiss army knife and he had all the tools to enjoy the festival. The key part was to dress entirely in white to deflect the sun and in tank top and shorts to minimize potential warming garments. Not one to look for a seat on the crowded haystacks or dirty up his attire, Rodriguez carried along an aluminum fold-up seat hanging on his back from with a makeshift strap to his forehead. From time to time, he set up shop in his chair, picking snacks from the bulging pockets of his cargo shorts and taking sips from a cold water jug.
After attending 23 festivals, Paul Kolak of Sacramento had 23 souvenir beer tin mugs. But for a while Saturday he really feared he wasn’t going to get No. 24 despite having reluctantly made the trip to Gilroy at the behest of friends and for the sake of the collection.
“It’s a habit,” Kolak said. “I got these mugs and they told me by midday Saturday they were out of them.”
After looking at two beer tents, he was assured more would come and, lo and behold, they did arrive at a third tent, just in time to beat the summer heat with a frosty brew in a tin cup.
On Sunday about 4:30pm, Garlic Festival President Judy Lazaus and Executive Director Brian Bowe created a flame-up for the first time.
Lazarus went first, aided by Ken Fry. She jumped up and down with excitement as the flames shot up six feet from the pan. The crowd of more than 100 people, including 25 volunteers cheered and hooted for her.
“It was awesome. It was very heavy, but I have a good workout. I was a very messy cook.”
Bowe went next, tossing in a generous spoonful of garlic.
“It was just the most exciting thing I’ve done out here. It’s probably the signature thing of the garlic festival and to be a part of that is really special,” Bowe said.
Traffic on southbound U.S. 101 was backed up for more than 20 miles Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. The traffic spilled over onto the Monterey Highway all the way through San Martin. The traffic was sustained through the afternoon hours.
