The Garlic Festival raked in enough money this year to dole out
$275,000 to more than 150 local nonprofits.
The Garlic Festival raked in enough money this year to dole out $275,000 to more than 150 local nonprofits.
The festival took in about $1.6 million this year, slightly higher than the $1.4 million it has grossed over during each of the past five years. The vast majority of that money finances the festival’s setup and organization, with the remaining going to the nonprofits, community improvement projects, or the Garlic Festival Association’s bank account for next year, according to the festival’s 2007 president, Judy Lazarus.
Since the festival’s launch in 1979, the Garlic Festival has generated $7.9 million for local community organizations.
Of the festival’s 4,000 volunteers, Lazarus said this year’s students out-earned the adult volunteers by working more hours picking up trash and sweating through the day in Gourmet Alley.
Volunteers donated their would-be wages to their favorite nonprofit based on how many hours they worked. The more hours worked, the more money for charity.
The Gilroy High School choir group, marching band, wrestling and boys basketball teams, and St. Mary School were all in the top 15 nonprofit earners: a testament to the work of young legs and the community’s devotion to education, Lazarus said.
“Most students worked in Gourmet Alley, so it’s not like they had cushy jobs,” said Lazarus.
Garlic Festival Association President Brian Bowe did not return calls for comment Wednesday, but before he became president in 2006, he said he adored the charity aspect of the festival because it continually re-energizes the city.
“Reinvesting the proceeds from the Garlic Festival back into the local community is really so much of what this event is about. I am very excited for the opportunity to work with an organization whose primary goal is just that,” Bowe said in March 2006. “Of course I will do everything within my power to help control costs and increase revenue so that we can give back as much as possible. Nothing would please me more than to increase contributions each year.”
This year’s $275,000 is higher than last year, but lower than 2005, when the donations totaled $300,000. It is not that this year’s festival grossed more and donated less, though, Lazarus said, but that the association donates a different amount each year depending on volunteer hours and money that’s needed for the next year’s festival.
Since 1979, though, the donations have risen steadily, beginning with $4,550 after the first festival in 1979. The festival has given more than $200,000 to charities each year since 1997.
“It’s been nothing but a 100 percent fabulous experience,” Lazarus said.
Representatives from Elks Lodge – this year’s top earner with $13,889.57 – were not available for comment, but Lazarus said most of the nonprofits somehow recycle the money back into the community through their own events or services, such as the choir’s songs, Lazarus said.
The festival association has financed park improvements and scholarships in the past with some of the money it earned before giving the rest to nonprofits.
“They earn it and give it back in the form of charity,” Lazarus said of Elks Lodge’s demonstrated service to seniors with banquets and such. “It just keeps going back through community. It doesn’t stop at Elks.”
Lazarus said she especially loved seeing the kid-oriented nonprofits receive money, such as the Gilroy Gators Swim Team that helped clean up Christmas Hill Park each evening.
“It’s great when the kids get money to keep going,” Lazarus said.
