The Gilroy Garlic Festival drew more than 12,000 people over the three-day event, organizers said, as the festival pushes toward its 50th anniversary in 2028 following its return in 2025 after a yearslong hiatus.
The volunteer-run festival, held July 24-26 at the Hecker Pass Outdoor Events Center adjoining Gilroy Gardens, sold out all three days at 4,000 tickets per day—up from a 3,000-a-day cap in 2025. Ticket sale proceeds benefit local schools, nonprofits and community organizations.
Festival President Alex Misa, in his first year in the role after serving as vice president previously, said the festival expanded several offerings this year, including doubling the number of arts and crafts vendors from 24 to 48 and doubling the size of the beer and wine tent.
A new food area, Gourmet Alley Jr., was added to give families with young children an alternative to the sometimes long lines at the festival’s main food area.
“You’ve got your 10-year-old nephew or child, and once the gates open, where’s the first place they want to go? Gourmet Alley,” Misa said. “But the lines were long, so now there’s a second one, so parents, aunts and uncles can bring the kids in and introduce them to garlic.”
The festival offers the full breadth and depth of all possible garlic-based foods, from the simple classics like garlic bread to exotic garlic experiences such as garlic ice cream and garlic-infused wine and beer.
Misa said he grew up with the festival and had not heard a single complaint this year as of Saturday.
“It’s been such a warm, positive response,” he said. “Everyone’s had a positive experience across the board.”
The festival returned in 2025 after a six-year absence following the 2019 shooting at Christmas Hill Park that left three people dead and 17 others wounded.
This year marked the event’s second year back at the Hecker Pass/Gilroy Gardens venue. The new event is significantly smaller than its original incarnation, which attracted more than 100,000 visitors during its peak.
“This year is really about cementing it,” said Ken Christopher, executive vice president of Christopher Ranch, whose grandparents helped found the festival in 1979. “I think about my grandfather and my grandmother and what they did to make this happen. Fast forward 48 years, and it’s still here, and we’re growing again.”
Misa said last year’s festival distributed $74,000 to local nonprofits, and organizers expect this year’s total to exceed that figure. Proceeds benefit local causes in exchange for volunteer hours worked at the festival. This year, Misa said, the association also added dedicated setup, cleanup and chair-teardown crews after facing logistical challenges last year.
“It’s an example of how well the organization pivots,” Misa said. “It’s one of those things where, after you come back after a while, you have to relearn it, but it’s been good to know we can pull it off.”
Gourmet Alley also moved to a cashless payment system this year, according to Sauce Boss Jessica Redd, who oversees the sauces used in the alley’s signature dishes, including its scampi, calamari and garlic bread butter. Attendees can load money onto a small card attached to their wristband.
The new system comes as organizers hope to help streamline Gourmet Alley after last year’s festival saw extremely long wait times for food on its first day.
“The first day back [last year] was a little rough,” Redd said. “It was all new, coming back to crowds for the first time since 2019. We had a setback, but the next day we were right on the money. We learned where the problem was, and now we’re smooth as butter—garlic butter.”
Redd said watching former fellow volunteers’ children, including her own, now working in Gourmet Alley has been one of the most meaningful parts of the festival’s reconstruction.
“It’s a lineage, and it’s coming back, and we’re going to keep getting stronger,” she said. “We’ve also got a lot more security now, which is wonderful, because that had made a lot of people hesitant about coming back.”
This year’s festival also drew international visitors, including garlic growers Nick Diamantopoulos and Jim Theodore of SupaGarlic, an Australian garlic producer, who said the Christopher family’s reputation extends well beyond Gilroy.
“It’s really amazing that everything here is built around garlic—garlic food, garlic ice cream, garlic merchandise—it’s just so garlic-centric,” Diamantopoulos said, noting that Australia lacks a comparable celebration honoring the fragrant allium.
Diamantopoulos, who has a background in agricultural sciences, researches garlic cultivars for both flavor and health benefits. His company sells garlic-based supplements for immune support, cholesterol reduction and heart health.
“We’re also looking at garlic-specific cultivars for health, and that’s what we’re here talking to the Christophers about,” he said. “They’re looking to the future, to taking garlic into the 21st century.”
The festival’s queen, Rachael Gallagher, was crowned in April at the festival association’s annual scholarship pageant, held at the Lakeside Amphitheater at Gilroy Gardens and emceed by Christopher.
Gallagher, 25, is a Gilroy High School graduate who went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and a doctorate in occupational therapy from Tufts University. She now works as a pediatric occupational therapist.
Christopher held daily book readings and signings of their new garlic-centric picture book, in addition to a midday cooking demonstration on the Gourmet Alley stage, where he prepared dishes including pepper steak sandwiches, garlic pico de gallo, garlic pesto, garlic calamari, garlic scampi and garlic bread during the course of the weekend.
“It’s amazing to be with my dad doing this, continuing my grandfather’s legacy,” Christopher said. “So it’s essentially handing the baton and keeping our tradition of stewardship with this festival going.”
Daily attractions also included garlic braiding and garlic topping demonstrations, live cooking demonstrations on multiple stages, and plenty of live music including popular local bands like Southbound 101, The Stinkin Locals, Shane Dwight and a dozen more throughout the weekend.
Many events were live-streamed on YouTube, an adaptation the festival began in 2025 to help bring the festival to more people who were unable to obtain one of the limited number of tickets.
