About 100 bags of charcoal weighing 20 pounds each and wrapped in heavy plastic were heaped in a pile at Christmas Hill Park Tuesday afternoon – charcoal that in a matter of hours from now will be used to cook up several of the famed garlic dishes expected to draw 100,000-plus patrons to Gilroy this weekend.
Two hundred volunteers bustled about the park as early as four days before the big event, transforming Christmas Hill Park on Miller Avenue to the thriving mini metropolis known to locals as “Garlic City.”
Yes, it’s that time again for Gilroy’s most busy, crowded, moneymaking and fun three days of the year – The 35th annual Gilroy Garlic Festival.
Men driving bulldozers leveled mounds of dirt on the soon-to-be heavily trodded paths near the park’s entrance. Groups of volunteers jovially drilled holes and hammered in nails to set up the Cook-off Stage, the merchandise tent and Gourmet Alley – the famed culinary corridor where four of the festival’s signature dishes are prepared, plated and sold. Several small children kicked around a soccer ball in the grass as their parents hauled lumber, hoses, electrical wiring and the hundreds of other materials necessary to pull off an extravaganza of this scale.
“It’s going ahead of schedule,” said Garlic Festival board member Mike Wanzong, standing on the park’s ranch side and giving orders to three spirited teens in a forklift hanging shade canopies from the tops of pop-up vendor stations.
Mild, sunny days in the mid 80s are expected to greet this year’s festivalgoers, according to the National Weather Service. Ticket sales are right on par with last year so far, according to Garlic Festival Executive Director Brian Bowe. The festival board expects about 100,000 people to come through the gates over the three-day period. As of Tuesday evening, 5,000 online tickets were sold, and festival management expects the number to rise to 30,000 by the end of the weekend.
Meanwhile, a group of 17 Japanese dignitaries from Takko-Machi, Japan who flew in for the Garlic Festival Tuesday morning were wined and dined by Gilroyans to celebrate 25 years of a sister city relationship. Takko-Machi holds their own – albeit much smaller – garlicky festival known as the Garlic and Beef Festival.
“Our relationship started with the garlic, but now it’s so much more,” said Hugh Smith, president of the sister city organization.
During a dinner and ceremony full of warmth and pomp at Old City Hall Restaurant in downtown, Takko-Machi government and business leaders ladled up glasses of sake from a large wicker jug in the center of the room. Hiroko Yamamoto, winner of the Garlic and Beef Festival’s own Garlic Lady pageant, shyly made her way through the crowd, wearing a crystal tiara and a sash.
“I love Gilroy,” she said in Japanese through a translator, a grin on her face. “It feels like home.”
During a dinner that began with roasted garlic bulbs for appetizers, City Administrator Tom Haglund chatted with Takko-Machi’s mayor, Harumi Yamamoto.
“We’re having a great exchange of ideas and friendship,” Haglund said. “It gives us a broader perspective of life and what we face in society.”
Yamamoto said that he loves to come to the Gilroy Garlic Festival to snatch ideas for his festival back home.
“We can see similarities, but yours is a very fun festival and we want to make ours like that,” he said in Japanese.
Garlic Festival President Dennis Harrigan could be seen shaking hands and patting the backs of the Takko-Machi guests throughout the evening
“I got to say, that is one of the best sakes I’ve ever had,” he said, smiling.
The hustle and bustle is also alive at the hotels and RV parks around town gearing up for their busiest weekend of the year.
The Best Western Inn on Leavesley Road, the Hilton Garden Inn on Monterey Road and the Ramada Limited on Leavesley Road are all booked up, said Gilroy Welcome Center Director Jane Howard. Motel 6 had one room left, and combining all the vacancies at the 10 other hotels in town, there were just a handful of rooms still available for Friday and Saturday night. Howard said that hotels generally double their normal rates for the Garlic Festival Weekend, and sell out regardless.
Gilroy Garlic RV Park, a 170-site park behind Target on Holloway Road, is booked for the weekend. Days ahead of time, the park managers are in a frenzy getting ready for the weekend’s crowd and the annual evening barbecues they provide their guests during the festival weekend.
“We make it a lot of fun,” said employee Melissa Page. “It’s our absolute biggest weekend of the year.”
Gilroy Garlic RV Park nearly triples their usual $39 to $44 rate this weekend, charging between $105 to $115 per night for the nights surrounding the Garlic Festival.
Garlic Farm RV Park, near U.S. 101 and Monterey Road, had 10 spots left as of Tuesday afternoon. Manager Donna Hernandez said those last few reservations will be gobbled up by Friday.
Both RV parks offer regular shuttles to and from Christmas Hill Park throughout the weekend.
Over on Rosanna Street, the three rooms at the Fitzgerald House – Gilroy’s only bed and breakfast – have been booked since January for the Garlic Festival weekend, according to owner Larry Mickartz. Since then, Mickartz has received “dozens” of calls for Friday and Saturday night.
“I have to tell them ‘I got nothing, buddy,’” Mickartz said. “I tell them to call earlier next year.”
Correction: The original version of this story identified Melissa Page as the manager of Gilroy Garlic RV Park, which is incorrect. Page is an employee. Angela Kaphan is the park’s manager.
