Garlic lovers and guests of Christopher Ranch landed at Eagle
Ridge Friday night for a VIP cocktail hour and buffet after the
opening of another successful Garlic Festival. Gracious hosts Bill
and Don Christopher welcomed friends, colleagues and festival
organizers to a
”
first night
”
celebration. Robert Christopher traded his Harold Hill Music Man
band outfit for a 21st century sports coat.
Garlic lovers and guests of Christopher Ranch landed at Eagle Ridge Friday night for a VIP cocktail hour and buffet after the opening of another successful Garlic Festival. Gracious hosts Bill and Don Christopher welcomed friends, colleagues and festival organizers to a “first night” celebration. Robert Christopher traded his Harold Hill Music Man band outfit for a 21st century sports coat.
Dan and Tobi Brown gathered wisdom from veteran garlic chef Val Filice during cocktails on the sundeck overlooking a sun burnished Eagle Ridge fairway and Marcy Smothers, wife of entertainer Tom Smothers, joined the event this year before broadcasting a radio show with co-host Guy Fieri from the cook-off stage Saturday. Marcy Smothers is the co-host and executive producer of the show “Home Cooker.”
What to do with a business card that reads “Former IRS Lawyer?” Hire him. Garlic Festival founder Rudy Melone’s son, Michael E. Melone, attended the party and fulfilled his mantra to hand out 10 business cards a day. After 20 years with the Internal Revenue Service, Melone has moved on to a private practice in the East Bay. Michael, an avid film connoisseur, is just waiting for a flick with a garlic theme. Until then, “The Godfather” provides everything one needs to know to function in the world.
According to Bill Christopher during his wonderfully witty “stand-up” introductions, the guy walking around with “scruffy hair and sandals” was Christopher Ranch’s poster boy for organic farming. “Keep it up and look a little more scruffy next time!” advised Christopher Ranch President Bill Christopher. The organic farmer’s face and name were unknown to me as they seated him in the back room.
All three of Bill’s sons, Ken, Kevin and Aric Gotterba, sat with he and the lovely Tonya Bonesia.
Drawing in whiffs of garlic downwind from the festival, Bourbon the black bear, now in his “five-week spa retreat” at Gilroy Gardens, wiggled the sensitive nose in the air between rolling in his personal pool. Visitors to the park can learn all about Bourbon and his friends in the Predators and Prey exhibit now through Aug. 26. Barb Granter, vice president and general manager of Gilroy Gardens, sought to bring the animals from Wild Things in Salinas after a successful Natural Sciences Day.
“We were looking for an additional event and I thought the animal display would give another element to the educational exhibits,” explained Granter. Rachel Biesemeyer, one of the animal trainers and host of Wild Things, hopes to teach visitors about their collection of native animals that include Bourbon, an 18-year-old, 550-pound black bear; Mortimer, a 2-year-old black tail deer; Cowboy, an 11-year-old cougar; Gretzsky, a Canadian Lynx; Cinderella a 28-year-old turkey vulture; and Petunia, a 1-year-old opossum. Biesemeyer also handles a three-foot long California king snake, explaining to the crowd that they eat rodents and rattlesnakes.
Renee Bridich, also a trainer with Wild Things, lead Mortimer the deer around for families to see as she helped educate locals on what not to do when finding a young animal alone in the wild.
“Sometimes the mother is out ‘shopping’ for food and leaves her young for awhile, so don’t always assume they are abandoned,” Bridich said. “Mortimer was found by people in Monterey County and they observed him for quite some time before reasoning he was alone. Because of his stunted growth, Mortimer was not releasable to the wild and he came to live at Wild Things from the Monterey SPCA.”
All of the animals are temporarily housed in enclosures two to three times the size required by USDA and Fish and Game. According to Charlie Sammut, owner of Wild Things, “We drew a very expensive plan and they met our requirements. My hat’s off to them, especially Jose, for getting it all completed on time.” All the animals at the Gilroy Gardens Predator and Prey exhibit are trained to go out of their enclosures – but Bourbon seemed to be enjoying use of his private pool. And the smell of garlic, oh the garlic.
Ciao for now.
