When Menlo Park resident Melanie Souffront read on the Garlic
Festival website she could save $2 this year by buying advance
tickets at Nob Hill, she jumped at the chance.
By Jonathan Partridge and Katie Helland
When Menlo Park resident Melanie Souffront read on the Garlic Festival website she could save $2 this year by buying advance tickets at Nob Hill, she jumped at the chance.
“We did it for the discount prices, and when I got here, I didn’t want to stand in line,” she said.
Thousands of others had the same idea, making it hard for the Garlic Festival Association to conduct crowd estimates as they have in the past, Executive Director Brian Bowe said.
The Garlic Festival sold 14,058 tickets in advance this year either online or through Raley’s and Nob Hill supermarkets, Bowe said. That compares to about 3,200 advance tickets sold last year.
“That’s absolutely unprecedented,” Bowe said.
Still, he had no doubt there were tens of thousands of attendees Saturday, traditionally the busiest day of the festival.
Within 15 minutes of arriving at the event, Jody Velasco jumped right into the festival with a garlic ice cream in one hand and a beer in the other.
“I just want to taste as much food with garlic in it as possible,” she said.
By 11 a.m., the crowds had arrived. People were wearing garlic hats, holding beer, eating garlic fries and pushing strollers.
While many attendees were longtime festival fans, newcomers from around the world also came to check out the garlic gaiety. That included Brendan Gallagher of Ireland, who was spending three weeks in California while visiting a friend in Marin.
“I didn’t see this stuff up in San Francisco,” he said with a grin.
Gallagher said his native country is far more known for its musical festivals than agricultural extravaganzas such as the Garlic Festival, making it a new experience.
Don and Linda Macintyre, who live in Scotland, heard about the festival while they were visiting Salinas.
“We’re European garlic eaters,” Don Macintyre said.
He said there do not seem to be many differences between garlic eaters here and garlic eaters in Europe, although the garlic here seems to be larger and sweeter.
Long before the gates opened, the cooks arrived. Behind the scenes in Gourmet Alley, 17-year-old Alexandrea Echalico wore orange dishwashing gloves and leaned over an industrial sink as she washed mushrooms.
Echalico’s favorite part of volunteering is spending time with friends and seeing the garlic man.
“I really like the guy wearing the garlic suit. I saw him this morning and I started laughing. Even though I’ve seen him before, I just get a kick out of it,” she said.
While volunteers prepared food for the crowds, amateur chefs prepared food for the judges. Margee Berry’s Warm Weather Watermelon Crab Meat-Kissed South Seas Soup won the Great Garlic Cook-Off. Other garlicky dishes entered in the competition included Derick Thurman’s Crawfish Gravy with Roasted Garlic Waffles. In the classic festival spirit, the waffle batter used 12 cloves of garlic.
The heat coincidentally turned up as the crowds increased, reaching a high of 90 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
As the sun grew hotter, people flocked to shaded sitting areas, preferably with some music. Gilroy blues guitarist John Garcia took the Gazebo Stage and entertained a large standing crowd that had gathered.
“I like the blues. I like the songs and I like his demeanor,” said Bill McMahon with a smile as he went to purchase a beer.
At the Garlic Mercantile, two volunteers running the front cash registers estimated they sold at least 100 wine glasses, 50 shot glasses and 40 beer mugs within the first three hours of the festival. New garlic bulb Christmas ornaments and commemorative items from the 2009 festival were also popular, they said. While many festival goers went shopping, Matt and Felicia Lieb watched their two daughters play in the children’s craft area.
“We’ll let them play and then start enjoying the food when they are tired out,” Felicia Lieb said.
The family just moved to Gilroy a year and a half ago. Last year was the family’s first festival. This year, the parents are both volunteers donating their time to help Saint Mary’s School. Matt Lieb prepared pepper steak sandwiches Friday in Gourmet Alley and Felicia Lieb will sell cookbooks Sunday.
Many folks also cooled off with some free garlic ice cream from Gilroy Foods and Flavors, which attracted a crowd by the afternoon.
“It’s better than last year,” said Alicia Bradshaw.
Joe Bradshaw, who held several ice cream cones in his hands, has tasted the ice cream for the past three or four festivals.
“It tastes more garlicky,” he said.
In addition to the heat, crime also picked up compared to Friday. Gilroy Police Department made about five arrests, and the Alcohol Beverage Control made nine arrests for minors obtaining alcohol or adults helping minors obtain alcohol, Sgt. Wes Stanford said.
“The beer booths were doing a good job screening people, but there’s only so much you can do,” he said.
Police arrests were related to fighting, violating probation and trespassing, he said.
In addition, a minor was arrested for possessing a spring-loaded knife and a man was arrested on a felony warrant, Sgt. Joseph Deras said.
About 20 to 25 people also were ejected from the festival for various violations, including sneaking into the event and gang and probation issues, Stanford said.
By 5:20 p.m. a breeze was blowing throughout Christmas Hill Park, allowing people to comfortably groove to the sounds of Take 2’s renditions of pop and rock songs. Dancers included Garlic Queen Lauren Iwanaga and her court.
Celebrity chefs Fabio Viviani of season five’s Top Chef and Jacopo Falleni also proved to be a huge draw during their cookoff stage demonstration.
