Nothing spells
”
fall
”
like a harvest festival, and there’s one happening in Gilroy
just in time to usher in the season of pumpkins, apple cider and
copious leaf piles. The Gilroy Downtown Farmers’ Market will host
its first Harvest Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25
at Monterey and Seventh Streets downtown.
Gilroy – Nothing spells “fall” like a harvest festival, and there’s one happening in Gilroy just in time to usher in the season of pumpkins, apple cider and copious leaf piles.
The Gilroy Downtown Farmers’ Market will host its first Harvest Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25 at Monterey and Seventh Streets downtown. The Festival is hosted in conjunction with the Gilroy Demonstration Garden, which put on a similar event last year.
The extravaganza is coined a “multicultural event” celebrating local/eco-friendly business and old world crafts, with live demonstrations related to solar power, canning, preserving, weaving, natural composting and vermiculture (the process of using various species of earthworms to create compost).
“Some of those skills have been lost,” said Market Manager Catalina Ventura, exampling canning and weaving. “I’m looking forward to having those at the festival.”
More than 40 vendors will be on hand, showcasing artisan products such as natural makeup from local cosmetic company Purely Pleasures, handmade jewelry, feather hair accessories, native plants, candles, clothes and more. There will also be food vendors, including the ever-popular hummus and pita chips from Hummus Heaven, mouth-watering links with all the trappings from Silva Sausage and sweet bags of freshly popped kettle corn.
Not to be overlooked is the gourmet baked goods stand from Rebekah’s Culinary Academy, a vocational youth program of Rebekah’s Children Services in Gilroy. Beckoning with fresh loaves of sourdough and a cornucopia of delectable pastries (try the cookies, they’re amazing) Ventura said Rebecca’s stand has been selling out at the market every week.
Other festival highlights include entertainment by reggae artist Michael Annotti, 4H animals and talented artists such as JoAnne Perez Robinson, a local who nabbed first place in the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association’s poster contest this year. Grass-roots organizations in the community, such as the Gilroy Compassion Center – a nonprofit group of volunteers working to establish a year-round homeless shelter in Gilroy – will also be present with representatives on hand.
Festivalgoers will have the opportunity to observe a work-in-progress by local muralist Dylan Kelly, one of the creative powerhouses responsible for the freshly finished mural gracing the back of the 9Lives Club at 7430 Monterey St. Kelly will begin work Friday, Sept. 23, and have the bulk of his mural finished Saturday, Sept. 24, said Ventura. By Sunday, observers can watch Kelly work put the finishing touches on an agriculture-themed mural in Gourmet Alley. The building belongs to downtown developer Gary Walton, according to Ventura.
The festival highlights are in addition to the regular farmers’ market produce vendors, which will be on hand with locally cultivated honey, jams, olive oil, peaches, dried fruit, salad mixes and vegetables galore. As berry vendors say good-bye for the season, Ventura said the taste of fall has arrived with apples, shelling beans, Asian pears and delicata squash.
“It’s pretty neat,” she said, of the seasonal shift. “I’m looking forward to all of the stuff coming in.”
Ventura said the farmers’ market, which kicked off June 5, is steadily attracting faithful regulars. She cited positive feedback from frequent patron Sam Bozzo, a past president of the Gilroy Garlic Festival who remarked, “a farmers’ market has never lasted so long in Gilroy. You are doing something right,” according to Ventura.
It may be small and steadily growing, she acknowledged, but Gilroy having its own farmers’ market is “wonderful.”
To become a vendor, contact Ventura at (408) 710-7147 or email gi*************************@***oo.com. Visit the Gilroy Farmers’ Market website at www.gilroyspiceoflife.com for updates.
Ventura would also like to thank the groups, businesses, individuals and organizations sponsoring and supporting the Gilroy Farmers’ Market and Harvest Festival:
– Articulate solutions
– Crown Sanitation
– The talented Krista Thomas
– Pinnacle Bank
– Katy and Stages Unlimited
– Cresco
– Integrity Construction
– Gilroy Arts Alliance
– Gilroy Foundation
– Gilroy Downtown Business Association
– Leadership Gilroy, class of 2011
