GILROY
– Folks in 1986 needed the Gilroy Garlic Festival desperately to
get their minds off the news.
GILROY – Folks in 1986 needed the Gilroy Garlic Festival desperately to get their minds off the news.
It was the year of the space shuttle Challenger explosion, the Iran-Contra Affair, the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl and the U.S. attack of Tripoli. Not to mention battles with “Aliens” in the year’s biggest blockbuster at the cinema. Garlic helped get people’s minds off the world’s stress.
John Locey, a facility supervisor for garlic company Gilroy Foods, was the president of the festival that year. The event attracted 142,000 guests in 1986.
“The weather was great. It was typical Gilroy, not overly hot,” he remembers. “It was the ‘See America’ year and that was part of what attracted the crowds.”
“See America” was the theme the United States travel industry created that year to promote domestic vacationing.
The festival was still growing and undergoing its evolution. And it was very popular at the time because it was so novel and everyone wanted to see what it was all about, Locey said.
“There were a few issues, but with that many people crammed in, you’re going to have some issues,” he said. “Our biggest thing back then was just getting through the weekend. Every year until 1987, the attendance just kept getting bigger and bigger, so we were uncertain what to plan for.”
The numbers have leveled off now in festival attendance, so current presidents know approximately how many guests to expect, he said it’s a lot easier to plan because of that.
The Ranch Site at that time was just dirt and there was concern about the condition for guests.
“We had to go in and prepare that,” Locey said. “We planted grass down there and tried different things to keep the dust down.”
Locey’s 12-year-old daughter Shannon helped out at the festival, and had a good time. And among the many festival guests were the old-time movie stars Phil Harris and Alice Faye, a married couple who came to sample the garlic cuisine.
“They were very genuine people,” Locey recalls.
Locey has worked at every festival since the first one in 1979. He remembers setting up booths at the Bloomfield Ranch site and helping with the parking that year.
“We had a pretty involved group back then. I worked my way up from there,” he said.
At this year’s festival, he plans to help behind the scenes answering phones and doing errands. He also plans to give tours for groups through the festival grounds.
“I’m also involved with the queen pageant, and those kids weren’t even born in the first years of the festival,” he said. He remembers the festival has always had a pageant selecting a queen and her princesses since the first year.
Being president in 1986 was a busy time for Locey, but he was grateful both personally and professionally for the experience.
“I think the festival helps me in my personal achievements and my business achievements,” he said. “Working with the people and the size of the budget you’re dealing with, it’s a huge benefit for me. The festival itself is part of me. I’ve been doing it for 25 years. It’s a great thing. It’s hard to put into words what we put back into the community and how it brings the community together. You don’t see that anywhere else.”
