Marc Perkel is not a lifelong Gilroyan. He didn’t grow up going
to the Gilroy Garlic Festival, he didn’t attend Gilroy High School
and he doesn’t remember what life was like before the Gilroy
Premium Outlets.
Marc Perkel is not a lifelong Gilroyan.
He didn’t grow up going to the Gilroy Garlic Festival, he didn’t attend Gilroy High School and he doesn’t remember what life was like before the Gilroy Premium Outlets.
None of that, however, has stopped the newbie from rubbing elbows with some of Gilroy’s most influential people and taking part in the creation of a weekly farmers market.
Leadership Gilroy, a nine-month program that primes participants for leadership roles within the community, has allowed Perkel and anyone else who can spare the $1,150 and two days per month to learn how to help their community succeed in 21st century.
“The program is extremely interesting,” said Perkel, who moved to Gilroy from San Bruno less than two years ago when a troubled real estate market opened the door to a home purchase.
Perkel had never been to Gilroy before he decided moved to the city. He said his lone experiences with the Garlic Capital came from whipping by it on U.S. 101.
When he attended a Gilroy City Council candidate forum, facilitated by Leadership Gilroy in October 2010, Perkel decided he wanted to enroll in the program.
“I said, ‘Hey, I think I want to do that,'” he said.
The nine-month class is comprised of three components: skills training, community awareness and personal development, according to the Leadership Gilroy website.
Team building, communications, ethics and diversity are several training topics participants will learn during the once-a-month program, which ends in September.
Each class is required to complete a community project as well. This year’s community project will be a Sunday farmers market on June 5 called the “Gilroy Spice of Life Festival,” tentatively planned to take place near the Gilroy Demonstration Garden, located on Eigleberry Street between Sixth and Seventh streets.
The method the 2011 class used to pick a farmers market for its community project was “an interesting process,” Perkel said.
Perkel said roughly 30 to 40 ideas were jotted down, and the class voted on its top five favorites. A farmers market-style event, dubbed “Taste of Gilroy,” was suggested, Perkel recalled. He said the class then decided it could expand on that idea.
“I said, ‘Why don’t we work that into a more general fair?'” Perkel said. “So we said, ‘Let’s just merge it.’ So now, Gilroy is going to have a farmers market.”
Judy Hess, director of the Gilroy Demonstration Garden, is expected to take over the market after Leadership Gilroy’s kickoff, said Sherri Stuart, Gilroy Arts Alliance board member.
City Councilman Bob Dillon, a 2002 graduate of Leadership Gilroy, said one of his favorite memories of the program was taking personality tests.
“It was kind of comical how accurate it was,” Dillon laughed. “The instructor read a description of one person’s test and didn’t read the name, but everyone turned and looked at me.”
The classes were entertaining, but they also made an impact, Dillon said. He said just about everyone of his classmates went on to some success within Gilroy.
“Almost everybody from my class is on a board or a commission,” Dillon said. “It’s a preparation for bigger and better things. And you sure get to know your community quickly.”
Councilman Dion Bracco, a 2006 graduate of Leadership Gilroy, called the program “a good learning experience.”
Bracco was already a Council member when he enrolled in the class, but said the program taught him a lot about Gilroy’s city government. Most importantly, the program taught him how to work closely with people he felt he had no connection to, Bracco said.
“It builds relationships,” he said. “You walk away knowing how to work with diverse people.”
And several shy participants “blossomed” by the program’s end, Bracco said.
“Some people really benefited,” he said. “They came out of their shell.”
The 2006 class’ community project was a job fair at Gilroy High School. Leadership Gilroy worked with the school to bring in speakers and local employers to give students who might not be headed to college “a different perspective on their future,” Bracco said.
Joe Kline, City of Gilroy public information officer and 2001 Leadership Gilroy graduate, said the friendships he made with 19 other participants were the most worthwhile aspects of the program.
“I thing I miss most was seeing those people each month, if not more frequently,” Kline said. “I miss those people and I miss learning a lot of things together.”
