While many festival goers were busy sampling tasty garlic
treats, Seattle resident Michael Loeffler ardently assembled
bulb-shaped hats with the help of a 1905 Singer sewing machine.
While many festival goers were busy sampling tasty garlic treats, Seattle resident Michael Loeffler ardently assembled bulb-shaped hats with the help of a 1905 Singer sewing machine.
Loeffler’s business, Hatterdashery, has been a pillar at the festival’s arts and crafts area for more than 20 years, where people can purchase his famous garlic-shaped hats. However, nothing prepared him for the demand at this year’s event.
“It’s been so good that we’ve sold out temporarily,” said Loeffler’s wife, Cathy Loeffler as Michael was spinning away Saturday. “We’re working hard to catch up.”
Perhaps it all coincided with the Garlic Festival’s attempt to return to its roots, but traditional vendors appeared to be particularly in vogue at this year’s event.
That included the works of Mellow Mud Pottery, whose famed pottery pieces of suns pinching their noses actually were inspired by the world’s Garlic Capital.
Owner Susan Nemanic, who lives in the town of Magalia near Chico, said she was driving along Pacheco Pass by Gilroy Foods and Flavors when she and her family were overwhelmed by the smell. Up until then, she was mostly known for her pottery portrayals of suns with faces sans hands.
“When we came to Gilroy for the first time, that’s where the stinky face was born,” Nemanic said.
The item has since become popular at many venues as a bathroom fixture. Sculptures of garlic bulbs holding their noses are also popular at the festival, Nemanic said.
Festival attendees paid heed to the artistic endeavors of local vendors as well.
Gilroy artist Whitney Pintello McClelland said Saturday afternoon that she sold far more paintings Friday during “Locals Day” despite the smaller crowds.
“Yesterday, people came purposely to shop,” she said.
McClelland’s paintings featured colorful and playful portrayals of wine, peacocks and pear trees among other images on old window panes. Her work also graces the interior of Westside Grill and has been sold at Sarah’s Vineyard in Gilroy
On the Festival’s Ranch side at Christmas Hill Park, Gilroy artist JoAnne Perez Robinson’s paintings of garlic, flowers and landscapes attracted interest from nearby and out-of-town patrons.
Robinson’s daughter-in law Kristina Vicijan said shoppers who travel the farthest tend to buy the pricier items.
“They are charmed because they are from out of state, and they feel like it’s a little piece of Gilroy,” she said.
Some two-inch-by-four-inch paintings that sold for less than $50 – artwork that Robinson facetiously designated as “stimulus paintings” – tended to sell well this year, Robinson said.
Sales were not as high as last year, but they were still decent, she said.
Aromas resident Jane Rekedal, who teaches ceramics at Gavilan College, said the turnout Friday seemed lower than usual, but plenty of people checked out her ceramics Saturday, particularly her bulb-shaped garlic keepers and garlic roasters.
Although craft vendors are no longer required to sell garlic-related items as they have been in the past, jurors encourage them to do so, and some of them receive the nod because their items incorporate the stinking rose, said Jan Froom, who sat on the festival’s arts and crafts jury.
All vendors must make their own items, and Froom noted some people were even painting or manufacturing crafts on site.
“Some people say the things here are too expensive, but you’ll see something different here,” Froom said. “It’s not something that you’ll see at the fair or at the flea market.”
That was certainly true of jewelry sold by Boulder Creek resident John Shipp, some of which contained Morgan Hill Poppy Jasper. The indigenous gemstone, which contains vibrant circles of orange and yellow that form poppylike images on a brown background, is popular at gem shows but not so much at other events, he said.
“It’s one of those things that’s recognized by rock hounds,” he said.
Still, it sold well at the Garlic Festival and has become increasingly known in South County because of the annual film festival and ale sold at El Toro Brewing Co. named in honor of the locally mined gemstone, he said.
Brian Gleser’s eye-catching rainbow tie-dyed T-shirts, which featured images such as a smiling garlic, Darth Vader and a ghost from the video game Pac-Man, also caught the eye of attendees. Gleser travels to venues in California, Arizona and Nevada, but he said he gets the most sales at the Garlic Festival.
It’s competitive, too, he said, noting he initially was placed on the waiting list for the event.
While the festival is traditionally more known for its food, no shortage of shoppers stopped by the arts and crafts areas this weekend.
Guerneville resident Craig Hayes was impressed with the quality of the artwork as he perused the various booths.
“They’ve got a really high bar for their vendors,” he said.
Leslie Smith, chair of arts and crafts for the festival, said she was happy to see attendees were supporting the vendors financially.
“They weren’t just treating it like a museum,” Smith said.
