As tents rise in Christmas Hill Park and local motels fill with
festival-goers, Garlic Festival organizers say they will have more
money to contribute to future public improvement projects.
Gilroy – As tents rise in Christmas Hill Park and local motels fill with festival-goers, Garlic Festival organizers say they will have more money to contribute to future public improvement projects.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association has garnered company sponsorships worth a record $157,000 to use for major public improvement projects, such as the city arts center, public parks or joint high school facilities. The sponsorships, which connect company names with certain booths or events, are the highest total in festival history and will be added to past funds to create a pool of about $300,000, festival Executive Director Brian Bowe said.
“We tend to let some of that money accumulate so that we can have a bigger impact on the community,” he said. “It gives us the ability to do special one-time improvements.”
Separate from money raised by nonprofits during the festival, the sponsorship dollars go into a interest-bearing account, created in 1998, and are not distributed to the organizations whose volunteers help run the event. In 2004, the festival board of directors drew $250,000 from the account to put toward construction of the high school student center, finished in 2006. The board also pledged $250,000 in 2005 for the Gilroy Cultural Arts and Performing Center, about $150,000 of which has been contributed.
“We wouldn’t be able to do (those large projects) if we distributed every last dollar to nonprofits and charities that volunteered at the event,” Bowe said.
Contributions include in-kind donations, such as garlic from Christopher Ranch, amenities booths, such as the Saint Louise Regional Hospital diaper-changing tent, and cash in exchange for having their brand put on an event, as with Nob Hill and the Garlic Showdown.
While the festival reached a new high in sponsorship money, it has also increased its expenses through such events as the Garlic Showdown, which features professional chefs and a $5,000 prize. After expenses, the sponsorships will bring in about $112, 000, the same net as last year. About $50,000 of this money will go toward continued support for the arts center.
The remaining $60,000 will pool with existing funds to create a total of about $300,000 to be distributed as the festival board sees fit. However, the board has no date set to distribute these funds. The future project will be chosen from scores of applications and does not have to fit a mold or a specific time frame, festival President Judy Lazarus said.
Since its inception, the festival has spent more than $1.5 million from its sponsorship and general funds on public improvement projects. Before 1998, contributions from the festival’s general fund dominated expenditures. This included $900,000 given in 1992 and 1996 for the purchase and improvement of ranchland now incorporated into Christmas Hill Park. In recent years, festival organizers have leaned toward making sponsorship dollars a big source of improvement projects, Bowe said.
While the new money has provided welcomed additions to the community, greed cannot drive the process, he said. Organizers do not want money to change the face of the festival.
“We’re always working on improving our relationship with sponsors and trying to increase our sponsors but we’re very mindful of not over-commercializing the event,” he said. “We want to maintain that small-town feel to the event.”
