GILROY
– The garlic flame moved as if in slow motion.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Queen Alika Spencer lit the famed Garlic
Bulb, then handed the torch toward her waiting court. In a rolling
hand-off, the torch passed from princess to waiting princess to
festival organizers and, finally, to Head Gourmet Alley Chef Steve
Janisch. An eager crowd clapped, cheered and whistled as Janisch
slowly lowered the torch and lit the first Gourmet Alley flame.
GILROY – The garlic flame moved as if in slow motion.
Gilroy Garlic Festival Queen Alika Spencer lit the famed Garlic Bulb, then handed the torch toward her waiting court. In a rolling hand-off, the torch passed from princess to waiting princess to festival organizers and, finally, to Head Gourmet Alley Chef Steve Janisch. An eager crowd clapped, cheered and whistled as Janisch slowly lowered the torch and lit the first Gourmet Alley flame.
Traditionally, the Garlic Bulb is lit during Opening Ceremonies, but the hand-off from the bulb to the alley made for a dramatic start to the 26th Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, when all eyes are focused on the good eats, music and people of the garlic capital of the world.
For some reason, though, the flame was already burning brightly before 8 a.m.
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out,” assured Festival Vice President Jennifer Speno as President John Zekanoski trotted off to check it out.
“Right now, we’re walking around the park trying to survey what’s left to be done, what needs to be done,” Speno said. “It’s kind of fun right now, the air is tense, but everyone’s just getting ready.”
Opening Ceremonies, led by Zekanoski, were to kick off at 11:30 a.m. today at the Cook-Off stage.
Earlier that morning, low-lying clouds hinted that the first day of the 26th annual festival could bring the moderate temperatures organizers hope for.
Volunteers, vendors and organizers milled about in the hours before the gates opened, getting as prepped as possible for the estimated 125,000 people expected to visit over the weekend.
Not far from Gourmet Alley, on a curb outside the Miller Avenue ticket booth, sat Tyler and Gladys Smith, the first people in line to enter the festival.
Tyler Smith, 52, said this is the couple’s first Garlic Festival venture because they wanted to “see what all the fuss is about.”
“We’ve heard about the Garlic Festival for several years now and I’ve always wanted to go, but never had the time or the money,” Smith said. “But this year, we made the time and had the money to go.”
Wearing mostly white-colored clothing, sunglasses and hats to beat the heat expected Friday afternoon, the Smiths had the look of Garlic Festival veterans. But the Oakland residents had spent Thursday night in a San Jose hotel after trying, unsuccessfully, to find a room in Gilroy and Morgan Hill.
“I guess you have to plan way in advance,” Smith said.
Gladys, 65, said she is visiting the festival mostly to support her garlic-loving husband. She rarely eats food seasoned with the stinking rose, although Tyler constantly cooks with it.
“It puts me to sleep,” she said. “The smell is very relaxing.”
The smell for which Gilroy is famous already was wafting out of Gourmet Alley, where volunteers were mixing sauce for the re-vamped penne pasta con pesto. Garlic-lovers can watch the chefs prepare the made-to-order dish with the famous Gourmet Alley flame-up.
“That’s why we wanted to move the pasta up close, so people can see it,” said George Minerva, Gourmet Alley chair.
The penne pasta con pesto will be sold on the ranch side of Gourmet Alley and prepared just next to the calamari flame-ups.
Minerva and co-chair Greg Bozzo both were readying Gourmet Alley on just a few winks’ sleep, they said. Greg was plagued by worries over the penne pasta con pesto. For Minerva, a combination of concerns made for restless first-festival-day jitters.
“I would wake up going, ‘Oh no, oh no’,” he said. “I should know better.”
It not only the garlic-enhanced food, but the shopping that’s brought Garlic Festival regular Mike VanDiver to Gilroy for the past 18 years.
He’s always one of the first people in line, he says, because he likes to get all his shopping done in the morning. The Palo Alto resident purchases festival clothing for his young children, Ashley and Jimmy, who accompanied him Friday. He also picks up some wine glasses, although he doesn’t drink wine, and visits the arts and crafts booths.
VanDiver then spends the afternoon eating and eating and eating, he said.
“It’s always such a blast, even though it gets more and more crowded, I still come,” he said. “I always take the day off.”
Staff Intern Megan Stevens contributed to this report. Lori Stuenkel covers education for The Dispatch. She can be reached at 847-7158 or [email protected].
