GILROY
– Forget Davis and Schwarzenegger – garlic fries are the
people’s choice.
GILROY – Forget Davis and Schwarzenegger – garlic fries are the people’s choice.
Results from the first-ever Garlic Festival voting asking patrons to cast electronic ballots on things such as their favorite festival foods, least favorite foods, if they are staying the night in Gilroy and if they will come back to the festival were released Sunday night.
Garlic fries were the unanimous crowd favorite, registering 326 votes as peoples’ favorite festival food.
Garlic bread finished second place with 304 votes, followed by scampi (234), peppersteak sandwiches (222), calamari (211), pasta con pesto (145), garlic ice cream (114) and sausage sandwiches (112).
During the voting at a booth located in Garlic Avenue, patrons were asked to vote for their three favorite foods, in no particular order.
Festivalgoers were also asked to vote for their least favorite food. Garlic ice cream took home top honors in the least-favorite category, accumulating 211 votes. Garlic fries followed with 113 votes – highlighting an apparent love-hate relationship between the crowd and garlicky potatoes. Garlic bread was the least despised food, drawing only 36 votes.
“This was a great test for us and a great way to learn what the crowd likes,” said Gwendolyn Mitchell, director of the Office of Public Communication for Santa Clara County.
The county sponsored the electronic voting booths with the goal of providing festival organizers with garlicky data and educating the three-day crowds totaling more than 132,000 about the new system. The new technology will be available in November’s election, but not for October’s gubernatorial recall vote, which will use punch-card ballots. All county voters will be required to vote electronically by March’s elections.
“This is the first time we’ve customized the touch-screen voting to a local event,” Mitchell said. “But we figured it was our best chance to get a lot of people in one place.”
Mitchell said 822 people filled out electronic garlic ballots, while hundreds more used the opportunity to register with the county on time for the upcoming recall election.
The touch-screen voting works like an ATM machine, where users insert an identification card and selections appear on a computer screen. Then, they make their selections by touching the appropriate choice with their finger tip.
Throughout the weekend, an overwhelming 586 patrons voted to confirm they will come back to the Garlic Festival, while only 53 said they won’t.
“I voted that I will come back because the peppersteak sandwich and strawberry slam drinks were so good,” said hearing-impaired Salinas resident Eric Heckman through sign-language interpreter Karrie West. It was Heckman and West’s first time at the festival.
“This has been a wonderful experience,” Heckman said. “If I could, I would have voted for more than three favorite dishes.”
GARLIC VOTES
What is your favorite food
at the Garlic Festival?
1st Garlic Fries 326
2nd Garlic Bread 304
3rd Scampi 234
4th Peppersteak Sandwich 222
5th Calamari 211
6th Pasta Con Pesto 145
7th Garlic Ice Cream 114
8th Sausage Sandwich 112
What is your least favorite
food at the Garlic Festival?
1st Garlic Ice Cream 211
2nd Garlic Fires 113
3rd Calamari 110
4th Pasta Con Pesto 73
5th Scampi 59
6th Sausage Sandwich 57
7th Peppersteak Sandwich 53
8th Garlic Bread 36
