Hot treasured cloves
Don Christopher, the founder of the country’s biggest garlic producer, Christopher Ranch, started 60 years ago in Gilroy with 12 acres of the spicy bulb, sandwiched between his main crops, lima beans and sugar beets. The man who was then known as the king of garlic, Joe Gubser, asked Christopher to plant some bulbs for him. He sold the garlic to Gubser for 9 cents a pound.
Top wines to pair with the stinking rose
I love living in Gilroy. We’ve got the natural beauty of open space (for now, anyway), mountains all around us, an extremely friendly community, the Premium Outlets and best of all, a dozen or so awesome wineries right in our very own backyard.
‘Confederates’ a well done lesson in media handling
The 47th TheatreWorks Silicon Valley season starts out with a strong production that fits well with current events. Confederates is set during a presidential campaign with a “snag.” The people who find it, work it, providing an example of how far the media will go get the story while staying within the law. It’s a story of how one almost innocent mistake can upset an entire future. Superbly written by playwright Suzanne Bradlbeer, three magnificent actors show how they manage the situation at hand.
Visiting Gold Country
The first prospectors to arrived in California after James Marshall's discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill struck pay dirt with relative ease. Through panning and light placer mining techniques, miners could harvest gold that had washed into the creek beds. After only a few years, most of the easily reached gold was gone.
‘Beauty and the Beast Jr.’ a delightful romp
The city of Gilroy Recreation Department and the Gilroy Children’s Theatre, led by director Hillary Little, have brought the Disney musical production of Beauty and the Beast Jr. to Gilroy High School Theatre. Fifty-plus kids 6 to 16 gather and have as much fun as the audience. Mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles and grandparents in the audience whoop it up and support the kids in a formative theatrical adventure.
Summer Wine Events
FOMO, or the fear of missing out, prompted my husband and I to abandon San Jose and move to Gilroy. With approximately 50 wineries between Morgan Hill and Hollister, the dizzying array of music, wine and food events throughout the summer—many of them free or at very low-cost—offers something for nearly everyone.
The benefits of walking
As a proud resident of the Silicon Valley, I’m often tempted to laud the technical and digital health-improvement initiatives of the innovation hub that we live in. Recently, however, I’ve been struck by the simplest of messages promoted by the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States: The easiest thing we can do to make both ourselves and our communities healthier is to … take a walk.
