California’s Garlic Festival Returns After 5-Year Hiatus

The first Gilroy Garlic Festival was held in 1979, featuring a head chef and food booths that came to be known as ‘Gourmet Alley.’
California’s Garlic Festival Returns After 5-Year Hiatus
Danny Martin cooking at the Gilroy Garlic festival for the drive-thru, at the Gilroy Presbyterian Church in Gilroy, Calif. on Jul. 24, 2021. Ted Lin/NTD
Ilene Eng
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The California town of Gilroy is preparing to celebrate its 46th annual Gilroy Garlic Festival after a five-year hiatus. The event will be held in Gilroy Gardens on July 25–27, the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association announced on March 28.

A maximum of 3,000 visitors will be allowed at the festival per day, compared to the previous average of 30,000 per day. Tickets to the event must be purchased ahead of time, as they will not be available at the gate.

Food booths will offer signature garlic dishes, such as garlic fries, garlic scampi, pepper steak sandwiches, garlic kettle corn, garlic ice cream, and more. There will also be live entertainment and arts and crafts for everyone.

The Epoch Times contacted the association to ask whether the attendance cap would be indefinite but received no reply by publication time.

The Gilroy Garlic Festival began as a “crazy idea” by Rudy Melone, then-president of Gavilan College in Gilroy.

In 1978, he read in a newspaper about a small town in France that claimed to be the “Garlic Capital of the World.” Melone believed Gilroy’s production could rival that, so he took up the challenge. Garlic was not viewed as a mainstream or gourmet ingredient at the time, so many doubted his idea’s success. However, he managed to persuade other farmers to support the cause and celebrate their hometown crop.

In 1979, the first Gilroy Garlic Festival was held. It featured a head chef and food booths that came to be known as “Gourmet Alley.” The successful event attracted more than 15,000 visitors and generated $19,000 for the local community.

In 2011, the Guinness World Records crowned Gilroy as having the largest attendance at a garlic festival, drawing 109,067 in three days.
In 2019, a shooting at the festival left three people dead and about 15 injured. In 2020, the festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, it reopened as a drive-thru, where all the food was prepared and packed to go. In 2022, organizers said the festival would be canceled indefinitely, citing financial challenges.

Now that it is resuming, visitors can carry on the local tradition and enjoy what the community has to offer.

According to its website, “the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association is established to provide benefits to local worthy charities and non-profit groups by promoting the community of Gilroy through a quality celebration of garlic.”
The annual Gilroy Garlic Festival resumed as a drive-thru at the Gilroy Presbyterian Church in Gilroy, Calif.. on Jul. 24, 2021. (Ilene Eng/NTD)
The annual Gilroy Garlic Festival resumed as a drive-thru at the Gilroy Presbyterian Church in Gilroy, Calif.. on Jul. 24, 2021. Ilene Eng/NTD
Ilene Eng
Ilene Eng
Reporter
Ilene is a reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area covering Northern California news.
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