A silver lining washed over the 25th running of the Gilroy
Garlic Festival as more than 120,000 people from across the country
and beyond celebrated the glorious garlic bulb during the
festival’s three-day run at Christmas Hill Park.
On Sunday, 22-year-old Adrea Simmons relaxed in the shade as she
ate her personal Garlic Festival favorite, pasta con pesto.
”
I have been to the festival since before I could walk,
”
Simmons said.
”
Once again it was a lot of fun. A little hot this year, but
worth it.
”
A silver lining washed over the 25th running of the Gilroy Garlic Festival as more than 120,000 people from across the country and beyond celebrated the glorious garlic bulb during the festival’s three-day run at Christmas Hill Park.
On Sunday, 22-year-old Adrea Simmons relaxed in the shade as she ate her personal Garlic Festival favorite, pasta con pesto.
“I have been to the festival since before I could walk,” Simmons said. “Once again it was a lot of fun. A little hot this year, but worth it.”
Simmons’ enthusiasm for pesto was matched by Oakland resident and first-time festival-goer Tom Wong who stood in a sun-drenched Cajun Crawdad line that ran 30 people deep.
“The heat is nothing,” Wong said. “I’m in the mood for crawdads and the portion is good for the price.”
Garlic Festival officials applauded emergency services chairperson Danny Martin and festival President Janie Mardesich Sunday evening as they arrived on a golf cart flanked by Gilroy mounted police and a siren-blowing fire truck to extinguish the burning garlic bulb outside Gourmet Alley.
Martin and Mardesich grabbed a fire hose and doused the flame that had been burning since Friday morning. After the flame was out, Martin and Mardesich showered their fellow festival directors and chairpersons withthe remaining water. It was a mild stunt done in jest, but one that carried a deeper meaning for some.
“In a sense, this might be a renewal,” 2004 Garlic Festival President John Zekanoski said. “Next year is the first year of the next 25.”
An emotional Mardesich hugged and thanked festival officials Sunday after the metaphorical passing of the torch.
“I had two simple goals – use teamwork and have a good time. I definitely feel I accomplished those two things,” Mardesich said as she wiped tears from her eyes. “I inherited this festival in good hands, and I’m leaving this festival into goods hands. These are tears of joy.”
On opening day, Hollywood resident Frank Dimechelis led a charge of more than 350 festival patrons eagerly waiting in line at the Miller Avenue and Uvas Creek gate. They were the first of many more to come during the beginning hours of the festival, and the first of many more willing to buy a variety of merchandise that sold like hot cakes.
Specialty wine glasses and tuxedo-clad Herbie the Garlic Bulb bobblehead dolls were so popular, festival officials had to reserve a set number of the items so they would not be sold out before Saturday.
All 1,500 bobblehead dolls of Friday’s allotment sold out by 10:30 a.m.
The 25th anniversary collector edition wine glasses sold out by 1 p.m. on Friday.
After performances by Garlic Queen Melissa Noto and princess Jennifer Lazarus, Garlic Festival founder Don Christopher welcomed the grandstand-full of people to the party.
“Thank you for coming here,” he said. “You’re the ones who make the Garlic Festival possible.”
Gloria Melone, the wife of the late Rudy Melone who along with Christopher was responsible for launching the first Garlic Festival 25 years ago, also thanked the community for showing support.
“I always look forward to this day to see my friends,” she said. “I don’t know of any other community in the world who comes together and not get a penny of money for themselves, and come out here and do what they do.”
The next two days were filled with the types of food and activities that earned the Gilroy Garlic Festival the No. 1 festival in the nation honors by USA Today. South Valley and Bay Area residents, Southerners, East Coast residents, Swiss, Netherlanders and a contingent from Takko-Machi, Japan, were on the garlic scene.
Keiko Ikeda, the official diplomat for the Takko-Machi festival, commended everyone on the success of the festival.
“Everything is so big here,” Ikeda said, bearing the South Valley heat while dressed in a formal Japanese kimono.
Takko-Machi, which holds its beef and garlic festival on Oct. 4-5, attracts roughly 6,000 patrons a year.
Although the Garlic Festival has international fame, Gilroy itself will be getting some more notoriety over the next couple days, too.
Among many other TV personalities who captured a glimpse of the garlic culture, Huell Howser of PBS was on hand Sunday for his show “Road Trip,” which will begin airing in Northern California at the beginning of next year.
Howser spent Sunday afternoon interviewing Mardesich and other festival veterans and vendors. Today, he will visit Goldsmith Seeds, the Wings of History Aircraft Museum, Bonfante Gardens and other area landmarks.
“We’re not only here for the festival, we’re here to explore the rest of the (area), too,” the jovial Howser explained when asked if he was at the festival because of the 25-year celebration. “This place has been on my list of things to do the past 10 years. We just finally made it to Gilroy.”
