Saturday’s crowd carried over to Sunday as tens of thousands
more garlic-lovers poured into Christmas Hill Park. The garlic ice
cream line stretched more than 200 feet by mid-afternoon, just
about the time this year’s official Herbie bobble-head sold
out.
dirtiest jobs at the fest, highlights of the cook-off.
photo gallery.
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Three days of sun and fun came to close Sunday evening.
As the temperature plateaued around 90 degrees in mid-afternoon, the inaugural Battle of the Bands delighted the crowd of several hundred, and at the end the Hollister-based band Beeftone emerged victorious.
“I want to thank everyone. This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever had,” yelled lead singer Tristan Kane at the end of the trio’s 20-minute set. The band, whose members attend San Benito High School, took home $1,000. The sudden mid-afternoon celebrity-hood garnered the attention of Monique Cortez, who sought an elated Kane after the show for an autograph. Kane said it was not his first: “I used to do plays.”
The runner-up – Dark Horse Battalion, which progressed from Saturday’s first round of four bands – took their $500 prize, but had to huddle after the show to figure out who could drive and would also have a car to pick up the check.
Sunday night’s biggest show, however, belonged to the rock ‘n’ roll oldies cover group ShaBoom, which performed their last set after 25 years at the festival.
“Thank you! You made a bunch of old guys really happy for 25 years!” lead singer Dee Quinet told a cheering, dancing crowd of nearly 1,000 people after he and his son, Brad Quinet, wrapped up “Old Time Rock N’ Roll.”
“Gilroy will always be our home!” he yelled with a smile.
After the show, Quinet poured out more love for Garlic City, USA.
“Nobody cares about us like this place does. They make you feel like you’re somebody even if you’re nobody,” Dotson said before thanking Don Christopher, the garlic king who footed the bill for the scattered band’s final reunion.
Shaboom and their listeners were not the only ones having fun at the festival. Three women from San Francisco came dressed as vampires.
“As a vampire, it’s hard to watch all of this. It makes me feel like a mortal,” said Julia Donahue, who went under the name “Ruby Fuerza.”
The three women – who donned black, bore fangs and sported red make-up dripping from their ruby lips – stood out, but the garlic treats brought them together with the other festival-goers.
“The garlic ice cream was delicious,” Katie Lerin said. “It’s easy to eat with these fangs, too.”
Once the crowd dispersed and the beer tents shut down, the volunteers who ran the festival gathered for a jovial dinner in the park.
It was clear Saturday’s crowd carried over to Sunday as tens of thousands more garlic-lovers poured into Christmas Hill Park, but official attendance numbers will remain unknown for a few days. Even early in the afternoon, the garlic ice cream line stretched more than 200 feet and this year’s official Herbie bobble-head was sold out.
“I told them they should of ordered more,” said Gerry Foisey with a chuckle as he nudged Garlic Festival Association Executive Director Brian Bowe in the side while taking a break in the shade. Foisey was dressed in the iconic garlic bulb costume and sun hat for which he has been dubbed Mr. Garlic. This year’s bobble-head doll was made in his likeness.
It was not long before three girls with Budwesier cups sidled up to him for a picture in the mercantile tent, where tables lay half bare.
“This is why he keeps volunteering. And for the record, he did not tell us to order more,” Bowe said jokingly in reference to the 2,500 dolls that went like hot cakes throughout the weekend.
So did the left-over garlic bulbs from this year’s top-cutting contest, where four employees at Christopher Ranch face off in a hay circle for five minutes, snipping the tops off bulbs as fast as they can without nipping a finger. About 300 people surrounded the ring, cheering for their favorite competitor. Francisco Ramirez took the crown for the third day in a row and won another $50 after besting his opponents with 68.25 pounds of bulbs. After Bill Christopher announed Ramirez’s win, he gave the go-ahead for the eager crowd to storm the circle and collect what bulbs remained.
Mayhem ensued, and Ari Molofsky and his nephew, Jacob Molofsky, emerged from the crowd holding about a dozen bulbs that they dumped onto the lap of Ari Molofsky’s wife, Anna Molofsky.
“Oh, man, it’s all about getting involved,” Ari Molofsky said with bated breath as he wiped his brow. “This is pretty impressive, I have to say.”
So was the the garlic sausage, pickles and stuffed olives, said Esther Fernandez, who attended her first festival Sunday all the way from Mumbai, India. She sat at a bench underneath one of the cooling tents with her family, some of which came from Santa Clara.
“I liked the magic show and the food also,” Fernandez said her family of all ages picked at pesto and other garlic-infused treats.
Another highlight of the day was the Garlic Showdown, in which four professional chefs and their sous-chefs competed for a $5,000 prize. Contestants had one hour to complete their dishes, which were then sampled by judges.
The winning dish was prepared by James Waller, who smiled, pumped his fist in the air and laughed with his assistant as he received an over-sized check.
Police reported no arrests as of 2:30 p.m. and no major arrests by the end of the day, but did a few people had been cited for selling knock-off T-shirts and tickets, according to Gilroy Police Department Sgt. Chad Gallicinao.
