Can the allure of olive oil possibly lead to festival gold for San Benito County?
It’s a goal for Scott Fuller and other organizers of the San Benito Olive Festival as they prepare for the inaugural event, scheduled for Oct. 19 at Paicines Ranch.
“The olive is sort of the hook,” said Fuller, general manager of San Juan Oaks Golf Club, which grows olives on its property in a partnership with the Brigantino family, “but it generally focuses on all things culinary in San Benito County.”
Fuller said the one-day event will go even further than that and attempt to promote San Benito County’s variety of outdoor attractions such as Pinnacles National Monument, Hollister Hills and even the motorcycle rally.
“All the outdoor things you can do here in San Benito County,” he said.
Undoubtedly, though, the increasingly popular olive will be the primary showcase. Along with the budding wine industry locally, there have been more and more olive growers and olive oil producers cropping up in the area. Organizers of the San Benito Olive Festival – proceeds would go to nonprofits – hope to capitalize on the local olive crop’s growth and add another branding opportunity for the county.
Kathina Szeto, owner of the San Benito Bene store in downtown Hollister, mentioned that the festival will include local chefs, “farm to table” presentations presented live and on video, music, art, crafts and more. She said it will showcase area chefs and was excited that Dorothy McNett had already committed.
Szeto is among the organizers – Mark and Mary Paxton, along with professional facilitator Frank Lee are also heavily involved – who have been meeting for almost a year to plan the festival. They are getting help from several local organizations such as the YMCA of San Benito County, which is helping with the curriculum, Szeto said, and the Community Foundation for San Benito County, which is providing help while the festival is officially forming.
Szeto said all proceeds from the festival will go back to local nonprofits. She said organizers are trying to follow a similar model as the Gilroy Garlic Festival, though much smaller in scale. They have been in discussions with the Garlic Festival’s director for mentoring assistance, she said.
“We just want to make sure the first year is going to be a quality festival,” Szeto said.
That is one reason they picked a fairly safe bet for a location, the Paicines Ranch, which hosts the popular Kinship wine tasting event each fall.
Olives are the latest focus in efforts over the past few years to create – or re-create – festival environments in San Benito County. The Hollister Airshow is set for Memorial Day weekend this year, its fourth run, while Hollister’s internationally recognized motorcycle rally is set for yet another rebirth this July 5 and 6.
The olive festival is yet another reason to open outsiders’ eyes to offerings in San Benito County.
“We see it as an overall branding effort for San Benito County,” Fuller said.
