The Gilroy Garlic Festival is back, bringing with it delicious foods and specialty items to try out. It’s the festival’s first time back since 2019, when a shooting marred the event.
It’s the place to be for garlic lovers—and a chance to dig in and taste some treats.
The festival is now at South County Grove in Gilroy Gardens. Only 3,000 tickets were sold for each day; all 9,000 sold out. However, it was much different from years prior to 2019 when it would draw more than 100,000 people in a weekend.
“We love the way they were able to add all the key elements back in, but at a smaller venue level. But we are looking forward to this expanding,” said Adrian Noara of Gilroy.
The arts and crafts vendors, live entertainment, food demonstrations—and lots of garlic—are the big draw.
While the festival is back, there has been a six-year gap since a mass shooting in 2019.
“I think this event, that it’s coming back now, is kind of like a rebirth and a bandage on a wound that is healing. We can go back as a community and share the beautiful things Gilroy has to offer,” said Marimonte Rodriguez of Gilroy.
“We spent five years in healing mode, and this is that next step. This is what you do after, and we really want to make sure the world knows we were not stopped nor defeated,” said Paul Nadeau, president of the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association.
Organizers say they plan to try and grow the festival, but this is a first step.
Source: NBC Bay Area