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X_Drive

30th Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival

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This was the 30th Anniversay of this world famous festival. We had never been before so we thought, why not!

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World › North America › United States › California › Gilroy

30th Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival

July 27, 2008

As we got off the bus at the entrance to the park.

For thirty years the community of Gilroy, about an hour south of San Francisco, has hosted a three day festival for its biggest agricultural crop, garlic. Each year it seems to get larger and more and more foods are offered. One of the most famous of all is “Garlic Ice Cream”! Yes, you read that correctly. In some places you hear that they give you free samples.

The whole purpose of the festival is to raise money for local charities. So far they have raised more than seven and a half million dollars with the festival.

Well, this year we decided to make the three hour plus drive to find out for ourselves just what this festival was all about. According to my figures 166 miles from our home.

She was ready to take our tickets.

But were we ever wrong about the time. It took us 4 hours, and the last hour was from the time we got to Gilroy until we parked the car in the huge dirt lot and got bused to the park where the festival is held. There is no charge for parking and they hire what looked to be about a dozen buses to take folks from the lots to the park, which was anywhere from a quarter mile to nearly a mile. Once you are at the park there is a fee to enter. This year admission was $12 for adults, $6 for seniors and kids ages 6-12. Programs were available at the gate for $1. They told of the food booths, crafts booths, kids area, and the three stages where live musical entertainment went on all weekend.

Once in the park you can just stroll around and eat until you are too fat to walk anymore and just roll the rest of the way.

Food booths galore. And the lines were long.

And the food is crazy! Everything has garlic. Garlic French fries were very popular, stuffed mushrooms, peppersteak sandwiches, pasta con pesto, calamari, scampi, Italian sausage sandwiches, and garlic bread. There are also wine and beer booths as well as soft drinks, and I think those are the only things without garlic in them.

We never found the free samples of garlic ice cream so we shelled out $4.75 each for a scoop of Vanilla garlic ice cream in a cantaloupe half after waiting a half hour in line. Hard to eat the cantaloupe with a plastic spoon and although I thought the ice cream was good, my wife say’s that will be her last time trying it.

We strolled, sat and listened to some great music, and meandered through the crafts booths.

What shade there was was crammed with people.

And each time we got an idea of eating something the lines for that booth were so long we moved on hoping to find a short line somewhere else.

We watched some of the cooks doing the stir fry, and even got a picture of this year’s “Garlic Festival Queen” doing a little stirring herself. Then we had a chance to watch a couple of guys working with the shrimp and calamari. Flames and super high heat were the words to describe it. Amazing stuff!

All together a long day, because it took us just as long to get home as it did to get there. Traffic tied up getting out of the festival and a bad road situation about twenty miles east made for a long ride home. It was a fun experience.

5 comments

7 smiles

jerseygirl67 says:

Sounds like it was fun!

Posted on: Sep 23, 2008

X_Drive says:

Hey, this area's main crop is garlic, so they have gotten very inventive with what to do with it and discovered some pretty amazing things cooked with it. :)

Posted on: Aug 25, 2008

kerryandandrei says:

What the?

Posted on: Aug 25, 2008

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As we got off the bus at the ent…

She was ready to take our tickets.

Food booths galore. And the line…

What shade there was was crammed…

But out in the background the bo…

In this area they were stir frying.

Stir fry was very popular.

the girl was laddling in some li…

All four guys were at it all day…

Here you can see the girl adding…

These guys were frying calamari …

The Garlic Festival Queen got a …

And then tried it herself.

I just loved this guys garlic hat.

More food and drink booths.

Looking out into a sunny area th…

But this is not looking at food …

I like railroads, so I had to lo…

He was asking $250 to $400 each …

Nice, but a little steep

Caboose

Even a gazebo among the railroad…

Must be getting closer to food, …

Yep, more food ahead.

And there is the ice cream booth.

Our Vanilla Garlic Ice Cream ser…

More booths

Neat hanging items.

More food, Cajun even.

And more food

And back to the guys cooking.

Getting those pans hot.

Let it heat

And then get the flames!

Aw come on, bigger!!

Now the other guy

Really big flames!!

Gilroy's Garlic Festival

If you eat too much, it only your own fault!

The annual Gilroy Garlic Festival is held the last weekend in July in the city of Gilroy, which is located 30 miles south of San Jose, CA. The idea is to earn monies for the local charities so each booth is either a charity booth or giving a large percentage to a local charity. Each year in Christmas Hill Park they set up this three day event and feature as much food prepared using garlic as they possibly can. You will also listen to three stages, with new bands every hour or so. Besides the food and music they offer a kids area with plenty to keep them busy, and lots of crafts booths for the shopper in all of us. Just to let you know how big is it, here is a list of the foods, drinks, and products from the vendor listing of 60 vendors. Even if all you get out of it is a stomach with too much garlic, it is a fun experience.

Food:
Garlic Ice Cream
Garlic Ice Cream with Cantaloupe
Garlic Chicken Sandwich & Veggie Wrap
Calamari & Corn Dogs
Garlic Chicken & Pork
Garlic Salmon & Hot Wings
Pansit, Adobo & Lumpia
Mexican Garlic Shrimp
BBQ Ribs & Pork Sandwich
BBQ Oysters
French Fried/Steamed Artichoke Hearts
Corn on the Cob
Sundaes, Smoothies & Shakes
Strawberry Shortcake & Cheesecake
Guacamole & Chips
Garlic Almonds & Pistachios
Chicken & Pork Kebobs
Smoked Turkey Drums & BBQ Ribs
Fried Calamari & Poppers
German Sausage Sandwich
Steak/Chicken Wraps & Gyros
Corn on the Cob
Beef/Chicken Teriyaki Stick
Funnel Cakes
BBQ Ribs & Chicken
Garlic Steak Tacos & Roasted Corn w/Garlic Butter
Cajun Crawdads & Garlic Fried Green Tomatoes
Blackened Shrimp w/Rice & Jambalaya
Yogurt
Garlic Bread
Pizza
Popcorn & Garlic Popcorn
Frozen Chocolate Dipped Fruit

Drinks:
Assorted Teas & Lemonade
Wine Margarita’s
Pepsi Soft Drinks & Water
Wine & Wine Coolers
Smoothies & Coffees
Fresh Fruit Smoothies
Shaved Ice
Budweiser
Wine & Mimosa’s

Products:
Garlic Products
T-shirts & Hats
T-shirts, Tanks & Hats
Souvenir Pictures
Misting Products
Rock Climbing Experience
Fresh Garlic & Garlic Products
Garlic Grater
Dried Garlic & Floral Head Garlands
Garlic Braids
Garlic Seasonings & Sauces