The Gilroy Garlic Festival raised over $74,000 for local nonprofits in its first year returning from a six-year hiatus — and organizers are now looking to next year’s festival with the goal of growing its attendance and impact.
“It’s the crowning jewel for our organization. This is what we do all of this for – is giving back,” said Paul Nadeau, the 2025 president of the Garlic Festival Association. “We’re just looking forward to multiplying that.”
Since the Garlic Festival began as a humble luncheon in 1978, it grew into a phenomenon with an annual attendance of around 100,000 for nearly four decades, attracting curious foodies, famous chefs and garlic fanatics from around the world for garlic ice cream, shrimp scampi and pepper steak sandwiches.
The event was nearly entirely run by some 4,000 volunteers and gave out hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, offering a lifeline to more than a hundred charities and nonprofit organizations throughout the city, and providing around a third of the funding for the Chamber of Commerce.
Then in 2019, a gunman opened fire on the festival’s last day, wounding 17 people and killing three: 6-year-old Stephen Romero of San Jose; 13-year-old Keyla Salazar of San Jose; and 25-year-old Santa Cruz resident Trevor Irby. In the aftermath, the community lost its most cherished annual affair and both COVID and rising insurance rates made bringing the festival back a longshot.
But after years of small events, the Garlic Festival came back this July, greeting 9,000 visitors over a three day stretch. The festival raised $74,638 for 33 volunteer groups from across the city, ranging from baseball teams and church youth groups to immigrant advocates and those who work with underprivileged youth.
“I’m excited about the idea that the Garlic Festival is getting back to doing what it did well for so many years and that is supporting nonprofits in Gilroy,” said Gilroy Mayor Greg Bozzo.
Over the past 46 years, the festival has raised over $12 million dollars for local nonprofits and volunteer groups, averaging over $250,000 every year.
While this year raised less than a third of that peak, it did so with an attendance about a tenth of the size, so the festival was able to give back more per attendee than in previous years.
“That makes us really interested in not making the festival the biggest it can be, but really the best it can be,” said Nadeau.
While details are in the works, Nadeau and the organization hope to find a way to incorporate more local organizations that were able to raise money by selling at the festival – another key way the festival helped raise money for the community.
Looking forward, Nadeau said the organization plans on aiming for a larger festival of around 15,000 attendees next year, and slowly growing from there to find the best size for the event.
“I believe they should grow it back slowly and sustainably,” said Bozzo. “I’m very optimistic that the Garlic Festival will be able to continue with this comeback story.”