garlic festival, continued from page 1
Parents and kids of all ages scour the park and pick-up the trash left by festival goers. When the gates close each night, the grounds look pretty bad but when they open the next day, they are fresh and clean … thanks to the many hands of the Gators. In 2006 the Gators earned over $ 6,000. Jay Baksa, full-time Gilroy City Administrator and part-time GHS basketball coach, explains how he uses the Garlic Festival garbage pick-up as the first try-out for incoming basketball players,“ It answers questions like: How hard do they work? Do they follow instructions? Do they work well with others?” he notes.
“ Garlic Festival.”
Gilroy High School receive over $ 50,000 from volunteer hours at the Festival last year.“ Without the Garlic Festival we would have a lot more candy sales and some programs would not be alive. Where else could we raise $ 50,000 on one weekend?” states Jack Daley, Activities Director, Gilroy High School. It is no surprise that Gilroy High School hosts a team in every sport and attends numerous tournaments year-round. Both Jack Daley and Garlic Festival Director, Brian Bowe, refer to the Garlic Festival logos on the GHS Student Activity Center with pride.
Often we forget about the impact of the festival year-round. Besides giving Gilroy an identity, a spirit of
Travel anywhere today and mention that you are from Gilroy and someone will say
volunteerism and dollars to support our non-profit organizations, it has spawned numerous business ventures. One of the most prominent effect has been a viable and effective Chamber of Commerce; in large part due to the profits from beer sales at the Festival. Businesses around town that have keyed off the garlic branding include Garlic World, Garlic City Mercantile, Garlic Festival Foods( no direct association to the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association), Garlic Glass, Garlic Shoppe and garlic. com Soon the Garlic Festival building downtown will host offices for the Association, retail space and condos.
The Garlic Festival might be a great event to the rest of the world but to the citizens of this beautiful little town it is a source of community pride and energy.
2006 Gilroy Festival Committee Photo by Bill Strange
Gilroy
T O D A Y
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