The Making of a Garlic Festival
President
You could say that Greg Bozzo was born to be the President of the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association . He follows in his father ’ s footsteps some 20 years later .
IN 1979 , GREG BOZZO WAS A JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT . He ran in the very first Garlic Run and spent both days of the first Festival working in his father ’ s minestrone soup booth . Papa and Mama Bozzo , ( aka Sam and Judy ) were the owner ’ s of Digger Dan ’ s , a restaurant on First Street at the time . It was really hot both days of the Festival , making soup not the best choice ; it just wasn ’ t appealing to most people . The Festival was a hit but the soup was not !
But for Greg something happened that day …. he got bitten by the Garlic Festival bug . And , thirty-one years later he is the president of the 2010 Festival !
At the Second Garlic Festival the Bozzo ’ s replaced the minestrone soup in favor of “ steak on a stick .” It was more favorably received and variations of it survive at the Festival today . Greg was back at the Festival for the second year , and the third and the fourth … As a high school kid he remembers convincing a group of bored high school friends that it would be “ cool ” to help out at the Festival . They spent the remainder of the Festival working in the Hospitality Area . Some permanent friendships developed among this “ posse ” of high school volunteers .
S P R I N G 2 0 1 0 G I L R O Y T O D A Y 39