City officers and Gilroy Garlic Festival representatives gathered for a gathering Oct. 24 to debate the way forward for the enduring occasion and its ongoing challenges.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association, which organizes the occasion, introduced earlier in 2022 that it could not maintain its conventional gathering for the foreseeable future, primarily based on skyrocketing insurance premiums.
It was a sentiment that was repeated through the assembly, with the affiliation’s board members saying they’re working towards reimagining the competition that has been a Gilroy staple for greater than 4 many years and has acquired worldwide acclaim.
“None of us envision an 80,000- to 100,000-person event ever again,” board member Greg Bozzo stated.
Festival President Jeff Speno stated the competition was capable of distribute $40,000 amongst 20 native charities and nonprofits because of its collection of occasions in 2022, which had been a golf event, a live performance and a Gourmet Alley meals expertise at a soccer sport between Gilroy and Christopher excessive colleges.
The aim is to have a “much smaller festival” in 2023, he stated, with about 5,000-10,000 visitors over a two-day interval.
“We’ve been approached by a few different venues outside of the city of Gilroy who are looking at hosting our event,” Speno stated. “We are currently not looking at anything within the city of Gilroy. That’s not to say that can’t change, but at this point all of the venues we are looking at are outside the city.”
Mayor Marie Blankley prefaced the assembly by clarifying the City of Gilroy solely processes the permits for particular occasions, whereas the Garlic Festival Association is accountable for organizing the precise occasion.
Being that the competition was on the city-owned Christmas Hill Park, Gilroy should flip to its municipal insurance pool authority to find out the “necessary insurance requirements to protect the public’s assets,” she stated.
Gilroy’s Human Resources Director/Risk Manager LeeAnn McPhillips stated previous to the 2019 capturing on the competition, the place three folks had been killed and 17 others had been injured, the Municipal Pooling Authority, of which town and 19 different municipalities are part of, required insurance protection of $6 million for the competition.
However, that quantity rose to $10 million after 2019, in accordance with McPhillips, primarily based on the MPA’s evaluation of the competition’s latest historical past and general local weather of danger surrounding such large-scale occasions.
The ongoing litigation town and competition face from the victims of the capturing additionally play a task. McPhillips added that the litigation nonetheless remains within the discovery section three years after the incident, and about 30 workers are persevering with to present their depositions, amongst different elements required by the court docket.
Speno stated the competition affiliation couldn’t discover an insurance firm keen to present them a $10 million coverage. He added that with the unique $6 million coverage, it price the affiliation about $120,000. It is unknown how way more the premiums could be with the elevated protection.
Councilmember Fred Tovar requested Speno if the competition has checked out methods of getting others concerned in fundraising for the occasion and choosing up company sponsorships to assist with prices.
Speno responded that the competition does have sponsors, and it is ready to help itself at its present stage of actions, however something extra might be tough.
“If the festival cannot make some profit where we can give it back to the community, what’s the point of going forward?” he stated.
Tovar stated he understood Speno’s place, however he noticed it in a different way.
“I’m looking at it as, let’s get this back up and running and over the course of time we can get back to that level,” he stated.
Bozzo requested if town may get the competition affiliation to the desk with the Municipal Pooling Authority to work out points with insurance, however McPhillips stated the MPA doesn’t usually meet with representatives of particular occasions.
Longtime competition volunteer John Zekanoski stated he was inspired by the assembly, with council members asking how town will help deliver the Garlic Festival again.
“I’m a little encouraged, because I think we have only one problem to solve, and that’s this risk thing,” he stated. “If we somehow figure out that one problem, we might be able to get this festival going again.”
Larry Mickartz, who has been lively with the competition all through its historical past and just lately co-wrote a e book together with his spouse J. Chris on the occasion, stated there are a lot of different elements that would assist the competition transfer ahead, comparable to a scaled-down affair.
“Those things need to be looked at carefully, but we need to bring this back,” he stated. “The community needs it. One word of caution to the festival association: don’t take it out of town.”
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Festival advantages nonprofits
The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association introduced Oct. 24 that it distributed $40,000 to twenty native organizations.
They are:
Gourmet Alley High School Football Event
• Gilroy High School
• Christopher High School
Volunteer Hours Earned
• Gilroy High School Cheer
• Dreampower Horsemanship
Grants Awards
• Boy Scout Troop #730
• Christopher High School Choir
• Gilroy Presbyterian Church
• Gilroy Sister Cities
• San Benito (Baler Band) Boosters
• Victory Outreach
• St. Mary’s Mexico Mission Trip
• Gilroy Historical Society
• Christopher High School Boys Soccer Team
• Alma Bonita Animal Rescue
• South Valley Civic Theatre
• Live Oak Adult Day Services
• GHS Aquatics Water Polo/Swim
• Gilroy JACL
• Charter School of Morgan Hill
• Gilroy Gators Swim Team
The grants had been awarded by an software course of and evaluated by the affiliation’s Board of Directors.
