After a three-year hiatus, the Gilroy Garlic Festival will take place this year from July 25 to 27. Visitors can expect cooking classes, live music, lots of garlicky cuisine—including the event’s iconic garlic ice cream—and more.
California’s highways cross through some of the world’s most incredible scenery—and in some cases, they’ll even take you on an odoriferous journey.
Just east of Monterey Bay, Highway 101 runs through the small town of Gilroy, California, home to a little over 58,000 people. However, you’ll most likely smell Gilroy before you see it—the pungent smell of garlic is sure to hit you, even if the windows are rolled up. Known as “The Garlic Capital of the World,” Gilroy produces more than 100 million pounds of garlic annually, and for years, the town celebrated its famous aromatic crop with an annual soiree, the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
After a tragic shooting in 2019, the festival went dark during the pandemic, and then closed indefinitely in 2022 due to financial constraints and insurance requirements requested by the city. However, it’s officially back in action this year, and will take place from July 25 to 27 at South County Grove, located next to the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park, a horticulture-themed amusement park.
Historically, the festival was held at Gilroy’s Christmas Hill Park and welcomed tens of thousands of guests across a single weekend. This year, it will be far more intimate, with just 3,000 entrants per day. Nonetheless, the lineup is promising. There will be interactive cooking demonstrations and live entertainment. “Gourmet Alley” will have stalls selling garlic-flavored dishes of all sorts, from pesto pasta, calamari, and scampi to pepper steak sandwiches, loaded tri-tip fries, and the festival’s legendary garlic ice cream.
“Some people like [the ice cream], some people don’t,” said Cindy Fellows, a past president and a current board member of the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association. “But it will be present—and it sure is an interesting thing to taste.”
Gilroy Garlic Festival Association
The Gilroy Garlic Festival has long been a fundraising behemoth for the Santa Clara Valley city—the festival is 99 percent volunteer-based, and proceeds go to local schools to fund things like camps and sports equipment, and other community needs.
“So many nonprofits really benefit from the Garlic Festival,” Fellows said. “And over the last six years, they have suffered from its absence. We’re thrilled to be back and to support them again.”
Fellows, who is a Gilroy native, says the event has pumped $12 million back into the community since its inception. Gilroy, which is usually a sleepy town, comes alive during the festival, as locals are joined by travelers from across California and the country. Regional farmers, such as Christopher Ranch (the nation’s largest grower of fresh garlic) are vital to the festival, too.
“Local farmers help us with peppers, onions, and different things,” Fellows said. “It’s a time to come together as a great community, and everybody jumps right in.”
