The Gilroy Garlic Festival was founded by Dr. Rudy Melone in 1978 after reading an article about a garlic festival being held in a small French town. After reading that the town was considered to be the “Garlic Capital of the World”, Dr. Melone felt compelled to prove to the world that his hometown, Gilroy should be worthy of that particular title. He set out to convince the owner of Christopher Ranch, Don Christopher, along with other businesses and local farmers to host their own garlic festival.
As it were, and still is, Christopher Ranch is the largest producer, processor, and shipper of garlic in the world. Aside from migrant Italian families, garlic was considered obscure and had a reputation of being known as “The stinking rose”. Residents of Gilroy were embarrassed of its heritage and odor.
In August 1979, Dr. Melone, Don Christopher, and local farmer and chef, Val Filice hosted the very first Gilroy Garlic Festival at Bloomfield Ranch. They had welcomed over 15,000 visitors and raised over $19,000 for the local community. As of today, the Gilroy Garlic festival has raised over $11.7 million dollars for local schools and programs. The festival consists of live music, family entertainment, and of course lots and lots of food.
The festival that was created based on one man’s competitiveness is going on 43 years and plans are being made for the next 40 years.
