The Bloomin' Of The Garlic Festival

Before the smell of gourmet food fills the air during this weekend’s Gilroy Garlic Festival, volunteers and crews will be at work turning into a temporary city that’s fit for the more than 100,000 people expected to attend.

So far, after years of practice, a number of 12-hour days and a little bit of “festival magic,” Mike Wanzong, Utilities Committee chairman, said things are a little ahead of schedule. 

“It’s during the festival that we can finally relax,” said Wanzong, 43.

In the days leading up to the festival’s Friday opening, members of the committee have already begun transforming the park into the setting for the iconic three-day celebration of all things garlic.

Most of the work is done by volunteers, many of whom have grown up helping at the festival and now serve on its many committees. Wanzong began as a teenager, and board member Shawn Keck, 37, remembered hauling garbage when he was a freshman at

“There’s never a high-stress level out here,” said Keck, “Nobody is making money—everybody who’s here wants to be here.”

One volunteer, 73-year-old Clyde Kreegeo, has travelled from Arizona to lend his help with the setup every year since his son-in-law and festival spokesman Peter Ciccarelli first asked him to join in 2000.

“These guys are great,” he said, “It’s the people that keep me coming back.”

Responsibilities for the committee include coordinating all of the event vehicles, electrical power, temporary buildings, propane, bathrooms, erecting the massive tarp over the amphitheater and routing water, Wanzong said.

“It’s the infrastructure of the festival,” he said.

Resources needed for the setup and operation of the festival include:

• More than 100 vehicles, including golf carts, forklifts, booms and four-wheel-drive vehicles
• 50 temporary power boxes
• Between 6,000–7,000 feet of power cables
• Between 220–250 portable toilets
• 1,500 barrels
• 1,200 hay bales
• Approximately four 150-gallon containers of propane and 12 smaller containers for individual vendors

The park interior is officially closed to pedestrians and cars during the setup, though Wanzong said crews aren’t overly aggressive about blocking the occasional jogger that passes through.

Major setup began on Sunday, with crews erecting tents and beginning to stage vehicles on the ranch side of the park. Fencing now surrounds certain areas, and each day will bring another stage in the transformation, Wanzong said.

Some of the volunteers will register their time with the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association toward donations to various organizations, but many of the die-hard members of the utilities crew simply show up to help every year.

“They’re free labor,” Wanzong joked. “They’re basically donating their time to the festival itself.”

For many, the fact that the nonprofit Festival Association conducts the event and donates thousands to local organizations is enough.

“This is the first thing like this that I’ve been involved in, and it feels great to be able to give back to the community,” Wanzong said.

Setup will continue over the week, with Thursday devoted to troubleshooting and final detail work. Come Friday, utilities volunteers will remain on hand to “put out fires,” Keck said.

The famous Gourmet Alley will be one of the last features completed, as it takes up the road used by vehicles travelling to and from the site.